America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Many people have immigrated to America in the hopes of finding freedom. There is no one nationality or ethnic group that belong to the United States. We are a melting pot of many nations, but America holds a deep secret. A secret that affected the rights of many of our citizens to marry the one they love. It was only fifty years ago on June 12, 1967, that the Supreme Court repealed all miscegenation laws giving heterosexual couples of different races the option to marry one another. Miscegenation laws date to the 1600’s with Virginia being the first state to make interracial marriage illegal. There seems to be on common theme behind the miscegenation laws, the fear of interracial sex.
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Miscegenation laws were established to protect the purity of the white women and the purity of the white race. One of the first anti-miscegenation laws passed in Virginia in 1662. These laws spread throughout the colonies. By 1914 forty-one states had laws that prohibited interracial marriage. One of the problems that arose early on was how to classify the children born of mixed race couples, referred to as mulattos. Ultimately mixed race children would gain their status from their mother as they were often illegitimate offspring of slaves and white …show more content…
. The first recorded interracial marriage took place between Pocahontas and John Rolfe in 1614. Interracial marriages were not encouraged because African Americans were considered the inferior race. Miscegenation was developed as a way for the white man to maintain control over politics, sex, and discrimination. Sexuality is at the core of miscegenation laws. Miscegenation prevents blacks from obtaining the same type of status as whites. After 1662 any minister in Virginia who married an interracial couple was fined 10,00 pounds of tobacco. By 1691 any white woman who had mulatto children was fined or became an indentured servant for five years while her child received thirty years. In Maryland, a white woman who married a slave became a slave. Interracial cohabitation was also illegal in Maryland. There were many interracial births during slavery as rape was a common occurrence among slaves and their white
Miscegenation laws were established to protect the purity of the white women and the purity of the white race. One of the first anti-miscegenation laws passed in Virginia in 1662. These laws spread throughout the colonies. By 1914 forty-one states had laws that prohibited interracial marriage. One of the problems that arose early on was how to classify the children born of mixed race couples, referred to as mulattos. Ultimately mixed race children would gain their status from their mother as they were often illegitimate offspring of slaves and white …show more content…
. The first recorded interracial marriage took place between Pocahontas and John Rolfe in 1614. Interracial marriages were not encouraged because African Americans were considered the inferior race. Miscegenation was developed as a way for the white man to maintain control over politics, sex, and discrimination. Sexuality is at the core of miscegenation laws. Miscegenation prevents blacks from obtaining the same type of status as whites. After 1662 any minister in Virginia who married an interracial couple was fined 10,00 pounds of tobacco. By 1691 any white woman who had mulatto children was fined or became an indentured servant for five years while her child received thirty years. In Maryland, a white woman who married a slave became a slave. Interracial cohabitation was also illegal in Maryland. There were many interracial births during slavery as rape was a common occurrence among slaves and their white