Ellen White Investigation

Amalgamation:
A Denominational Embarrassment

By , last updated Apr.

Some have foolishly, most inaccurately, interpreted the 'amalgamation' statements to teach that the black race of humans sprang from apes! There is no hint of such an idea in any of her writings, ever!
Roger W. Coon, "Ellen G. White and Science: The Problem Statements," May 29, 1996
Illustration of human skulls by Josiah Nott and George Gliddon, in their 1854 book Types of Mankind, p. 458, figure 343
Types of Mankind, by Nott and Gliddon

To understand Ellen White's use of the word "amalgamation," one must dive into the culture of mid-nineteenth century America. Social stresses were threatening to rip the nation apart. At the center of the controversy was slavery. Northerners were pressuring Southerners to end slavery, and Southerners were appealing to anthropological data to justify slavery. While near-universal agreement existed that blacks were human, some Americans, particularly Southerners, sought to portray the Negro race as more animalistic.

Josiah Nott and George Gliddon, in their 1854 book Types of Mankind presented a visual argument (on the right) to illustrate their theory that Blacks were closer in identity to beasts. In the upper left, the skull of a Greek white male is featured. Directly below rests an image of a young chimpanzee and its skull. The central focus is a skull representing an African American individual. The deliberate positioning of the latter two suggests a supposed lineage or resemblance between ape and human in the Black subject. The contours of the central skull seem to visually synthesize elements of both the chimpanzee and the Greek. This comparative layout, contrasting ape with Greek, appears calculated to diminish Black humanity by making them appear more beast-like.

Nott and Gliddon argued that although Whites and Blacks were both human, "the White Man and the Negro were distinct 'species.'"1 They taught that God created three races (Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid), but that as the races intermixed, they produced a myriad of races of men. They referred to this intermixture of races as "amalgamation."2 This amalgamation supposedly created an "endless variety of races."3 One of those "races" was the Blacks of America, whom they attributed to "amalgamation of races."4 As proof, they appealed to the wide variety of different breeds of animals (bison with cattle, deer with ram, goats with sheep, horses with donkeys, and canines).5 They warned that "migrations" and "amalgamations" over thousands of years had "confused Nature's original work."6

Of particular concern to Nott and Gliddon was the intermixture of the "Anglo-Saxon and the Negro" because the "superior race must inevitably become deteriorated by any intermixture with the inferior."7 They expressed fear that this "amalgamation" was "going on upon an immense scale," with slaves from the South intermixing with White people, and this would lead to degradation, or even worse, "The human family might possibly become exterminated by a thorough amalgamation of all the various types of mankind."8

The scientists pointed out that when the black and white races intermingle, they create inferior Mulatto children who have:9

Other scientists, like Charles Caldwell and Samuel George Morton, joined in, arguing for the inferiority of the "Negro" race. Carl Vogt added his voice by construing Blacks as fundamentally inferior, with inherent "beastly" characteristics. In his 1864 anthropological book, Lectures on Man, Vogt discovered "animal resemblance" in the features of Black people, repeatedly comparing them to "apes" and "gorillas." For example, he wrote of a continuum of development from the ape, "Step by step...to the Negro, and from the Negro to the white man."10 Vogt suggested some races manifested more animal characteristics, writing:

There is no doubt that in some tribes, especially among Negroes...these peoples exhibit an approach to the animal type.... [they have] characteristic as in the various species of animals.11

Thus, scientists reinforced the racist view that blacks were more animalistic or beastly than other races. Using proto-eugenic language, scientists warned that amalgamation between the races, or hybridism, was causing confusion, and would lead to the deterioration or even the destruction of humanity. This perspective contributed to a widespread belief, particularly in the South but also among some in the North, that humans of African descent were closer to animals and may not have been part of God's original creation of mankind.

