Coming from an interracial family, as well as an interracial romantic relationship, I was drawn toward researching the history and patterns of interracial marriage and families in the United States. Having the social experiences involved with dating exogamously or having interethnic siblings and cousins can drastically affect the way one interacts with and sees the world.
As early as 1691, colonial-era United States established anti-miscegenation laws banning blacks and whites from interracial marriage and sex, stemming from the oppression and supposed racial inferiority of African-Americans. Colonies such as Virginia and Maryland were the first to introduce laws prohibiting interracial marriage in 1691 and 1692, respectively (Sweet). Other colonies closely followed suit, even passing in colonies which did not have slavery, though no nation other than the US had any laws like them. These laws were not abolished nationwide until 1967, after the controversial Loving v Virginia case in the US Supreme Court (Qian 263). The case involved an interracial couple, the Lovings, aided by the American Civil Liberties Union, who able to overturn the law, arguing that it violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights. Different generations within the US public have very differing views of interracial couples, usually a polarized view of either cultural conservatism or egalitarianism. But the public at large has still yet to overcome the taboo, part of the reason behind the currently small rates of interracial marriages. Even though, since the court's decision, America has seen an increase of interracial marriages as well as interracial offspring of those marriages. Occurrences of these 'multiracial Americans' has led to a change in government dat...
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...he One-Drop Rule". Backintyme Essays. 21 May 2010 .
Tehranian, John. "Performing Whiteness: Naturalization Litigation and the Construction of Racial Identity in America." The Yale Law Journal. Vol. 109, No. 4. (2000), pp. 817-848.
United States. Dept. of Commerce. Census Bureau. “The White Population 2000: Census 2000 Brief.” Washington: GPO, 2000. .
Vaquera, Elizabeth, and Grace Kao. "Private and Public Displays of Affection Among Interracial and Intra-Racial Adolescent Couples." Social Science Quarterly (Blackwell Publishing Limited) 86.2 (2005): 484-508. Academic Search Complete.
Zhang, Yuanting, and Jennifer Van Hook. "Marital Dissolution Among Interracial Couples." Journal of Marriage & Family 71.1 (2009): 95-107. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 May 2010.
This book discusses twentieth century biracial and bicultural and the increase in biracial couples and therefore people. This books goal is to explore the complex and ever-changing definition of certain races and
For my Identity Essay I read Negotiating Differences Glimpses into a Canadian Interracial Relationship by Bina Mehta and Kevin Spooner. The chapter talks about their relationships and some of the conflicts they faced as an interracial couple.
In the Loving v. Virginia, 388 US 1 (1967) is the landmark ruling that nullified anti-miscegenation laws in the United States. In June 1958, Mildred Loving, a black female, married Richard Loving, a white male, in Washington, DC. The couple traveled to Central Point, Virginia and their home was raided by the local police. The police charged the Loving’s of interracial marriage, a felony charge under Section 20-58 of the Virginia Code which prohibited interracial marriages. On January 6, 1959, the couple pled guilty and received a suspended sentence with the agreement that they would Virginia and not return for 25 years. In November 6, 1963, the couple filed a motion in the state court to vacate the original judgment on the grounds it violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Naturalization Act of 1790 was the first piece of United States federal legislation regarding immigration and it provided a national and uniformed rule for the process of naturalization. Under provisions of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, it granted citizenship to “all free white persons” after two years residence and provided that the children of citizens born outside the borders of the United States would be “considered as natural born citizens” (Naturalization Acts, United States, 1790-1795). This was an important piece of legislation that encouraged immigration necessary for the continued growth and prosperity of the republic. The individuals that it was intended to attract and protect were European whites, specifically men who would bring skills and participate in the emerging manufacturing and mining labor
Race and ethnicity is a main factor in the way we identify others and ourselves. The real question here is does race/ethnicity still matter in the U.S.? For some groups race is not a factor that affects them greatly and for others it is a constant occurrence in their mind. But how do people of mix race reacts to this concept, do they feel greatly affected by their race? This is the question we will answer throughout the paper. I will first examine the battle of interracial relationship throughout history and explain how the history greatly explains the importance of being multiracial today. This includes the backlash and cruelty towards interracial couple and their multiracial children. Being part of a multiracial group still contains its impact in today’s society; therefore race still remaining to matter to this group in the U.S. People who place themselves in this category are constantly conflicted with more than one cultural backgrounds and often have difficulty to be accepted.
