Cecily Zamora
In the United States, anti-miscegenation laws were enforced to prohibit interracial marriages. The first anti-miscegenation law was passed in 1691 in Maryland, criminalizing interracial marriage. By the late 1800s, 38 states had laws banning interracial marriage. These laws were rooted in racial prejudice and the belief in racial purity and white supremacy. In 1967, an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, successfully challenged the ban on interracial marriage in Virginia, leading to the Supreme Court ruling that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional. This decision invalidated all remaining state laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Despite this progress, recent developments suggest that the legal right to interracial marriage may still be under threat.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| First anti-miscegenation law | Passed in 1661 in Virginia |
| First anti-miscegenation law (other source) | Passed in 1691 in Maryland |
| First anti-miscegenation law in Oregon | Passed in 1866 |
| U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled against cohabitation between whites and non-whites | McLaughlin v. Florida (1964) |
| U.S. Supreme Court case that invalidated all state laws against interracial marriage | Loving v. Virginia (1967) |
| Date of invalidation of all state laws against interracial marriage | June 12, 1967 |
| U.S. President who opposed interracial marriage | Abraham Lincoln |
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What You'll Learn
The first anti-miscegenation law
> I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people. I am as much as any man in favor of the superior position assigned to the white race.
The Virginian House of Burgesses passed a similar law in 1691, forbidding free black people and whites from intermarrying. Maryland followed suit in 1692. This was the first time in American history that a law was invented that restricted access to marriage partners solely on the basis of "race", not class or condition of servitude. Later, these laws also spread to colonies with fewer enslaved and free black people, such as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
By the late 1800s, 38 U.S. states had anti-miscegenation statutes. By 1924, the ban on interracial marriage was still in force in 29 states. While interracial marriage had been legal in California since 1948, in 1957, actor Sammy Davis Jr. faced backlash for his relationship with a white woman, actress Kim Novak. In 1958, Davis briefly married a black woman, actress and dancer Loray White, to protect himself from mob violence.
In 1967, an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, successfully challenged the constitutionality of the ban on interracial marriage in Virginia. Their case reached the U.S. Supreme Court as Loving v. Virginia. In 1958, the Lovings married in Washington, D.C. to evade Virginia's anti-miscegenation law (the Racial Integrity Act). On their return to Virginia, they were arrested in their bedroom for living together as an interracial couple. The judge suspended their sentence on the condition that the Lovings leave Virginia and not return for 25 years. In 1963, the Lovings, who had moved to Washington, D.C., decided to appeal this judgment. In 1965, Virginia trial court Judge Leon Bazile, who heard their original case, refused to reconsider his decision. Instead, he defended racial segregation, writing:
> Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay, and red, and placed them on separate continents, and but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.
In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Loving v. Virginia that anti-miscegenation laws are unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. After Loving, the remaining state anti-miscegenation laws were repealed; the last state to repeal its laws against interracial marriage was Alabama in 2000. Interracial marriage in the United States has been fully legal in all U.S. states since the 1967 Supreme Court decision.
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Interracial marriage bans in Oregon
In the United States, many states historically had anti-miscegenation laws that prohibited interracial marriage and, in some states, interracial sexual relations. The first anti-miscegenation law was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 1691, criminalizing interracial marriage. The term "miscegenation" was first used in 1863 during the American Civil War by journalists to discredit the abolitionist movement by stirring up debate over the prospect of interracial marriage after the abolition of slavery.
Oregon was one of the states that passed anti-miscegenation laws. The first anti-miscegenation law in Oregon was passed in 1866, banning marriage between whites and people of African, Asian, Hawaiian, or Native American descent. The law stated that "all marriages of white persons with Negroes, Chinamen, or mulattoes are void and prohibited," effectively prohibiting interracial marriages involving African Americans, Chinese individuals, and individuals of mixed race. Oregon's miscegenation laws specifically prohibited marriages between white individuals and individuals of "Mongolian" or Asian descent. These laws aimed to reflect the prevailing racial prejudices and discriminatory attitudes of the time.