Protestant Explanations of Amalgamation Before/After Flood

The Negro Beast or In the Image of God by Charels Carroll
Charles Carroll's book (1900)

While Nott and Gliddon approached amalgamation from a scientific viewpoint, Buckner Harrison Payne, being an American clergyman, approached the subject from a religious standpoint. Under the pseudonym "Ariel," Payne authored a racist pamphlet entitled The Negro: What is His Ethnological Status? While the original version of the pamphlet is no longer extant, the second version (1867) argues that black people did not descend from Adam (or Ham) but from a beast. According to Payne:

If Payne was correct about Blacks being beasts, then if a White individual had sex with a Black individual, it would be tantamount to the base crime of bestiality, which is forbidden in the Bible (Exo 22:19; Lev 18:23, 20:15-16; Deut 27:21).

Some pointed back to the destruction of the earth during the flood and blamed it on the sin of amalgamation. For example, in 1860, Samuel Cartwright wrote of the "amalgamation" of the Adamic race with "inferior races" which led to the corruption of those living before the flood.16

The words "amalgamation" and "miscegenation" were used freely in American newspapers in the 1860s to refer to intermarriage between blacks and whites. Other ministers, besides Payne, used the words. For example, in 1864 Rev. Hollis Read described intermarriage as "amalgamation."17 Francis Philpot labeled abolitionists as "Amalgamation Abolitionists" in a sermon preached in Washington, D.C., in 1839. During the 1860s, as the battle over slavery heated up to a fever pitch, Southerners described abolitions as "amalgamationists, the leaders of the 'new era of miscegenation, amalgamation, and promiscuous intercourse between the races.'"18

A significant number of Americans regarded Negroes as beasts. This idea was popularized by Payne. The title of his 1854 pamphlet asked: The Negro: ... Has he a soul? Or is he a beast?"19 Like many Americans of his era, he was concerned about the criminal aspect of interracial marriages, writing:

A man can not commit so great an offense against his race, against his country, against his God, in any other way, as to give his daughter in marriage to a negro—a beast—or to take one of their females for his wife.20

Payne spoke of the "crime of amalgamation" that "brought the flood upon the earth," and warned that if the country continued to allow interracial marriages, then it could expect the same fate as the antediluvians: "People that favor this equality and amalgamation of the white and black races, God will exterminate."21 Minister Charles Carroll, in his book The Negro a Beast, agreed with Payne, repeatedly referring to Negroes as beasts. In his later book, The Temptor of Eve, Carroll writes that amalgamation is the "most infamous and destructive crime known to the law of God."22

Thus, after Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (1863), public debate rose to a fever pitch around what to do with the former-slaves. Should they be allowed to inter-marry with Whites? Southern ministers cried out against interracial marriages, believing them to be the base crime of bestiality. They warned that if America succumbed to the amalgamation of black and white people, it would result in the destruction of the nation, just as surely as the flood destroyed the earth.

Churches Try to "Save" America by Discouraging Interracial Marriage

In mid-19th century America, out of fear for the preservation of the nation, some Christian denominations and leaders actively opposed interracial marriage, particularly between Whites and Blacks. While few churches issued outright bans, many reinforced racial segregation and discouraged such unions. For example, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS], under leaders like Brigham Young, held particularly stringent views against interracial marriage. In 1852, Utah Territory enacted laws prohibiting sexual relations between white individuals and those of African descent. Brigham Young asserted that interracial marriages warranted severe punishments, including death. He warned that permitting such unions would lead to the church's destruction.23

In many Protestant denominations, especially in the Southern United States, anti-miscegenation sentiments were prevalent. This contributed to the establishment of racially segregated congregations and the marginalization of Black members within predominantly White churches. Certain Christian leaders cautioned that such "amalgamation" would result in the moral decline of the nation. Mason Stokes, professor of African American Literature at Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY), explains concerns 19th century Christians had about interracial marriage dooming the nation:

From as early as 1860, Amalgamation, miscegenation, intermarriage, integration—these were the contemporary sins that would surely seal the nation's doom.24

American Health Reformers on Amalgamation

Orson Squire Fowler, 1870
Orson Squire Fowler (Phrenologist)

Mid-nineteenth-century American health reformers also voiced anxieties about racial degeneration. Haunted by the prospect of parental flaws compromising their offspring, leading to a decline in the human stock, figures like Andrew Combe and Orson Fowler issued early warnings. As early as 1848, they cautioned parents that "tainted families" could profoundly affect their children's purity.25 This apprehension intensified in 1857 when Fowler publicized reports linking interracial marriage to physical and mental infirmities.26 By 1870, his treatise Sexual Science explicitly warned against the perceived dangers of hybridism...

