Difference between revisions of "Miscegenation" - New World Encyclopedia

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'''Miscegenation''' (Latin ''miscere'' "to mix" + ''genus'' "kind") is the mixing of different [[race]]s, especially through [[marriage]], [[cohabitation]], or [[sexual attraction|sexual relations]]. Often referred to in the context of black and white people, miscegenation occurs between all races, regardless of skin color. Although it has been controversial and often illegal throughout human history, many nations and peoples have begun to accept - and even promote - miscegenation as a natural result of personal relationships.
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[[Image:Douglass Helen Eva Frederick.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Frederick Douglass]] with his second wife [[Helen Pitts Douglass]] (sitting) who was white, a famous nineteenth century American example of "miscegenation." The woman standing is her sister, Eva Pitts.]]
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'''Miscegenation''' (Latin ''miscere'' "to mix" + ''genus'' "kind") is the mixing of different races, especially through [[marriage]]. Often referred to in the context of black and white people, miscegenation occurs between all races, regardless of skin color. Although it has been controversial and often illegal throughout human history, many [[nation-state|nations]] and peoples have begun to accept, and even promote, miscegenation as a natural result of interpersonal relationships. In an increasingly [[globalization|globalized]] society, where different cultures are constantly interacting with one another, miscegenation provides a process for linking the [[lineage]]s of all aspects of humankind together inextricably, and harmoniously, laying the foundation for the emergence of a world of peace.
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{{toc}}
 
==Etymological history==
 
==Etymological history==
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"Miscegenation" comes from the [[Latin]] ''miscere,'' "to mix," and ''genus,'' "race" or "kind." While the [[etymology]] of the term is not pejorative, historically, "race mixing" between black and white people was widely [[taboo]]. In much of the [[United States|U.S.]] South, miscegenation was illegal when the term was introduced in 1863.<ref>Tom Kinsella, [http://caxton.stockton.edu/OldWords/discuss/msgReader$127?mode=topic Antebellum Words: A Treasury.] Retrieved January 15, 2007.</ref> The term frequently was used in the context of [[ethnocentrism|ethnocentric]] or [[racism|racist]] [[attitude]]s and in laws against interracial sexual relations and intermarriage. As a result, "miscegenation" is often a loaded word in [[English language|English-speaking]] countries and may be considered offensive. While the English word has a history of ethnocentrism, the [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and [[French language|French]] words&mdash;''mestizaje,'' ''miscigenação,'' and ''métissage''&mdash;connote a positive ethno-cultural "melting-pot."
  
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"Miscegenation" comes from the [[Latin]] ''[[:wikt:miscere|miscere]]'', "to mix," and ''[[:wikt:genus|genus]]'', "[[race]]" or "kind." While the [[etymology]] of the term is not pejorative, historically, "race mixing" between [[Black (people)|black]] and [[White (people)|white]] people was widely taboo; in much of the U.S. [[Southern United States|South]], miscegenation was illegal when the term was introduced in 1863.<ref>[http://caxton.stockton.edu/OldWords/discuss/msgReader$127?mode=topic Antebellum Words: A Treasury]</ref> The term frequently was used in the context of [[ethnocentric]] or racist attitudes and in laws against interracial sexual relations and [[intermarriage]]. As a result, "miscegenation" is often a [[Loaded language|loaded]] word in [[English language|English-speaking]] and may sometimes be considered offensive. The [[comte de Montlosier]], who borrowed [[Boulainvilliers]]' discourse on the "Nordic race" as being the French aristocracy that invaded the plebeian "Gauls," was held in exile during the [[French Revolution]]. He showed his antipathy toward the [[Third Estate]] by calling it "this new people born of slaves [...] mixture of all races and of all times." While the English word has a history of [[ethnocentrism]], the [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and [[French language|French]] words - ''mestizaje'', ''miscigenação'' and ''métissage'' - connote a positive ethno-cultural [[melting-pot]]. ''Interracial marriage'' or ''interracial dating'' may be more common terms in contemporary usage.  
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The term "interracial marriage" may be more common in contemporary English usage. Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing races [[marriage|marry]]. Interracial marriage is a form of [[exogamy]] (marrying outside of one's social group) and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation.
  
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'''Interracial marriage''' occurs when two people of differing [[race]]s [[marriage|marry]]. Interracial marriage is a form of [[exogamy]] (marrying outside of one's social group) and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation.
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When referring to miscegenation, some sources use "interracial" and "interethnic" interchangeably. However, "miscegenation" implies more than just different [[ethnic group|ethnicities]], since ethnicity can differ within the same race ([[Italy|Italian]], [[Poland|Polish]], and [[Ireland|Irish]] people belong to the same "race") or between [[religion]]s within the same country. The distinction between [[endogamy]] and exogamy relates to the issue of marrying—respectively—inside and outside of one's "group." In this case, "interethnic" would be the more appropriate descriptor for the union.
  
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When referring to miscegenation, some sources use "interracial" and "interethnic" interchangeably. However, "miscegenation" implies more than just different ethnicities, since ethnicity can differ within the same race (e.g. Italian, Polish, and Irish people belong to the same race) or between religions within the same country. The distinction between [[endogamy]] and exogamy relates to the issue of marrying - respectively - inside and outside of one's "group." In this case, "interethnic" would be the more appropriate descriptor for the union.
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==Miscegenation in the United States==
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[[Image:Colin_Powell_official_Secretary_of_State_photo.jpg|180px|thumb|right|Colin Powell, the 65th United States Secretary, is of mixed race and ethnicity]]
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The word "miscegenation" was first used in an anonymous [[propaganda]] [[pamphlet]] printed in [[New York City]] in late 1864, entitled, ''Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man and Negro''. The pamphlet claimed to support the "interbreeding" of "whites" and "blacks" until the races were indistinguishably mixed, claiming that this was the goal of the United States Republican Party. The actual authors were [[David Goodman Croly]], managing editor of the ''New York World,'' a Democratic Party paper, and George Wakeman, a ''World'' reporter. Republican supporters soon exposed the pamphlet as an attempt to discredit the Republicans, the [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]] administration, and the [[Abolitionism|abolitionist movement]] by exploiting the fears and racial biases common among white people. Nonetheless, this pamphlet and its variations were reprinted widely in communities on both sides of the [[American Civil War]] by Republican opponents.  
  