The 1866 law in Oregon was not the state's first attempt to ban interracial marriage. An earlier law passed in 1862 banned marital unions between whites and persons with a quarter or more of "Negro blood." However, the 1866 law was more explicit in prohibiting marriages between whites and Chinese, Hawaiian, and Native American individuals.
Despite the presence of anti-miscegenation laws in Oregon, interracial marriages still occurred. Valuable Office of Indian Affairs documents from the mid-1880s to the mid-1930s provide evidence of interracial marriages during these years. Indian censuses carried out on Oregon's four major reservations preserve a fifty-year legacy of marriages that flouted the law. In one 1921 Oregon court case, a Native American woman named Ophelia Paquet lost control of her late husband's estate to her brother-in-law when the Oregon Supreme Court ruled her marriage of thirty-three years null and void because her husband had been white.
Oregon lawmakers eventually repealed all legislation banning interracial marriage in 1951, sixteen years before the U.S. Supreme Court declared all the nation's miscegenation laws unconstitutional in 1967. After the Supreme Court ruling, the laws in the remaining 16 states ceased to be enforceable. In 1967, an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, successfully challenged the constitutionality of the ban on interracial marriage in Virginia, which led to the Supreme Court's ruling.
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The U.S. Supreme Court's role
The U.S. Supreme Court played a pivotal role in striking down anti-miscegenation laws, which were rooted in racial prejudice and prohibited interracial marriages. The Court's decisions, particularly in the 1960s, were instrumental in dismantling these discriminatory laws and affirming the constitutional right to marry regardless of race.
The term "miscegenation" emerged during the American Civil War in 1863, used by journalists to discredit the abolitionist movement by stoking fears of interracial marriage in a post-slavery society. Anti-miscegenation laws not only banned marriages between whites and non-whites, particularly Black people, but also criminalised cohabitation and sexual relations, with felony charges levied against interracial couples. By the late 1800s, 38 U.S. states had enacted such laws, perpetuating racial hierarchy and prejudice.
In the 1960s, civil rights organisations actively supported interracial couples who were penalised due to their relationships, encouraging them to take their cases to the U.S. Supreme Court. This marked a shift in attitudes towards interracial marriage. The Court's decision in McLaughlin v. Florida in 1964 was a pivotal moment. The Court ruled that a Florida statute permitting harsher penalties for cohabitation and adultery by interracial couples was unconstitutional and rooted in racial discrimination. Justice Potter Stewart's concurring opinion underscored the importance of racial equality under the Constitution.
The case of Loving v. Virginia in 1967 further cemented the Court's stance. Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, challenged Virginia's anti-miscegenation law, the Racial Integrity Act. The Lovings were arrested and sentenced for living together as an interracial couple in Virginia, despite being lawfully married in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favour, striking down all remaining anti-miscegenation laws in the country. Chief Justice Earl Warren's decision emphasised the freedom to marry, stating, "Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry or not marry a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed upon by the State."
The Supreme Court's rulings in these cases were a significant step towards racial equality and the recognition of the fundamental right to marry a person of one's choice, regardless of race. However, it is important to acknowledge that social intolerance and prejudice towards interracial couples persisted, and continued efforts are necessary to foster acceptance and combat racism in society.
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Interracial marriage in the present day
Interracial marriage has been legal in all US states since 1967, following the Supreme Court's ruling in Loving v. Virginia. This landmark decision invalidated all state laws banning marriages between people of different races, deeming them unconstitutional. The case was brought by Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who had been arrested and convicted for living together in Virginia, which prohibited interracial marriage.
Prior to this ruling, anti-miscegenation laws had been prevalent in the United States, with at least 38 states banning interracial marriage by the late 1800s. These laws were rooted in racial prejudice, white supremacy, and the belief in racial purity. They typically defined mixed-race marriages as a felony, prohibited the issuance of marriage licenses to interracial couples, and criminalized cohabitation and sexual relations between whites and non-whites.