Universal amalgamation would spoil all. She both keeps her human productions separate from all others, and even forbids the intermixture of the different races, by depriving mulattoes of both the Negro stamina and Caucasian intelligence, besides running out their progeny, and rendering the intermarriage of squaws with whites always infelicitous, and cross-breeds weakly; and the children of dissimilar parentage can almost always be designated by their imperfect phrenologies and physiologies, and tendencies to hobbbyisms and extremes, while those of similar parentage are homogeneous and harmonious.27

Interestingly, Mrs. White had this book in her private library.28

The scientific, theological, and medical debate around amalgamation (interracial marriage) in the 1860s can be summarized as follows:

Enter Ellen White

As a Northerner and leader of a sect made up almost exclusively of Northern Whites, Ellen White, prophetess of the Seventh-day Adventist [SDA] Church, could not be silent on this subject. In 1858, she took a decidedly anti-slavery tone in her first volume of Spiritual Gifts and made other negative comments about slavery in her testimonies.29 While she should be applauded for this, after the Emancipation Proclamation she seems to have aligned herself theologically with health reformers and others who were concerned about interracial marriages. In 1864, she wrote two statements that many SDAs agree are the most baffling and embarrassing words ever penned by her:

But if there was one sin above another which called for the destruction of the race by the flood, it was the base crime of amalgamation of man and beast which defaced the image of God, and caused confusion everywhere.30

Every species of animal which God had created were preserved in the ark. The confused species which God did not create, which were the result of amalgamation, were destroyed by the flood. Since the flood there has been amalgamation of man and beast, as may be seen in the almost endless varieties of species of animals, and in certain races of men.31

These statements appear contrary to the Bible, which states:

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth... (Acts 17:26)

Mrs. White's Main Arguments about Amalgamation can be summarized as follows:

Mrs. White's statements raised a few eyebrows. What exactly was she saying? Since her statements appeared racist, some SDA pastors wanted to confirm that they understood her correctly. Two pastors reported that James White told Elder Ingraham "that Sister White had seen that God never made the Darkey."32 Perhaps that explains her resistance to interracial marriages, because she later wrote: "there should be no intermarriage between the white and the colored race."33 Or, perhaps she "saw" that God "never made the Darkey" in one of the racist books in her personal library.

One of the racist books in her private library, John Campbell's Negro-Mania (1851), repeatedly uses the word "amalgamation" to describe the intermarriage between different races of humans. Campbell believed the Black race was not created in the beginning, but was cursed into being by God's curse upon Canaan (Gen 9:25), writing: "The brand mark of inferiority has been indelibly, irrevocably, irretrievably, and eternally impressed by the Creator upon the negro."34 Campbell made the following comments about the Black race and amalgamation in that book:35

It is uncertain how much effect Campbell's book had on Mrs. White's testimonies regarding interracial marriage. However, there is little doubt she repeated the same sentiments as some white Christians in the Civil War era, that intermarriage between blacks and whites was the amalgamation of man (whites) and beast (blacks), and this would bring the wrath of God down upon the nation in the same manner that if fell upon the antediluvians. With this understanding, her statement can be understood and read as follows:

But if there was one sin above another which called for the destruction of the race by the flood, it was the base crime [bestiality] of amalgamation [intermarriage] of man [white people] and beast [black people] which defaced the image of God [resulting in mulattoes], and caused confusion everywhere.