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==Miscegenation in the United States==
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The word miscegenation quickly entered the common language of the day and became a popular "buzzword" in political and social discourse. For a century, white [[racial segregation|segregationists]] often accused abolitionists&mdash;and, later, advocates of equal rights for African Americans&mdash;of secretly plotting the destruction of the white race through miscegenation.  
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The word ''miscegenation'' was used in an anonymous [[propaganda]] [[pamphlet]] printed in [[New York City]] in late 1864, entitled ''Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American [[White people|White Man]] and [[Negro]]''. The pamphlet claimed to support the "[[interbreeding]]" of "whites" and "[[Black people|Blacks]]" until the races were indistinguishably mixed, claiming that this was the goal of the [[United States Republican Party]]. The actual authors were [[David Goodman Croly]], managing editor of the ''[[New York World]]'', a [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] paper, and [[George Wakeman]], a ''World'' reporter. Republican supporters soon exposed the pamphlet as an attempt to discredit the Republicans, the [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]] administration, and the [[Abolitionism|abolitionist movement]] by exploiting the fears and racial biases common among white people. Nonetheless, this pamphlet and its variations were reprinted widely in communities on both sides of the [[American Civil War]] by Republican opponents.  
 
  
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The word ''miscegenation'' quickly entered the common language of the day and became a popular [[buzzword]] in political and social discourse. For a century, white [[racial segregation|segregationists]] often accused [[Abolitionism|abolitionists]] - and, later, advocates of equal rights for African Americans - of secretly plotting the destruction of the [[Whites|white race]] through miscegenation.  
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The promulgation of the "one-drop theory," which held that any person with so much as "one drop" of African blood must be regarded as completely "black," served as one important strategy intended to discourage miscegenation. The one-drop theory served as a political tool throughout the Antebellum period of the United States because it could classify any person with one black ancestor as a [[slavery|slave]]. Following the [[American Civil War]], the "theory" served as a means of promoting segregation. After [[World War II]], white segregationists commonly accused the [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|U.S. Civil Rights Movement]] and [[Martin Luther King]], Jr., of being part of a [[Communism|communist]] plot funded by the [[Soviet Union]] to destroy the “white United States” through miscegenation.  
  
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The promulgation of the [[one-drop theory]], which held that any person with so much as "one drop" of African "blood" must be regarded as completely "black," served as one important strategy intended to discourage miscegenation. The one-drop theory served as a political tool throughout the Antebellum period of the United States because it could classify any person with one black ancestor as a slave. Following the [[U.S. Civil War|Civil War]], the "theory" served as a means of promoting segregation. After [[World War II]], white segregationists commonly accused the [[U.S. Civil Rights Movement]] and [[Martin Luther King]], Jr., of being part of a [[Communism|communist]] plot funded by the [[Soviet Union]] to destroy the “white United States” through miscegenation. Late [[FBI]] director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] spent considerable resources of his fledgling federal agency in attempts to research a link between the civil rights activism of the day and the [[International Communist Movement]].
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In a 1948 publication, Gunnar Myrdal<ref>Gunnar Myrdal, "Social Trends in America and Strategic Approaches to the Negro Problem." ''Phylon,'' Vol. 9, No. 3.</ref> ranked the reasons for [[racial segregation]] according to Southern whites, in the 1930s and 1940s, in order of increasing importance: Jobs, courts and police, politics, basic public facilities, “social equality” including dancing, handshaking, and most important, marriage. Segregation in basic public facilities was abolished with the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]. The most important reason for segregation, [[marriage]], was not fully overcome until the last anti-miscegenation laws were struck down later, in 1967.  
  
 
== Anti-miscegenation laws ==
 
== Anti-miscegenation laws ==
 
===United States===
 
===United States===
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In the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, many American states passed anti-miscegenation laws, often based on controversial interpretations of the [[Bible]], particularly the story of Phinehas. These laws prohibited the solemnization of [[marriage]]s between people of different races and prohibited the officiating of wedding ceremonies, typically making miscegenation a [[felony]]. Sometimes the individuals attempting to marry would not be held guilty of miscegenation itself; felony charges of [[adultery]] or fornication would be brought against them instead. Vermont was the only state to never introduce such legislation. The 1883 [[United States Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court]] case ''Pace v. Alabama'' upheld the constitutionality of anti-miscegenation laws. The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, also known as [[Hays Code]], explicitly forbid the depiction of miscegenation. In 1965, Virginia trial court Judge Leon Bazile sent an interracial couple who had married in Washington, D.C., to prison, writing:
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<blockquote>Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay, and red, and he placed them on separate continents. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.</blockquote>
  
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In the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century, many American states passed [[anti-miscegenation laws]], often based on controversial interpretations of the [[Bible]], particularly the story of [[Phinehas, son of Eleazar|Phinehas]]. These laws prohibited the solemnization of weddings between people of different races and prohibited the officiating of such ceremonies, typically making miscegenation a felony. Sometimes the individuals attempting to marry would not be held guilty of miscegenation itself; felony charges of [[adultery]] or [[fornication]] would be brought against them instead. [[Vermont]] was the only state to never introduce such legislation. The 1883 [[United States Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court]] case ''Pace v. Alabama'' upheld the constitutionality of anti-miscegenation laws. The Motion Picture [[Production Code]] of 1930, also known as [[Hays Code]], explicitly forbid the depiction of miscegenation. In 1965, Virginia trial court Judge Leon Bazile sent an interracial couple who had married in Washington, D.C., to prison, writing:
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This decision was eventually overturned in 1967, 84 years after ''Pace v. Alabama'', when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled the following in ''Loving v. Virginia'':
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<blockquote>Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival … To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law.</blockquote>
  
