The Changes in Society’s Views on Interracial Dating over Time

Interracial marriage has traditionally been viewed as a means of expressing a hatred of oneself, of escaping something in one’s culture or self that one no longer wants to identify with. Jacki Thompson Rand describes the outcome of this phenomenon in an essay on her experience as the child of an interracial marriage. She explains how her mother married a white man in an effort to make herself more white, and therefore more legitimate: “My mother 's marriage to my father was a racial love

"-- we are all complicit and we all carry a certain responsibility for America's original sin: racism." -- David Bedrick, The Huffington Post, 10 April 2015

The first black president, the world’s best golfer, or twins that we grew up watching; Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Tia and Tamera Mowry, besides from being in the light of superstardom, they are each a child of a interracial marriage. In the 21st century there are approximately 1.6 million interracial relationships or interethnic marriages, with the marriages making up 3% (Troy, Lewis-Smith, & Laurenceau, 2006). Interracial relationships over generations have changed from the way society has viewed them. As early as the 1600’s legislation has been banning black and white interracial marriages, and this law has stayed in place until 1967, and Alabama being the last place to maintain the law until 2000 (Troy, Lewis-Smith, & Laurenceau, 2006).Years ago white women and black men were severely punished for engaging in sexual relations, however the white male power was not threatened by exploiting black women nor by a black woman having their baby (Childs, 2005). In contrast, a white woman who gave birth to a black man’s baby, would be considered polluting the purity of the white race; thereby including racial boundaries and the power of white man (Childs, 2005). Irony as times progressed in 1993, there were 246,000 black-white marriages an 163,000 of these were between black men and white women (Childs, 2005).

Two critical Supreme Court cases have played a major role in interracial relationships in US history.

In the late 1900's everything began to change how society views interracial relationships in the United States. Why does America have difficulties excepting what is different than them? According to the supreme court of Virginia, the majority of people cannot accept differences and racist comments carry upon the lives of our American nation. According to Donna Lucey, she states, "racist opinion gave us a clear shot to appeal to the supreme court of Virginia" (4). In 1967, the supreme court legalized interracial marriages. The first ever couple is Richard, a white male, and his wife Mildred, a black female, who they fought for the freedom of loving of a different ethnic

In 1967, Loving v. Virginia cleared all legal barriers to interracial marriages and relationships. This legislation made it legal to marry interracially, but many people weren’t willing to accept these relationships. For instance, in 1994 a white principal named Hulond Humphries caused uproar at Teaneck High in Wedowee, Alabama that caught the

Firstly, it has been throughout history that interracial marriages are unacceptable or even illegal for two people of a different race to marry. A tradition that has been around for centuries until in 1958 the case of, Loving v. Virginia, two Virginia natives Richard Loving, a white man and Mildred Jeter, a black woman got married in the District of Columbia and returned home soon after the wedding, Virginia declared that they violated the state’s anti-miscegenation statute and was sentenced to a year in jail or leave the state and not return for 25 years (Loving). On June 12, 1967, the United

There is an abundance of evidence that displays interracial dating is on the rise. “Krikor (2001) reports that interracial marriages are increasing, from 51,000 African American-Caucasian marriages in 1960 to 330,000 in 1998. Gurung & Duong (1999) and

Society’s perceptions place greater stress on interracial couples. Americans have a strong need to categorize and segregate. Even modern American society is obsessed with whiteness and the exclusion of anyone who is not of Anglo descent. This creation of a caste system sustains the high status of the White majority and oppresses minorities. Social norms declare that one must be American and White in order to be considered normal; non-Whites are abnormal, un-American, and physically and mentally inferior to Whites (Grapes). Moreover, skin color stratification gives those with lighter skin privilege and preferential treatment. This social norm of discrimination based on skin color further pits races against each other and introduces racial

Societal intolerance of interracial relationships. Societal intolerance of interracial relationships can contribute to stressors for the partners. Some segments of society still view such unions as something of an anomaly that does not readily fit into the racial stratification system. Such ambivalence in society creates a similar ambivalence for the inter- racial couple themselves, because those beliefs could be internalized (Motoyoshi, 1990). According to Pope (1986), interracial couples, and especially black-white couples, cannot ignore the impact of racial tensions and divisions in U.S. society. Cultural and racial differences often become magnified during a crisis situation, and the lack of support and isolation from the society at large poses a threat to the stability of inter- racial relationships (Falicov, 1995; Solsberry, 1995). Certain racial combinations may be more accepted and tolerated than others. For in- stance, African American and Caucasian American couples historically have tended to experience the most hostility and opposition from society whether in Hawaii or in mainland states (Chan & Wethington, 1998; Qian, 1999). Interracial couples will sometimes intentionally isolate themselves from their own communities in an attempt to establish independence from their group’s prejudices and disapproval. However, this mechanism can result in total isolation from support including those that the natural extended family system might afford (Falicov, 1995; Ratliff,

There is a universal notion that interracial relationships, particularly in black and white relationships, are considered taboo or unwelcome. Now thrust a biracial child into the world from that couple and you’ll have a recipe for more prejudice and whispered insults than you could possibly imagine. You don’t ask to be born biracial yet ignorant people continue to make their asinine comments towards us. Bile rises in my throat with every glare and side eye I receive. I have not felt this ostracized since I was 10.

To be or not to be? Once again this is the question. In the past, social scientist and society in general, categorized people involved in interracial romances as disturbed, or they labeled these relationships as acts of rebellion, or attempts to move up on the social ladder (Majete 2000, 1). Today this no longer seems to be the case. However, this can still be quite controversial. Part of the reason for this controversy begins with the fact that there were laws barring intermarriage between persons of color and whites in forty of our fifty states until 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that these laws were unconstitutional. Once this law was lifted the number on

Interracial marriage was one of the most common and well known. Marriage of people of different races was not only discouraged, but was illegal until the 1960s. Numerous states obtained strict laws prohibiting the marriage of people of two different races. These laws were passed individually by each state. Many states legalized interracial marriage early on, but in 1967 the Supreme Court made a decision stating that the anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional. Although interracial marriage was not legally acceptable, it also was not socially acceptable for even longer. It was frowned upon by members of society. Interracial marriage was so negatively accepted, groups took actions to publicly show their disapproval, such as some of the works and actions done by the KKK. Luckily, society is ever changing. As the views and opinions of people grow and develop, the standards of society are evolved, and more acceptance is gained. Interracial marriage is now so common within the states Americans seem to forget that this used to be an issue of racism. By creating a society equipped with interracial acceptance, taking interracial marriage as a major factor, post-racial America becomes more

The author has given the term of “interracial relationship specifically to relationships between people of different social and/or historical backgrounds that may have different physical characteristics” (Docan, 2003). The author stated all relationships are built on principles which include proximity, similarity, physical attraction and complementarity. Being an interracial relationship the term similarity is much harder to achieve. This similarity principle suggest that people may be attracted to others who are different from them, which creates a sense of balance in the relationship and later on as the relationship progresses some similarities will begin to show. He suggests that interracial relationship does not differ much from same race

Interracial couples as well as same sex couples face many of the same controversial problems and dilemmas, however, not many differences could be seen between the values of these couples regardless of their generations. The two different groups of individuals being interviewed were a selected group of interracial couples of an older age group ranging from 60 – 33, and a group of same sex couples the ages of 25 – 19. The relationship that was being studied was the relationship values between individuals in interracial relationships in previous generations versus the values of individuals in same sex relationships in our current generation. My hypothesis was that interracial couples as well as same sex couples face many of the same