This understanding is probable because her writings sound hauntingly familiar to the sentiments expressed by popular contemporary authors—including authors of the books in her library. They expressed similar views:

  1. Routinely used the word "amalgamation" to describe the intermarriage of whites and blacks.
  2. Sometimes referred to black people as "beasts."
  3. Warned that inter-racial marriage was the heinous sin that brought about the destruction of the earth in the flood.
  4. Logically concluded that if Negroes were beasts, then having sex with them would be bestiality which was a "base crime" (Leviticus 18:23).
  5. Warned it "defaced the image of God" because white people were in God's image, and mixing them with beasts (Negroes) degraded the image of God in man.
  6. Cautioned that the offspring (of mixed race) would cause "confusion everywhere" because they were partly in man's image and partly in the image of a beast.

In addition, to these similarities in sentiment, Mrs. White's own racist remarks lend credence to this view. Because of these reasons, there can be little doubt that Ellen White was equating amalgamation with intermarriage between black and white people.

Endless Varieties of Species of Animals?

Mrs. White also insinuates some type of amalgamation was happening with the animals. The Bible contains no record of that. In the Bible, God created all the different species. Since Ellen White was a prolific copier of the thoughts, ideas, and words of others, one must examine the literature she read to determine the real source. Many of Mrs. White's statements about the pre-flood era appear astonishingly similar to statements in the Book of Jasher, a fictional account of earth's early history published in 1840. In that book, pre-flood humans were experimenting with amalgamation...

... the sons of men in those days took from the cattle of the earth, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and taught the mixture of animals of one species with the other.36

This fictional book indicates that the antediluvians were interbreeding animals to create new animals. Perhaps this accounts for the "endless varieties of species of animals" Mrs. White wrote about.

A "Base Crime"

Mrs. White describes amalgamation as a base crime. Webster's 1828 dictionary describes "base" as "Mean; vile; worthless; that is, low in value or estimation; used of things."37 Webster's 1913 dictionary describes it as: "Morally low."38 Synonyms include: "LOW, VILE mean deserving of contempt because of the absence of higher values."39 Sexual relations between humans and "beasts" would certainly qualify for the category of "base crime." It is condemned in the Bible as an abomination worthy of the death penalty.40 Notice carefully that the crimes of adultery and bestiality are in close proximity in the Levitical law:

Lev. 18:20 - "Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her."

Lev. 18:23 - "Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it [is] confusion."

Mrs. White uses the term "base crime" only two times in her entire writings:

  1. The sexual assault by Potiphar's wife upon Joseph, which refers to a violation of Lev. 18:20.41
  2. Her amalgamation statement, referring to a violation of Lev. 18:23.

Furthermore, Mrs. White says the amalgamation "caused confusion everywhere," linking it to Lev. 18:23 which states that bestiality "is confusion." Mrs. White's choice of the words "base crime" and her allusion to the resulting "confusion" indicate she was describing bestiality.

Which Race Is a Product of Amalgamation?

Ever since Ellen White published her amalgamation statements, the sect has been hard-pressed to provide a rational explanation of them. Her statements provoked instant controversy and stinging criticism when first published in 1864. Some recognized it to be racist while others scoffed at the idea that certain races were an amalgamation of man and beast, considering her to be out-of-touch with reality. This mistake forced sect leaders to go into "damage-control mode," a function that they were all too familiar with. Mrs. White's reputation must be rescued so that deluded sect members would continue to believe the sect had the "Spirit of Prophecy."

Mrs. White wrote that the results of amalgamation could be seen "in certain races of men." Curious sect members were asking: "Which race is a product of amalgamation between man and beast?"

If intermarriage between black and white people had indeed created new races of humans, who were they? The Mulattoes?