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:Almighty God created the races white, black, [[Asian (people)|yellow]], [[Malays|malay]] and [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|red]], and he placed them on separate [[continents]]. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.
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When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, 16 states still had laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Those laws were not completely repealed until November 2000, when Alabama became the last state to repeal its anti-miscegenation law:
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<blockquote>after a statewide vote in a special election, Alabama became the last state to overturn a law that was an ugly reminder of America's past, a ban on interracial marriage. The one-time home of George Wallace and Martin Luther King Jr. had held onto the provision for 33 years after the Supreme Court declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. Yet as the election revealed&mdash;40 percent of Alabamans voted to keep the ban&mdash;many people still see the necessity for a law that prohibits blacks and whites from mixing blood.<ref>Suzy Hanson, [http://archive.salon.com/books/int/2001/03/08/sollors/index.html Mixing It Up.] March 8, 2001. Retrieved January 15, 2007.</ref></blockquote>
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This decision was eventually overturned in 1967, 84 years after ''Pace v. Alabama'', when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled the following in ''[[Loving v. Virginia]]'':
 
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:Marriage is one of the 'basic [[civil rights]] of man,' fundamental to our very existence and survival [...] To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the [[racial classification]]s embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]], is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law.
 
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When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled anti-miscegenation laws [[unconstitutional]], 16 states still had laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Those laws were not completely repealed until November 2000, when [[Alabama]] became the last state to repeal its anti-miscegenation law:
 
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:[...] after a statewide vote in a [[special election]], Alabama became the last state to overturn a law that was an ugly reminder of America's past, a ban on interracial marriage. The one-time home of [[George Wallace]] and [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] had held onto the provision for 33 years after the Supreme Court declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. Yet as the election revealed — 40 percent of Alabamans voted to keep the ban — many people still see the necessity for a law that prohibits blacks and whites from mixing blood.<ref>[http://archive.salon.com/books/int/2001/03/08/sollors/index.html Mixing It Up]</ref>
 
  
 
===South Africa===
 
===South Africa===
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[[South Africa]]'s [[Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act]], passed in 1949 under [[Apartheid]], forbade interracial marriages. The next year, the [[Immorality Act]] was passed, which made it a criminal offense for a white person to have any [[human sexual behavior|sexual relations]] with a person of a different race. Both Acts were repealed in 1985. Two decades later, the intermarriage rates between the two races remains lower than in Europe and North America.
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[[South Africa]]'s Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, passed in 1949, under [[Apartheid]], forbade interracial [[marriage]]s. The next year, the Immorality Act was passed, which made it a [[crime|criminal]] offense for a white person to have any [[human sexuality|sexual relations]] with a person of a different race. Both Acts were repealed in 1985. Two decades later, the intermarriage rates between the two races remained lower than in [[Europe]] and [[North America]].
  
 
===Germany===
 
===Germany===
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In [[Germany]], an anti-miscegenation law was enacted by the [[National Socialist]] government in September 1935 as part of the [[Nuremberg Laws]]. The ''Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre'' (Protection of German Blood and German Honor Act) forbade marriage and extra-marital sexual relations between persons of [[Jew]]ish origin and persons of "German or related blood." Such intercourse was marked as ''Rassenschande'' (lit. ''race-disgrace'') and could be punished by imprisonment or even by death.
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In [[Germany]], an anti-miscegenation law was enacted by the [[Nazism|National Socialist]] [[government]] in September 1935, as part of the Nuremberg Laws. The ''Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre'' (Protection of German Blood and German Honor Act) forbade [[marriage]] and extra-marital sexual relations between persons of [[Judaism|Jew]]ish origin and persons of "German or related blood." Such intercourse was marked as ''Rassenschande'' (lit. ''race-disgrace'') and could be punished by imprisonment or even by death.
  
 
===Israel===
 
===Israel===
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Under current [[Israel]]i law, [[Jews]] and [[goy|non-Jews]] cannot marry.<ref>[http://www.irac.org/article_e.asp?artid=16 The Right to Marry]</ref> Authority over all issues related to marriage fall under the Orthodox [[Rabbi]]nate which prohibits civil unions and marriage through non-Orthodox Rabbis. The Justice Ministry is proposing a bill to allow civil unions of Jews and non-Jews, to allow them the same rights afforded to married Jews. According to a [[Haaretz]] article, "Justice Ministry drafts civil marriage law for 'refuseniks,'" 300,000 people are affected.<ref>[http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=12854 Information Liberation]</ref> Given the existing difficulties in defining a "Jew" as opposed to a "non-Jew," controversies of interpretation have undoubtedly ensued.
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Under [[Israel]]i law, [[Judaism|Jews]] and non-Jews cannot marry.<ref>Daniel J. Elazar,
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[http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/conversion.htm How Do the Issues in the Conversion Controversy Relate to Israel?] Retrieved January 15, 2007.</ref> Authority over all issues related to [[marriage]] falls under the Orthodox Rabbinate which prohibits civil unions and marriage through non-Orthodox Rabbis. The Justice Ministry is proposing a bill to allow civil unions of Jews and non-Jews, to allow them the same rights afforded to married Jews. According to a ''Haaretz'' article, "Justice Ministry drafts civil marriage law for 'refuseniks,'" 300,000 people are affected.<ref>Yuval Azoulay, [http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=12854 Justice Ministry drafts civil marriage law for "refuseniks."] Retrieved January 15, 2007.</ref> Given the existing difficulties in defining a "Jew" as opposed to a "non-Jew," controversies of interpretation inevitably ensued.
  
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==Promoting miscegenation==
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==Mulatto==
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Miscegenation was commonplace in the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese colonies]]; courts even supported the practice as a way to boost low populations and guarantee a successful and cohesive settlement. Thus, settlers often released [[African slave]]s to become their wives. Similarly, as exemplified in [[Goa]], Portuguese soldiers were encouraged to marry native women to ensure their conversion to [[Catholic Christianity]]. Some of the children were guaranteed full [[Portuguese citizenship]], possibly based on lighter skin color, but not necessarily race. Mixed marriages between [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] and locals in former [[colonies]] were very common. Miscegenation remained common in [[Africa]] until the independence of the former Portuguese colonies in the mid-1970s. Some former Portuguese colonies such as [[Brazil]], [[Cape Verde]], and [[São Tomé e Príncipe]] continue to have large [[multiracial|mixed-race]] populations.
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[[Image:401px-Halle Berry fleet week.jpg|thumb|180px|Halle Berry, American film star, is half black and half white]]
  
