Biracial Relationships In The 60's

The Civil Rights movement was an essential catalyst during the late 1950’s and 60’s, which led to equal rights of all races in America. Many races were brought together due to the mass effect of the Civil Rights Movement (The Civil Rights Era 1). Biracial relationships and the offspring have been seen as very controversial throughout time. However, in the 21st century, this sort of relationship and child has come to be accepted by a greater percentage of the population. This displays the progression of this topic which was greatly influenced by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 60’s (Alouise 1). The story, “Désirée’s Baby”, displays negative opinions toward biracial relationships and children before the Civil Rights Movement. The …show more content…
Yet, the common opinions towards the subject are traditionally dissenting. The large increase of biracial children from these relationships was also a contributing factor. For years biracial relationships have been seen as abomination to the society itself. Couples of all ethnicities have endured the harassment and repudiation from relatives, friends, and peers of the same race. Many incidents of biracial relationship ended up in exile from their race and family, sometimes even death. There have even been laws created to outlaw this specific relationship. This method of controlling this was effective until series of couples started to go against society, which mainly took place during the Civil Rights Movement Era. Pre Civil Rights Era involved a lot of cultural and racial segregation, making basic interactions with most races quite difficult and intolerable. Some races even used fear tactics to keep biracial relationships from occurring, anywhere from torture to outright murder. As this progressed the world seemed to change all at once yet slowly. Due to the widespread effects of the Civil Rights Movement, many races came to view others as equals. This brought on the idea that everyone was a human being, and not property or inferior to another ethnicity. Egalitarian principles brought about many biracial relationships in the following years after the Civil Rights Movement. However, some were still …show more content…
This came from the constant occurrence of relationships where two people were both viewed as white (Kennedy 4-5). However, in many situations one of the spouses were secretly of black or hispanic origin, passing as a white. This was done in order to avoid the harsh treatment of socially inferior races. Many people with concealed origins were able to go undetected, which could only be revealed by conceiving a biracial child. (Davis 1) Armand from “Désirée’s Baby,” began acting different after realizing his child was biracial. This news meant his wife was secretly passing as a black woman with a lighter skin complexion. Resentful loathing was displayed by his change of mood and behavior. Chopin expressed Désirée’s description of this as, “….an awful change in her husband…” (Chopin 233). He had pronounced his love for this women and then suddenly without much thought decided to terminate their marriage. Armand used the basis of the “hypo descent rule,” meaning that if any traces of black blood are in your ancestry you are pronounced black (Davis 1). This clearly exhibits the hatred and disgust for biracial relationships from even someone who may be involved in one. However, in the story it is later revealed that Armand is the one with true black ancestry. Early history involved many scenarios such as the one described above. Men and women of a lighter complexion with an African American