The civil rights movement of the 1960s played a crucial role in challenging these discriminatory laws. Organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) helped interracial couples take their cases to the Supreme Court, arguing that the laws violated the Constitution and promoted racial discrimination. The Supreme Court's decision in Loving v. Virginia was a pivotal moment, not just legally, but also symbolically, as it affirmed the right of individuals to marry a person of another race, regardless of state laws.
In the decades since, interracial marriages have become increasingly common in the United States. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of census data from 2013, 12% of newlyweds married someone of a different race. By 2019, the number of interracial marriages as a proportion of new marriages had increased to 19%. However, interracial couples continue to face unique challenges, including social intolerance and, according to a 2009 study, an increased risk of divorce due to factors such as decreased support from family and friends.
While interracial marriage is now legal across the United States, recent developments, such as the leaked draft opinion in the Dobbs case, have raised concerns about potential threats to the right to marry. The legal reasoning used by Justice Alito in the draft opinion has sparked fears that it could be applied to undermine the Loving v. Virginia decision, highlighting the ongoing need for vigilance in protecting the right to marry regardless of race.
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The Loving v. Virginia case
In the United States, anti-miscegenation laws were passed to criminalize marriages between interracial couples. The first of these laws was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 1691. By the late 1800s, 38 US states had laws banning interracial marriage. These laws were based on beliefs in racial purity and white supremacy.
In 1958, an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, travelled from their home state of Virginia to Washington D.C. to get married, evading Virginia's anti-miscegenation law (the Racial Integrity Act). After returning to Virginia, they were arrested in their bedroom for living together as an interracial couple. The judge suspended their sentence on the condition that they leave Virginia and not return for 25 years.
In 1963, the Lovings, now residing in Washington D.C., decided to appeal this judgment. In 1965, Virginia trial court Judge Leon Bazile, who heard their original case, refused to reconsider his decision and defended racial segregation. The Lovings then appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court, which upheld the constitutionality of the anti-miscegenation law but voided their sentences.
In 1966, the Lovings appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear their case. On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous 9-0 decision in favour of the Lovings, overturning their convictions and striking down Virginia's Racial Integrity Act. The Court found that the law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees equal protection of the laws for all citizens, regardless of race.
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Frequently asked questions
The first anti-miscegenation law was passed in 1661 in Virginia, prohibiting interracial marriage. In 1691, Maryland passed a similar law, and by the time of the American Civil War, at least 5 states had anti-miscegenation laws. By the late 1800s, 38 U.S. states had laws banning interracial marriage. These laws were based on beliefs of racial purity and white supremacy.
Anti-miscegenation laws typically defined mixed-race marriages or sexual relations as a felony, prohibited the issuance of marriage licenses and the solemnization of weddings between mixed-race couples, and prohibited the officiation of such ceremonies. These laws banned marriage between whites and non-white groups, primarily Black people, but also often Native Americans and Asian Americans. In many states, anti-miscegenation laws also criminalized cohabitation and sex between whites and non-whites.
Attitudes towards bans on interracial marriage began to change in the 1960s, with civil rights organizations helping interracial couples take their cases to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1964, the Court ruled in McLaughlin v. Florida that a Florida statute allowing more severe penalties for cohabitation and adultery by interracial couples was invalid. In 1967, the case of Loving v. Virginia successfully challenged the constitutionality of the ban on interracial marriage in Virginia, invalidating all state laws against interracial marriage in the country.
Interracial marriage in the United States has been fully legal in all U.S. states since the 1967 Supreme Court decision that deemed anti-miscegenation state laws unconstitutional. However, there are still social challenges and prejudices faced by interracial couples, and recent legal developments may signal a new threat to interracial marriage.