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[[Asians in South Africa|Asian Indian]] men, longtime traders in [[East Africa]], have married many [[Africa]]n women. The [[British Empire]] brought workers into East Africa to build the [[Uganda Railway]], and Indians eventually populated [[South Africa]], [[Kenya]], [[Uganda]], [[Tanzania]], [[Rwanda]], [[Rhodesia]], and [[Zaire]]. These interracial unions continue to be mostly unilateral marriages between Asian Indian men and East African women.<ref>[http://www.colorq.org/MeltingPot/article.aspx?d=Africa&x=Indians Jotawa: Afro-Asians in East Africa]</ref>
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A '''mulatto''' (also '''mulato''') is a person of mixed ancestry, a child of miscegenation, specifically with an [[Africa]]n and a [[Europe]]an parent (half black and half white), the offspring of two mulatto parents, or a person with a mixture of African/European ancestry. Mulatto was an official census category in the [[United States]] until 1930.<ref>usa.impus.org, [http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst1930.shtml 1930 Census: Enumerator Instructions--Personal Description.] Retrieved January 16, 2007.</ref>
  
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The number of interracial marriages in the United States has been on the rise: 310,000 in 1970, 651,000 in 1980, and 1,161,000 in 1992 according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census 1993. Mixed marriages represented 0.7% of all marriages in 1970, 1.3% in 1980, and 2.2% in 1992. However, black-white marriages still tend to be the most controversial in the public eye. Marriage between white people and Asians, particularly light-skinned North East Asians such as Chinese, is often looked upon as being the non-controversial interracial pairing in the United States and is becoming somewhat common. People cite the similarity in skin color and low instances of racial strife between white people and Asians in the U.S. since World War II as reasons for the widespread acceptability of such unions.
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The origin of the term given by most dictionaries is [[mule]], from the [[Latin]] ''mulus,'' or from the Spanish and Portuguese ''mulo,'' once a generic designation name for any hybrid. Because of this, some [[English language|English-speakers]] consider the term offensive, whereas speakers of [[Spanish language|Spanish]] or [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] often consider the term acceptable.<ref>Vania Penha-Lopes, "What Next? On Race and Assimilation in the United States and Brazil," ''Journal of Black Studies,'' Vol. 26, No. 6, 809-826.</ref> The former might prefer terms like "biracial" or "mixed" instead.  
  
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===Mulatto===
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In the United States, the term was in the beginning also used as a term for those of mixed white and [[Native American]] ancestry. In the south of the country mulattoes inherited [[slavery|slave]] status if the mother was a slave, although in French-influenced areas of the South prior to the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] (particularly New Orleans, Louisiana) a number of mulattoes were also free and slave-owning.
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[[Image:401px-Halle Berry fleet week.jpg|thumb|180px|Halle Berry, American film star, is half [[Black_people|black ]] and half [[White_people|white]]]]
 
  
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A '''mulatto''' (also '''mulato''') is a person of mixed ancestry with an African and a European parent (half black and half white), the offspring of two mulatto parents, or a person with a mixture of African/European ancestry. 
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Mulattoes represent a significant portion of various countries in [[Latin America]]: [[Cuba]] (approx. 51 percent), [[Brazil]] (approx. 38 percent), [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], [[Panama]] (approx. 14 percent), [[Costa Rica]] (approx. 5 percent), [[Honduras]], [[Nicaragua]], and [[Puerto Rico]].<ref>Frank F. Sweet, [http://essays.backintyme.biz/item/12 The Heredity of “Racial” Traits,] ''Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule''. Retrieved January 15, 2007.</ref>
  
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The origin of the term given by most dictionaries is [[mule]], from the [[Latin]] ''mulus'' or from the Spanish and Portuguese ''mulo'', once a generic designation name for any [[hybrid]]. Because of this, some [[English language|English-speakers]] consider the term offensive, whereas speakers of [[Spanish language|Spanish]] or [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] often consider the term acceptable.<ref>Vania Penha-Lopes. "What Next? On Race and Assimilation in the United States and Brazil." Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 26, No. 6 (Jul., 1996), pp. 809-826</ref>
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The roughly 200,000 Africans brought to [[Mexico]] were for the most part absorbed by the [[mestizo]] populations of mixed European and [[American Indian]] descent. The state of Guerrero once had a large population of African [[slavery|slaves]]. Other Mexican states inhabited by people with some African ancestry, along with other ancestries, include Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Yucatan. The African and mulatto populations were even more absorbed after the abolition of slavery. The blending of Native American, European, and African elements over four and a half centuries produced new cultures reflective of the mixing of these peoples.
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The former might prefer terms like "biracial" or "mixed" instead.  
 
  
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In the [[United States]], the term was in the beginning also used as a term for those of mixed white and Native American ancestry. ''Mulatto'' was an official census category until 1930.<ref>https://www.ipums.umn.edu/usa/voliii/inst1930.html</ref> In the south of the country mulattoes inherited slave status if the mother was a slave, although in French-influenced areas of the South prior to the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] (particularly [[New Orleans, Louisiana]]) a number of mulattoes were also free and slave-owning.
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In the [[Dominican Republic]], the mulatto population has also absorbed the small number of [[Taíno]] native people once present in that country. A 1960 census included color categories such as white, black, yellow, and mulatto. Since then, any racial components have been dropped from the Dominican census.
  
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===Latin America===
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In [[Haiti]] (formerly [[Saint-Domingue]]), mulattoes represented a smaller proportion of the population than in many other Latin American countries. They made up a class of their own. Often they were highly educated and wealthy. Many Haitian mulattoes were also slaveholders and as such actively participated in the suppression of the black majority. However, some also actively fought for the abolition of slavery. Distinguished mulattoes such as Nicolas Suard and others were prime examples of mulattoes who devoted their time, energy, and financial means to this cause. Some were also members of the ''Les Amis des Noirs'' in [[Paris]], an association that fought for the abolition of slavery. Nevertheless, many mulattoes were slaughtered by African Haitians during the wars of independence in order to secure African political power over the island. Earlier some African volunteers had already aligned themselves with the French against the mulattoes during the first and second mulatto rebellion. In Haiti, mulattoes initially possessed legal equality with the unmixed French population. This provided them with many benefits, including [[inheritance]]. In the eighteenth century, however, Europeans fearful of slave revolts had restricted their rights, but they were successfully reclaimed in 1791. Mulattoes made up about 10 percent of the Haiti's population at the end of the twentieth century.
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Mulattoes represent a significant portion of various countries in [[Latin America]]: [[Cuba]] (approx. 51%), [[Brazil]] (approx. 38%), [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], [[Panama]] (approx. 14%), [[Costa Rica]] (approx. 5%), [[Honduras]], and [[Nicaragua]].
 
