Summary+of+anti-miscegenation+laws+from+1664-1967

__Vinay Koshy__

Anti-miscegenation laws are those that ban or prevent interracial, intercultural, or interfaith marriages, but the term is most commonly used in the context of laws banning marriage between African Americans and whites. The first of these laws were enacted as early as 1664, when Maryland passed a law forbidding marriage between black slaves and masters. By the 18th Century, these laws spread throughout the colonies, and were applied to free blacks as well as enslaved ones. In French and Spanish colonies in the United States, however, interracial marriages were legal. In French controlled Louisiana, Catholics could not marry non-Catholics, but there were otherwise very few restrictions on marriage. When the British gained control of these territories, anti-miscegenation laws were introduced.

These laws held till the middle of the 19th Century. In 1843, Massachusetts repealed its anti-miscegenation laws, and many states legalized interracial marriage for a few years, until conservative legislators would take power in the South and re-institute anti-miscegenation laws, in addition to Jim Crow laws that enforced other forms of segregation. In the 1883 case, //Pace v. Alabama,// the Supreme Court ruled that anti-miscegenation laws did not violate the Constitution since both blacks and whites were equally punished for inter-marriage.

Between 1870 and 1930, three anti-miscegenation amendments were proposed to be added to the constitution. Once in 1871 by Andrew King, who wanted to add the amendment since he worried that otherwise the 14th Amendment would eventually nullify anti-miscegenation laws. Again in 1912, Seaborn Roddenberry proposed to add an amendment banning interracial marriage. His proposed amendment was very severe, in that a person with any trace of African-American blood could not marry a white person. And again, this amendment wasn't passed. Finally, in 1928, Coleman Blease proposed an even stricter amendment that would severely punish anyone officiating interracial marriages, as well as the couples themselves. Like the previous proposed amendments, this one was not passed as well.

By the end of World War II, anti-miscegenation laws started being repealed, first in California, where after the 1948 case //Perez v. Sharp,// anti-miscegenation laws in California were deemed unconstitutional. Even after this, repeal of anti-miscegenation laws was very controversial, and in the 1950s the majority of whites were still opposed to interracial marriage. Finally, in 1967, in //Loving v. Virginia,// anti-miscegenation laws were ruled as unconstitutional in all states, ending anti-miscegenation. However, it wasn't until 1998 and 2000 that South Carolina and Alabama respectively removed their anti-miscegenation laws officially.

Bibliography

"Anti-miscegenation Laws in the US" // Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia //. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Aug. 2004. < [] >

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