This was a thorny question. The sect turned to the one man with a hard-earned reputation for loyalty and a knack for spinning everything in Mrs. White's favor: Review editor Uriah Smith.42 He was tasked with crafting an explanation that would quell the uproar. In 1866, two years after the amalgamation statements first appeared in print, Smith published a defense of Ellen White in which he struggled to make sense of some of her more outlandish statements. In a series of articles appearing in the Adventist Review is found the first official SDA explanation of the amalgamation statement. Smith argued that the line between human and animal had been blurred, and that undeniable evidence of the union of man with beast could be observed in "such cases as the wild Bushmen of Africa, some tribes of the Hottentots, and perhaps the Digger Indians of our own country, &c."43

SDA Church Identifies Amalgamated Species of Humans
Bushmen of Africa
The Hottentots
The Digger Indians
The Bushmen are black Africans living in southern Africa. "Genetic evidence suggests they are one of the oldest, if not the oldest, peoples in the world - a 'genetic Adam'...from which all humans can ultimately trace their genetic heritage."52 The Khoikhoi are black Africans of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen. They were traditionally known to white colonists as the Hottentots, a name that is currently generally considered offensive.53 The term "Digger Indians" is a reference to the Paiute Indian tribes living in the Southwestern United States of America. They were called "diggers" presumably because of their practice of digging for roots, although that term is now considered derogatory.54

To assure the SDA flock that Smith's explanations had the approval of SDA authorities, the General Conference reviewed his manuscript prior to publishing it in the Review and provided a "hearty approval" for his explanations.44 Two years later, Smith republished the articles in book format. James White "carefully" reviewed Smith's book prior to its publication, and then recommended it in glowing terms to the readers of the church's official magazine, the Review and Herald:

The Association has just published a pamphlet entitled, 'The Visions of Mrs. E.G. White, A Manifestation of Spiritual Gifts According to the Scriptures.' It is written by the editor of the Review. While carefully reading the manuscript, I felt grateful to God that our people could have this able defense of those views they so much love and prize, which others despise and oppose.45

As noted, the prophet's husband carefully read Smith's book. It is inconceivable that the statements about the Bushmen of Africa passed by James without notice. His endorsement of the book indicates his implicit approval of the new explanation. In fact, because it supposedly established Mrs. White's claims, James and Ellen took 2,000 copies of Smith's book with them to peddle at camp meetings that year!46 By promoting and selling Smith's book the Whites placed their official stamp of approval on his explanation of the amalgamation statement.

Who are these races that were so unfortunate as to be labeled by SDA leaders as amalgamations of man with beast? As indicated in the table to the right, they are some of the most truly authentic human beings on the planet!

How unfortunate that the SDA prophet and SDA leaders failed to realize that the very "Bushmen" they labeled as part-man, part-beast, carry the genetic markers indicating they are the ancestors of the entire human race, and are genetically as fully human as white people! How could their inspired prophet be so dreadfully wrong?

SDA Scholars Perform Mental Gymnastics to Explain White's Statements

At the time Mrs. White wrote her statement, it was believed by some...

...that crosses between men and animals had created a no-man's-land between man and beast, populated by gorillas, chimpanzees, wild Bushmen of Africa, Patagonians, and Hottentots.47

Thus, Uriah Smith's explanation seemed believable. Instead of amalgamation being the intermarriage of whites with blacks, as Ellen White no doubt intended it, Smith spun White's amalgamation statement to be the sexual union between humans and animals, which produced certain ethnic groups of sub-humans. But while the "Bushmen of Africa" explanation was good enough for the Whites, Smith, and the 1866 General Conference members, it eventually fell out of favor with later generations of SDA leaders. It became increasingly difficult to explain these statements to an increasingly educated and racially diverse denomination.

Despite the controversy, the SDA Church continued, for over 80 years, to maintain the position that Mrs. White was describing sex between humans and animals. However, in 1947, an SDA biologist named Frank Marsh convinced an SDA panel to interpret Mrs. White's statement to mean the interbreeding among species, not interbreeding between man and beast. Marsh argued convincingly that the union of man and beast was impossible. Despite the fact that James White, Uriah Smith, W.C. White (her son), and D.D. Robinson (her secretary) all claimed Mrs. White's statement was referring to the interbreeding of humans with animals, the mounting scientific evidence made it impossible for SDAs to continue to defend her statement based upon that meaning.48 That meant they must either swallow the bitter pill and admit that Mrs. White was writing against interracial marriage, or come up with a new explanation. So, SDA scholars went into overdrive to concoct new explanations.