  
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The roughly 200,000 Africans brought to Mexico were for the most part absorbed by the [[mestizo]] populations of mixed European and [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Amerindian ]] descent. The state of [[Guerrero]] once had a large population of African slaves. Other Mexican states inhabited by people with some African ancestry, along with other ancestries, include [[Oaxaca]], [[Veracruz]], and [[Yucatan]].
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==Promoting miscegenation==
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[[File:Lennons by Jack Mitchell.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]], an interracial couple]]
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When slavery was abolished {{fact}}, the African and Mulatto populations were even more absorbed. Culturally the blending of native American, European and African elements over four and a half centuries produced new cultures reflective of the mixing of these peoples.
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Miscegenation was commonplace in the [[Portugal|Portuguese colonies]]; courts even supported the practice as a way to boost low populations and guarantee a successful and cohesive settlement. Thus, settlers often released [[Africa]]n [[slavery|slave]]s to become their wives. Similarly, as exemplified in [[Goa]], Portuguese soldiers were encouraged to marry native women to ensure their conversion to [[Catholicism]]. Some of the children were guaranteed full Portuguese citizenship, possibly based on lighter skin color, but not necessarily race. Mixed [[marriage]]s between Portuguese and locals in former colonies were very common. Miscegenation remained common in Africa until the independence of the former Portuguese colonies in the mid-1970s. Some former Portuguese colonies such as [[Brazil]], [[Cape Verde]], and [[São Tomé e Príncipe]] continue to have large mixed-race populations.  
  
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Mulattoes also constitute a significant portion of the population of [[Puerto Rico]].<ref>[http://backintyme.com/essay041215.htm The Heredity of “Racial” Traits]</ref>
+
Asian Indian men, longtime traders in [[East Africa]], have married many [[Africa]]n women. The [[British Empire]] brought workers into East Africa to build the Uganda Railway, and Indians eventually populated [[South Africa]], [[Kenya]], [[Uganda]], [[Tanzania]], [[Rwanda]], [[Rhodesia]], and [[Zaire]]. These interracial unions continue to be mostly unilateral marriages between Asian Indian men and East African women.<ref>Color Q World, [http://www.colorq.org/MeltingPot/article.aspx?d=Africa&x=Indians Jotawa: Afro-Asians in East Africa.] Retrieved January 15, 2007.</ref>
  
−
In [[Haiti]] (formerly [[Saint-Domingue]]), mulattoes represented a smaller proportion of the population than in many other Latin American countries. They made up a class of their own. Often they were highly educated and wealthy. Many Haitian mulattoes were also slaveholders and as such actively participated in the suppression of the black majority. However, some also actively fought for the abolition of slavery. Distinguished mulattoes such as [[Nicolas Suard]] and others were prime examples of mulattoes who devoted their time, energy and financial means to this cause. Some were also members of the ''Les Amis des Noirs'' in Paris, an association that fought for the abolition of slavery. Nevertheless, many mulattoes were slaughtered by African Haitians during the wars of independence in order to secure African political power over the island. Earlier some African volunteers had already aligned themselves with the French against the mulattoes during the first and second mulatto rebellion. In Haiti, mulattoes initially possessed legal equality with the unmixed French population. This provided them with many benefits, including inheritance. In the 18th century, however, Europeans fearful of slave revolts had restricted their rights, but they were successfully reclaimed in 1791. Mulattoes make up about 10% of the Haiti's current population.
+
The number of interracial marriages in the [[United States]] has been on the rise: 310,000 in 1970, 651,000 in 1980, and 1,161,000 in 1992, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census 1993. Mixed marriages represented 0.7 percent of all marriages in 1970, 1.3 percent in 1980, and 2.2 percent in 1992. However, black-white marriages still tend to be the most controversial in the public eye. Marriage between white people and [[Asia]]ns, particularly light-skinned North East Asians such as Chinese, is often looked upon as being the non-controversial interracial pairing in the United States and is becoming somewhat common. People cite the similarity in skin color and low instances of racial strife between white people and Asians in the U.S. since [[World War II]] as reasons for the widespread acceptability of such unions.
  
