Relationships
For years segregation played a significant role in the United States. Today we have evolved as a nation in ways that protect our liberty and basic rights as individuals regardless of our ethnicity or the color of our skin. Before the 13th 14th and 15th Amendment the lives of African slaves seemed to be dictated and degraded by Caucasians, the superior race at the time. African Americans were now able to obtain freedom through these Amendments, however, they were still greatly discriminated, treated as minorities, and were highly segregated.
Today thanks to our history, we are able to befriend and love whomever we want and there is no law that keeps us from doing so. Jim Crow laws defied that approach by segregating white Caucasians from numerous of races with an emphasis on the separation of whites and blacks. These laws altered the lives of African Americans forcing them into a life of separation and unfairness. Racial segregation existed within every corner of society school systems, transportation, and even the prohibition of interracial marriages 1. Jim Crow Laws began taking over the states and soon things such as intermarriage became unlawful. In Maryland, “All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, or between a white person and a member of the Malay race; or between the negro a and a member of the Malay race; or between a person of Negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, and a member of the Malay race, are forever prohibited, and shall be void.”2 Laws like this were strongly adapted in places such as Mississippi, Arizona, Florida, Missouri, and Wyoming.
It is shocking to see how such laws existed within this country not too long ago. These interracial marriage laws were applied In South Carolina and Alabama until 1998 and 2000. In 1958 a white man by the name of Mr. Loving married Mildred Jeter, who was black and Native American. “Loving was convicted of violating a law against interracial marriage, the Loving’s fought for their rights and won a landmark 1967 Supreme Court case that struck down such bans nationwide.”3 This nine year battle for the freedom of their marriage was one that paved the way to justice.
These laws continued to exist however, stronger in some states than other. In 2009, only a few years ago today, a justice of the peace from Louisiana by the name of Keith Bardwell, refused to marry a black man and white women stating the following: “I am not a racist, I just do not believe in mixing the races.”4 Mixing of the races was the biggest concern within the white community and the idea of intermarriages. They believed that these laws were in a way dated back to the colonial era in order to preserve the white race. Many did not believe that the 14th Amendment or any other part of the constitution addressed the unlawfulness of the preservation of one’s own kind. Intermarriage was seen as, “the corruption of blood” that would “weaken or destroy the quality of citizenship.” Children were taught this at a young in hopes to preserve the race, and actual barriers and signs within neighbor hoods would make sure blacks stayed away. 5
“Today, there are more than 4 million mixed marriages in the United States, and roughly one in seven new marriages are between people of different ethnicities.”6 it is safe to say that we have a long way since the Jim Crow Laws which defied the true meaning of liberty and social justice. People who fought against these laws such as Loving are whom we have to thank for our freedom of interracial marriage.
Today thanks to our history, we are able to befriend and love whomever we want and there is no law that keeps us from doing so. Jim Crow laws defied that approach by segregating white Caucasians from numerous of races with an emphasis on the separation of whites and blacks. These laws altered the lives of African Americans forcing them into a life of separation and unfairness. Racial segregation existed within every corner of society school systems, transportation, and even the prohibition of interracial marriages 1. Jim Crow Laws began taking over the states and soon things such as intermarriage became unlawful. In Maryland, “All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, or between a white person and a member of the Malay race; or between the negro a and a member of the Malay race; or between a person of Negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, and a member of the Malay race, are forever prohibited, and shall be void.”2 Laws like this were strongly adapted in places such as Mississippi, Arizona, Florida, Missouri, and Wyoming.
It is shocking to see how such laws existed within this country not too long ago. These interracial marriage laws were applied In South Carolina and Alabama until 1998 and 2000. In 1958 a white man by the name of Mr. Loving married Mildred Jeter, who was black and Native American. “Loving was convicted of violating a law against interracial marriage, the Loving’s fought for their rights and won a landmark 1967 Supreme Court case that struck down such bans nationwide.”3 This nine year battle for the freedom of their marriage was one that paved the way to justice.
These laws continued to exist however, stronger in some states than other. In 2009, only a few years ago today, a justice of the peace from Louisiana by the name of Keith Bardwell, refused to marry a black man and white women stating the following: “I am not a racist, I just do not believe in mixing the races.”4 Mixing of the races was the biggest concern within the white community and the idea of intermarriages. They believed that these laws were in a way dated back to the colonial era in order to preserve the white race. Many did not believe that the 14th Amendment or any other part of the constitution addressed the unlawfulness of the preservation of one’s own kind. Intermarriage was seen as, “the corruption of blood” that would “weaken or destroy the quality of citizenship.” Children were taught this at a young in hopes to preserve the race, and actual barriers and signs within neighbor hoods would make sure blacks stayed away. 5
“Today, there are more than 4 million mixed marriages in the United States, and roughly one in seven new marriages are between people of different ethnicities.”6 it is safe to say that we have a long way since the Jim Crow Laws which defied the true meaning of liberty and social justice. People who fought against these laws such as Loving are whom we have to thank for our freedom of interracial marriage.
NOtes
1 Oh, Reginald . "Interracial Marriage in the Shadows of Jim Crow: Racial Segregation as a System of Racial and Gender Subordination." . http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/39/3/defining-voices-critical-race-feminism/DavisVol39No3_OH.pdf (accessed May 10, 2014).
2 "Examples of Jim Crow Laws." Examples of Jim Crow Laws. http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/jcrow02.htm (accessed May 10, 2014).
3"Loving Story" Doc Tells Tale Of Jim Crow Era Interracial Marriage." . http://newsone.com/1874375/loving-story-doc-tells-tale-of-jim-crow-era-interracial-mattiage/ (accessed May 10, 2014).
4"Loving Story" Doc Tells Tale Of Jim Crow Era Interracial Marriage." . http://newsone.com/1874375/loving-story-doc-tells-tale-of-jim-crow-era-interracial-mattiage/ (accessed May 10, 2014).
5"Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal." Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html (accessed May 10, 2014).
6 Loving Story" Doc Tells Tale Of Jim Crow Era Interracial Marriage." . http://newsone.com/1874375/loving-story-doc-tells-tale-of-jim-crow-era-interracial-mattiage/ (accessed May 10, 2014).
Bibliography
"Examples of Jim Crow Laws." Examples of Jim Crow Laws. http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/jcrow02.htm (accessed May 10, 2014).
"Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal." Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html (accessed May 10, 2014).
"Loving Story" Doc Tells Tale Of Jim Crow Era Interracial Marriage." . http://newsone.com/1874375/loving-story-doc-tells-tale-of-jim-crow-era-interracial- mattiage/ (accessed May 10, 2014).
Oh, Reginald . "Interracial Marriage in the Shadows of Jim Crow: Racial Segregation as a System of Racial and Gender Subordination." . http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/39/3/defining-voices-critical-race- feminism/DavisVol39No3_OH.pdf (accessed May 10, 2014).
"Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal." Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html (accessed May 10, 2014).
"Loving Story" Doc Tells Tale Of Jim Crow Era Interracial Marriage." . http://newsone.com/1874375/loving-story-doc-tells-tale-of-jim-crow-era-interracial- mattiage/ (accessed May 10, 2014).
Oh, Reginald . "Interracial Marriage in the Shadows of Jim Crow: Racial Segregation as a System of Racial and Gender Subordination." . http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/39/3/defining-voices-critical-race- feminism/DavisVol39No3_OH.pdf (accessed May 10, 2014).