Francis D. Nichol

SDA scholar, Francis D. Nichol, in his book Ellen G. White and Her Critics, accurately concluded that the word "amalgamation" was used commonly in the 19th century to refer to intermarriage between the black and white races. However, this solution was apparently unacceptable because it did not solve the racial problem. So, he attempts to obfuscate the issue by explaining that Ellen White used the word "amalgamation" to refer to the intermarriage between those of different faiths. Nichol also improvised a new twist, arguing that Mrs. White's statement was likely referring to amalgamation between "man and man," namely, the interbreeding of humans between different races or different religions. Does this provide a believable solution to the thorny amalgamation problem?

Intermarriage Between the Races?

Nichol's argument had one advantage, which was it removed the derogatory word "beasts" from the equation. He reinterpreted her statement to be amalgamation of man with man, even though that is not what her statement said. Regardless, it brought back the original charge that she was making a racial slur. His solution raises big questions:

It is obvious the "intermarriage" theory was not going to fly in modern Adventism. With intermarriages between races becoming more common among SDAs in the 20th and 21st century, Nichol's "explanation" has been discarded on the trash heap of history.

Intermarriage Between Godly and Ungodly?

Nichol's second theory was that amalgamation meant intermarriage between human believers in God with unbelievers. One point in favor of this view is that Mrs. White once used "amalgamation" in reference to God's people uniting with the world.49 However, this interpretation does not fit the context of Mrs. White's statement in Spiritual Gifts. Gordon Shigley explains:

"It was difficult to read the statements within their context without seeing a series of sins, of which the last sin--the 'one sin above another'--was obviously the climax. It was not likely that Ellen White was talking about intermarriage since she already had described that sin in an earlier paragraph. ...it is impossible to make the amalgamation of beast with beast or man with man the one sin greater than idolatry, adultery, polygamy, theft, or murder."50

Obviously, marrying another faith was not the pre-eminent, heinous, and vile sin that called for the destruction of the antediluvians. This interpretation raises far more questions than it answers:

Obviously, this explanation has even more holes.

Is Amalgamation the Greatest Reason for the Flood?

If Ellen White is correct, that the "one sin above another which called for the destruction of the race" was amalgamation, why was that sin never mentioned in Genesis? Moses mentions the sins of corruption and violence in Genesis 6:11-13, but never amalgamation. One would think that if amalgamation was the "one sin above another" that caused the flood, Moses would have at least mentioned it! How could such a grievous sin pass by Moses without mention?

Why Were These "Inspired" Statements Removed?

If the amalgamation statements were true, then why did SDAs remove them when republishing the same material in Mrs. White's later book, Patriarchs and Prophets? Many questions are raised by this deletion:

Finally, and most importantly, why should prophetic utterances need to be deleted from later editions of a prophet's writings? Many have been asking that same question for over 100 years. The removal of the amalgamation statements created such a controversy that the White Estate decided they had to provide an explanation for the omissions. W.C. White writes:

Regarding the two paragraphs which are to be found in Spiritual Gifts and also in The Spirit of Prophecy regarding amalgamation and the reason why they were left out of the later books, and the question as to who took the responsibility of leaving them out, I can speak with perfect clearness and assurance. They were left out by Ellen G. White. No one connected with her work had any authority over such a question, and I never heard of anyone offering to her counsel regarding this matter.

In all questions of this kind, you may set it down as a certainty that sister White was responsible for leaving out or adding to matters of this sort in the later editions of our books.

Sister White not only had good judgment based upon a clear and comprehensive understanding of conditions and of the natural consequences of publishing what she wrote, but she had many times direct instruction from the angel of the Lord regarding what should be omitted and what should be added in new editions.51

That explains it. Now, everyone knows why.

No, no, no! The prophet's son assures us she removed them because one of the spirit guides assisting her in writing her books instructed her to do so. That leads us to our final question:

Why didn't the angel instruct her to omit the lines before they were published?

See also