−
==Footnotes==
+
==Notes==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
  
−
#<small id="1"></small>In the Dominican Republic, the mulatto population has also absorbed the small number of [[Taíno]] [[Amerindian]]s once present in that country.
+
==References==
−
#<small id="2"></small>Based on a 1960 census that included color categories such as white, Black, yellow, and mulatto. Since then, any racial components have been dropped from the Dominican census.
+
* Azoulay, Yuval. [http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=12854 Justice Ministry drafts civil marriage law for "refuseniks."] ''Information Liberation'', 2006. Retrieved January 15, 2007.
 +
* Cambridge Dictionary of American English. [http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=mulatto*1+0&dict=A "Mulatto": Definition 3.] ''Cambridge Dictionaries Online''. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
 +
* Color Q World. [http://www.colorq.org/MeltingPot/article.aspx?d=Africa&x=Indians Jotawa: Afro-Asians in East Africa.] Retrieved January 15, 2007.
 +
* Elazar, Daniel J. [http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/conversion.htm How Do the Issues in the Conversion Controversy Relate to Israel?] ''Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs''. Retrieved January 15, 2007.
 +
* Freitag, Ulrike. [http://www.al-bab.com/bys/articles/freitag99.htm Hadhrami migration in the 19th and 20th centuries.] ''The British-Yemeni Society'', 1999. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
 +
* Hanson, Suzy. [http://archive.salon.com/books/int/2001/03/08/sollors/index.html Mixing It Up.] ''Salon.com'', 2001. Retrieved January 15, 2007.
 +
*Hodes, Martha. ''Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History.''Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. ISBN 0395671736
 +
* Kinsella, Tom. [http://caxton.stockton.edu/OldWords/discuss/msgReader$127?mode=topic Antebellum Words: A Treasury.] ''Old Words: Divining the Past with Words'', 2006. Retrieved January 15, 2007.
 +
* Labrado, Julio Izquierdo. [http://www.mgar.net/var/esclavos3.htm ''La esclavitud en Huelva y Palos (1570-1587)''.] 1993. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
 +
* Lexico Publishing Group. [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=mulatto "Mulatto:" Definition 1.] ''Dictionary.com'', 2007. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
 +
* Merriam-Webster. [http://m-w.com/dictionary/mulatto "Mulatto:" Definition 2.] ''Merriam-Webster Online''. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
 +
* Myntti, Cynthia. [http://www.aiys.org/webdate/gadr.html Interview: Hamid Al-Gadri.] ''Yemen Articles'', 1994. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
 +
* Penha-Lopes, Vania. "What Next? On Race and Assimilation in the United States and Brazil." ''Journal of Black Studies'', Vol. 26, No. 6, (1996): 809-826.
 +
* Salloum, Habeeb. [http://www.syriatoday.ca/salloum-arab-lan.htm The Impact of the Arab Language and Culture on English and the Other European Languages.] ''SyriaToday'', 2003. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
 +
* Sweet, Frank F. The Heredity of “Racial” Traits. ''Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule'', 2004.
  
−
==Sources==
+
==External links==
−
* Julio Izquierdo Labrado (1993): ''La esclavitud en Huelva y Palos (1570-1587)'' [http://www.mgar.net/var/esclavos3.htm]
+
All links retrieved November 9, 2022.
−
* Leopoldo Eguilaz y Yanguas (1886): ''Glosario de las palabras españolas (castellanas, catalanas, gallegas, mallorquinas, protugueses, valencianas y bascongadas), de orígen oriental (árabe, hebreo, malayo, persa y turco)''. Granada, La Lealtad, 1886.
 
−
* [http://www.syriatoday.ca/salloum-arab-lan.htm ''SyriaToday''] Mulatto not derived from Latin but an Arabic loan-word
 
−
* [http://www.aiys.org/webdate/frei.html ''Yemen Reviews Hadhrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s-1960s. Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia, vol. 57.'' Leiden: Brill, 1997. x, 392 pp. ISBN 90-04 10771 1 LC# JV8750.5.H33 1997] Engseng Ho, an anthropologist, discusses the role of the muwallad in the region. The term muwallad, used primarily in reference to those of 'mixed blood,' is brilliantly analyzed through ethnographic and textual information.
 
−
* [http://www.al-bab.com/bys/articles/freitag99.htm ''The British-Yemeni Society, Hadhrami migration in the 19th and 20th centuries'']
 
−
*[http://www.aiys.org/webdate/gadr.html ''Yemen Articles Interwiev: Hamid Al-Gadri'']
 
−
* [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=mulatto ''Dictionary.com by the Lexico Publishing Group'': mulatto Definition 1.]
 
−
* [http://m-w.com/dictionary/mulatto ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'': mulatto Definition 2.]
 
−
* [http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=mulatto*1+0&dict=A ''Cambridge Dictionary of American English'': mulatto Definition 3.]
 
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*{{cite book|author=Hodes, Martha, ed. "Miscegenation"|title=Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History|location=New York, Boston | publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=1998|id=ISBN 0-395-67173-6}}
 
  
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==External links==
+
* [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/POCA/POC_mix.html Pocahontas and Miscegenation]  
−
* [http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/mulatto/ An article on the mulatto depictions in fiction]
+
* [http://www.asian-nation.org/interracial.shtml Asian-Nation: Interracial Marriage Among Asian Americans]  
−
* [http://www.mulatto.org Mulatto.org]
+
* [http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v21/i3/interracial.asp Interracial marriage &mdash; is it Biblical?] (from a creationist site, answering "yes," thus opposing "anti-miscegenation" ideas)
−
* [http://www.asian-nation.org/interracial.shtml Asian-Nation: Interracial Marriage Among Asian Americans] by C.N. Le, Ph.D.
+
* [http://www.interracialvoice.com/ Interracial Voice] (web magazine about multiracial individuals and interracial relationships)  
−
* [http://www.addictedtorace.com Addicted to Race:] a podcast about America's obsession with race, with a specific emphasis on mixed race identity and interracial relationships. Hosted by Jen Chau and Carmen Van Kerckhove
+
* [http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/mulatto/ The Tragic Mulatto Myth] An article on the mulatto depictions in fiction.  
−
* [http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/1483/Miscegenation_a_story_of_racial_intimacy The "Miscegenation" pamphlet]
 
−
*[http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/POCA/POC_mix.html Pocahontas and Miscegenation]
 
−
* [http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v21/i3/interracial.asp Interracial marriage &mdash; is it Biblical?] (from a creationist site, answering "yes", thus opposing "anti-miscegenation" ideas)
 
−
* [http://www.interracialvoice.com/ Interracial Voice] (web magazine about multiracial individuals and interracial relationships) [http://www.interracialvoice.com/ed_arch.html archive of articles]
 
−
* [http://magazine.interracialweb.com INTERracialWeb.com Magazine]
 
−
* [http://www.lovingday.org/ Loving Day. June 12. Commemorating the day in 1967 when Interethnic couples were legalized]
 
−
* [http://multiracial.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=1&id=24&Itemid=2 The Multiracial Activist - News: Interracial and Intercultural Families]
 
−
* [http://interracialdatingguide.com/WhyDateOutsideYourRace/ Interracial Dating Guide] Interracial dating and relationship education for today's society
 
  
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{{Credits|Miscegenation|79857398|Interracial_marriage|88783973|Mulatto|91196022|Yoko_Ono|101183306}}

Latest revision as of 11:09, 10 March 2023


Frederick Douglass with his second wife Helen Pitts Douglass (sitting) who was white, a famous nineteenth century American example of "miscegenation." The woman standing is her sister, Eva Pitts.