Irene Bloemraad. The North American Naturalization Gap: AN Institutional Approach to Citizenship Acquisition in the United States and Canada. Retrieved from https://courses.ryerson.ca/@@/CF12EBC688315C67DED46723CFC1F310/courses/1/pog100_w14_01/content/_2488288_1/Bloemraad2002.pdf
PDF. See the full text of the document. Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. The "Racial Formation in the United States." 1994.
Following the 1890’s, the world began to undergo the first stages of globalization. Countries and peoples, who, until now, were barely connected, now found themselves neighbors in a planet vastly resembling a global village. Despite the idealized image of camaraderie and brotherhood this may seem to suggest, the reality was only discrimination and distrust. Immigration to new lands became a far more difficult affair, as emigrants from different nations came to be viewed as increasingly foreign. In the white-dominated society of the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the only way to truly count oneself as American was to become “white”. For this reason, the idea of race, a socially constructed issue with no real physical basis, has become one of the most defining factors which shape immigration and assimilation in the United States.
Prior to the case of United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, the United States implemented a naturalization law known as the Naturalization Act of 1790, in which citizenship would only be granted to “any alien, being a free white person.” And so the prerequisite cases was born, in which any immigrants who wanted to be granted citizenship would have to prove in the court of law that they were indeed “white”. The court would either use scientific evidence or common knowledge to determine if someone was white or not. But not both, due to the In Re Najour case of 1909, in which In Re Najour a dark skin syrian, was granted citizenship after proving that he was indeed “white” in which he won due to scientific evidence. But would of never been granted
Marriage, as an institution, has evolved in the last few decades. As society progresses, the ideas and attitudes about marriage have shifted. Today, individuals are able to choose their partners and are more likely marry for love than convenience. While individuals are guaranteed the right to marry and the freedom to choose their own partners, it has not always been this way. Starting from colonial times up until the late 1960’s, the law in several states prohibited interracial marriages and unions. Fortunately, in 1967, a landmark case deemed such laws as unconstitutional. Currently, as society progresses, racism and social prejudice have decreased and interracial marriages have become, not only legal, but also widely accepted.
The trend and patterns of interracial marriages have increased substantially in America over the past few years. Between the early 1970 and late 1980’s after abolishing laws prohibiting interracial unions, the proportion of interracial marriages was under five percent of all married couples in America (Lewis & Robertson, 2010). Although recent surveys indicate that the percentage of interracial marriages is a little over five percent in America, the rate and frequency of occurrence are alarming (Lewis & Robertson, 2010). The American society has become more diverse and much of this diversity has been attributed to the growing number of new immigrants (Qian & Lichter, 2011). Immigration has lead to assimilation of many cultures into the mainstream American culture and as a result narrowing the gap between majority and minority groups. The United States of America Census Bureau show that there has been a dramatic increase in population due to immigration (Qian & Lichter, 2011). For instance, between 1980 and 2007, the Hispanic population in America has doubled while the Asian population has increased by four percent, and the Black population is more or less the same over the same time period (Lewis & Robertson, 2010). The increase in size of the population has resulted in the increase rate of interracial marriages. Interracial unions in the 1980’s represented about three percent of all marriages in America (Lewis & Robertson, 2010). In the year 2000, interracial marriages have only increased approximately by two percent, with marriages between Hispanic and white representing the greatest balance of all interracial marriages (Lewis & Robertson, 2010).
Similarly, it is arguable that generalising black into one category unifies blacks, to further segregate blacks into distinct categories can be problematic because this can make researching interracial relationships complicated. However, generalising blacks is problematic, because this ignores the variety amongst blackness. Researchers have not scrutinised this. This dissertation will raise this issue and explore the variety within blackness and its impact on interracial relationships. This will redefine the
Sollors, Werner. I Interracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law. New York: University Press, 2000.
Erika, Lee. "U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues." Journal of American Ethnic History. Vol. 20. Issue 2 (2001): n. page. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
The United States is a racialized society, with racism deeply embedded into its history. The most renowned display of racism in the United States is the enslavement of Africans by white people. This is one of the many instances that highlights the government’s implementation of institutional racism, which has been experienced by people of many different races. In this documentary, American citizenship, the Federal Housing Administration, and real estate appear to be the focal portrayals of institutional racism. For hundreds of years, being white was essential to gaining American citizenship. In 1922, Ozawa, a Japanese businessman attempted to gain citizenship. However, the Supreme Court denied his request, stating that he was scientifically classified as Mongolian, not white. Three months later, a South Asian man, Thind, proved to the Court that he was white because he was scientifically classified as Caucasian, and therefore