Miscegenation (Latin miscere "to mix" + genus "kind") is the mixing of different races, especially through marriage. Often referred to in the context of black and white people, miscegenation occurs between all races, regardless of skin color. Although it has been controversial and often illegal throughout human history, many nations and peoples have begun to accept, and even promote, miscegenation as a natural result of interpersonal relationships. In an increasingly globalized society, where different cultures are constantly interacting with one another, miscegenation provides a process for linking the lineages of all aspects of humankind together inextricably, and harmoniously, laying the foundation for the emergence of a world of peace.

Etymological history

"Miscegenation" comes from the Latin miscere, "to mix," and genus, "race" or "kind." While the etymology of the term is not pejorative, historically, "race mixing" between black and white people was widely taboo. In much of the U.S. South, miscegenation was illegal when the term was introduced in 1863.[1] The term frequently was used in the context of ethnocentric or racist attitudes and in laws against interracial sexual relations and intermarriage. As a result, "miscegenation" is often a loaded word in English-speaking countries and may be considered offensive. While the English word has a history of ethnocentrism, the Spanish, Portuguese, and French words—mestizaje, miscigenação, and métissage—connote a positive ethno-cultural "melting-pot."

The term "interracial marriage" may be more common in contemporary English usage. Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing races marry. Interracial marriage is a form of exogamy (marrying outside of one's social group) and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation.

When referring to miscegenation, some sources use "interracial" and "interethnic" interchangeably. However, "miscegenation" implies more than just different ethnicities, since ethnicity can differ within the same race (Italian, Polish, and Irish people belong to the same "race") or between religions within the same country. The distinction between endogamy and exogamy relates to the issue of marrying—respectively—inside and outside of one's "group." In this case, "interethnic" would be the more appropriate descriptor for the union.

Miscegenation in the United States

Colin Powell, the 65th United States Secretary, is of mixed race and ethnicity

The word "miscegenation" was first used in an anonymous propaganda pamphlet printed in New York City in late 1864, entitled, Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man and Negro. The pamphlet claimed to support the "interbreeding" of "whites" and "blacks" until the races were indistinguishably mixed, claiming that this was the goal of the United States Republican Party. The actual authors were David Goodman Croly, managing editor of the New York World, a Democratic Party paper, and George Wakeman, a World reporter. Republican supporters soon exposed the pamphlet as an attempt to discredit the Republicans, the Lincoln administration, and the abolitionist movement by exploiting the fears and racial biases common among white people. Nonetheless, this pamphlet and its variations were reprinted widely in communities on both sides of the American Civil War by Republican opponents.

The word miscegenation quickly entered the common language of the day and became a popular "buzzword" in political and social discourse. For a century, white segregationists often accused abolitionists—and, later, advocates of equal rights for African Americans—of secretly plotting the destruction of the white race through miscegenation.

The promulgation of the "one-drop theory," which held that any person with so much as "one drop" of African blood must be regarded as completely "black," served as one important strategy intended to discourage miscegenation. The one-drop theory served as a political tool throughout the Antebellum period of the United States because it could classify any person with one black ancestor as a slave. Following the American Civil War, the "theory" served as a means of promoting segregation. After World War II, white segregationists commonly accused the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King, Jr., of being part of a communist plot funded by the Soviet Union to destroy the “white United States” through miscegenation.

In a 1948 publication, Gunnar Myrdal[2] ranked the reasons for racial segregation according to Southern whites, in the 1930s and 1940s, in order of increasing importance: Jobs, courts and police, politics, basic public facilities, “social equality” including dancing, handshaking, and most important, marriage. Segregation in basic public facilities was abolished with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most important reason for segregation, marriage, was not fully overcome until the last anti-miscegenation laws were struck down later, in 1967.

Anti-miscegenation laws

United States

In the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, many American states passed anti-miscegenation laws, often based on controversial interpretations of the Bible, particularly the story of Phinehas. These laws prohibited the solemnization of marriages between people of different races and prohibited the officiating of wedding ceremonies, typically making miscegenation a felony. Sometimes the individuals attempting to marry would not be held guilty of miscegenation itself; felony charges of adultery or fornication would be brought against them instead. Vermont was the only state to never introduce such legislation. The 1883 U.S. Supreme Court case Pace v. Alabama upheld the constitutionality of anti-miscegenation laws. The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, also known as Hays Code, explicitly forbid the depiction of miscegenation. In 1965, Virginia trial court Judge Leon Bazile sent an interracial couple who had married in Washington, D.C., to prison, writing:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay, and red, and he placed them on separate continents. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

This decision was eventually overturned in 1967, 84 years after Pace v. Alabama, when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled the following in Loving v. Virginia:

Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival … To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, 16 states still had laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Those laws were not completely repealed until November 2000, when Alabama became the last state to repeal its anti-miscegenation law:

after a statewide vote in a special election, Alabama became the last state to overturn a law that was an ugly reminder of America's past, a ban on interracial marriage. The one-time home of George Wallace and Martin Luther King Jr. had held onto the provision for 33 years after the Supreme Court declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. Yet as the election revealed—40 percent of Alabamans voted to keep the ban—many people still see the necessity for a law that prohibits blacks and whites from mixing blood.[3]

South Africa

South Africa's Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, passed in 1949, under Apartheid, forbade interracial marriages. The next year, the Immorality Act was passed, which made it a criminal offense for a white person to have any sexual relations with a person of a different race. Both Acts were repealed in 1985. Two decades later, the intermarriage rates between the two races remained lower than in Europe and North America.

Germany

In Germany, an anti-miscegenation law was enacted by the National Socialist government in September 1935, as part of the Nuremberg Laws. The Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre (Protection of German Blood and German Honor Act) forbade marriage and extra-marital sexual relations between persons of Jewish origin and persons of "German or related blood." Such intercourse was marked as Rassenschande (lit. race-disgrace) and could be punished by imprisonment or even by death.

Israel

Under Israeli law, Jews and non-Jews cannot marry.[4] Authority over all issues related to marriage falls under the Orthodox Rabbinate which prohibits civil unions and marriage through non-Orthodox Rabbis. The Justice Ministry is proposing a bill to allow civil unions of Jews and non-Jews, to allow them the same rights afforded to married Jews. According to a Haaretz article, "Justice Ministry drafts civil marriage law for 'refuseniks,'" 300,000 people are affected.[5] Given the existing difficulties in defining a "Jew" as opposed to a "non-Jew," controversies of interpretation inevitably ensued.

Mulatto

Halle Berry, American film star, is half black and half white

A mulatto (also mulato) is a person of mixed ancestry, a child of miscegenation, specifically with an African and a European parent (half black and half white), the offspring of two mulatto parents, or a person with a mixture of African/European ancestry. Mulatto was an official census category in the United States until 1930.[6]

The origin of the term given by most dictionaries is mule, from the Latin mulus, or from the Spanish and Portuguese mulo, once a generic designation name for any hybrid. Because of this, some English-speakers consider the term offensive, whereas speakers of Spanish or Portuguese often consider the term acceptable.[7] The former might prefer terms like "biracial" or "mixed" instead.

In the United States, the term was in the beginning also used as a term for those of mixed white and Native American ancestry. In the south of the country mulattoes inherited slave status if the mother was a slave, although in French-influenced areas of the South prior to the Civil War (particularly New Orleans, Louisiana) a number of mulattoes were also free and slave-owning.

Mulattoes represent a significant portion of various countries in Latin America: Cuba (approx. 51 percent), Brazil (approx. 38 percent), Colombia, Venezuela, Panama (approx. 14 percent), Costa Rica (approx. 5 percent), Honduras, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico.[8]

The roughly 200,000 Africans brought to Mexico were for the most part absorbed by the mestizo populations of mixed European and American Indian descent. The state of Guerrero once had a large population of African slaves. Other Mexican states inhabited by people with some African ancestry, along with other ancestries, include Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Yucatan. The African and mulatto populations were even more absorbed after the abolition of slavery. The blending of Native American, European, and African elements over four and a half centuries produced new cultures reflective of the mixing of these peoples.

In the Dominican Republic, the mulatto population has also absorbed the small number of Taíno native people once present in that country. A 1960 census included color categories such as white, black, yellow, and mulatto. Since then, any racial components have been dropped from the Dominican census.

In Haiti (formerly Saint-Domingue), mulattoes represented a smaller proportion of the population than in many other Latin American countries. They made up a class of their own. Often they were highly educated and wealthy. Many Haitian mulattoes were also slaveholders and as such actively participated in the suppression of the black majority. However, some also actively fought for the abolition of slavery. Distinguished mulattoes such as Nicolas Suard and others were prime examples of mulattoes who devoted their time, energy, and financial means to this cause. Some were also members of the Les Amis des Noirs in Paris, an association that fought for the abolition of slavery. Nevertheless, many mulattoes were slaughtered by African Haitians during the wars of independence in order to secure African political power over the island. Earlier some African volunteers had already aligned themselves with the French against the mulattoes during the first and second mulatto rebellion. In Haiti, mulattoes initially possessed legal equality with the unmixed French population. This provided them with many benefits, including inheritance. In the eighteenth century, however, Europeans fearful of slave revolts had restricted their rights, but they were successfully reclaimed in 1791. Mulattoes made up about 10 percent of the Haiti's population at the end of the twentieth century.

Promoting miscegenation

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, an interracial couple

Miscegenation was commonplace in the Portuguese colonies; courts even supported the practice as a way to boost low populations and guarantee a successful and cohesive settlement. Thus, settlers often released African slaves to become their wives. Similarly, as exemplified in Goa, Portuguese soldiers were encouraged to marry native women to ensure their conversion to Catholicism. Some of the children were guaranteed full Portuguese citizenship, possibly based on lighter skin color, but not necessarily race. Mixed marriages between Portuguese and locals in former colonies were very common. Miscegenation remained common in Africa until the independence of the former Portuguese colonies in the mid-1970s. Some former Portuguese colonies such as Brazil, Cape Verde, and São Tomé e Príncipe continue to have large mixed-race populations.

Asian Indian men, longtime traders in East Africa, have married many African women. The British Empire brought workers into East Africa to build the Uganda Railway, and Indians eventually populated South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Rhodesia, and Zaire. These interracial unions continue to be mostly unilateral marriages between Asian Indian men and East African women.[9]

The number of interracial marriages in the United States has been on the rise: 310,000 in 1970, 651,000 in 1980, and 1,161,000 in 1992, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census 1993. Mixed marriages represented 0.7 percent of all marriages in 1970, 1.3 percent in 1980, and 2.2 percent in 1992. However, black-white marriages still tend to be the most controversial in the public eye. Marriage between white people and Asians, particularly light-skinned North East Asians such as Chinese, is often looked upon as being the non-controversial interracial pairing in the United States and is becoming somewhat common. People cite the similarity in skin color and low instances of racial strife between white people and Asians in the U.S. since World War II as reasons for the widespread acceptability of such unions.

Notes

  1. ↑ Tom Kinsella, Antebellum Words: A Treasury. Retrieved January 15, 2007.
  2. ↑ Gunnar Myrdal, "Social Trends in America and Strategic Approaches to the Negro Problem." Phylon, Vol. 9, No. 3.
  3. ↑ Suzy Hanson, Mixing It Up. March 8, 2001. Retrieved January 15, 2007.
  4. ↑ Daniel J. Elazar, How Do the Issues in the Conversion Controversy Relate to Israel? Retrieved January 15, 2007.
  5. ↑ Yuval Azoulay, Justice Ministry drafts civil marriage law for "refuseniks." Retrieved January 15, 2007.
  6. ↑ usa.impus.org, 1930 Census: Enumerator Instructions—Personal Description. Retrieved January 16, 2007.
  7. ↑ Vania Penha-Lopes, "What Next? On Race and Assimilation in the United States and Brazil," Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 26, No. 6, 809-826.
  8. ↑ Frank F. Sweet, The Heredity of “Racial” Traits, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule. Retrieved January 15, 2007.
  9. ↑ Color Q World, Jotawa: Afro-Asians in East Africa. Retrieved January 15, 2007.

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