# Interracial Marriages in the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2004, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371 "2004-10-21T08:46:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirt_Ninja_13)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/1 "2004-10-21T08:46:49Z")
Does anyone know if interracial marriages were ever illegal in the USA? I’m under the impression they were, at one point, but I don’t know of any sources I can site on this one. If they weren’t, it would be nice to know what the truth of the situation was, in the past. Thanks. _bamf_ ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/2 "2004-10-21T09:08:51Z")
They were illegal under state law in many states (but not all), but a Supreme Court decision has found that this is repugnant to the US Constitution. Since the US Constitution pre-empts state law, state laws forbidding interracial marriage are now invalid, and cannot be enforced. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/3 "2004-10-21T09:42:20Z")
[The History of Jim Crow](http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/) web site includes information on the different states’ laws against “miscegenation” (interracial marriage). The 1967 Supreme Court decision [_Loving v. Virginia_](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=388&invol=1) struck down all such laws that were still in effect. ---
**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/4 "2004-10-21T09:46:16Z")
> [@Shirt Ninja 13](#): > > Does anyone know if interracial marriages were ever illegal in the USA? I’m under the impression they were, at one point, but I don’t know of any sources I can site on this one. If they weren’t, it would be nice to know what the truth of the situation was, in the past. I suspect that you’ll need to find copies of both the original state constitutions for southern states (i.e., those south of the Mason-Dixon line, or ones it went through). If such rules were not part of their original constitutions (and I think they may have been), then sometime after 1865, but still in the 19th century would be the next most likely place to look. It was not until at least 1970 (probably a bit later, IIRC) that the Supremes invalidated them. I do recall that a white man marrying a black woman in MS made national headlines sometime in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/5 "2004-10-22T08:09:54Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > [The History of Jim Crow](http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/) web site includes information on the different states’ laws against “miscegenation” (interracial marriage). The 1967 Supreme Court decision [_Loving v. Virginia_](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=388&invol=1) struck down all such laws that were still in effect. Hmmm. That’s interesting. I didn’t move back to Michigan that time until 1968, and I don’t recall reading/hearing about the decision while I was still in Mississippi. :o Of course, I was more focused on my own problems… So it may be that my memory of the big fuss made over the white factory owner’s son marrying the black woman happened earlier. Maybe 1972 or 3? Thanks for the link. I don’t foresee any great need for it, but YNK. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/6 "2004-10-22T13:05:39Z")
Not that anyone said it was but these laws weren’t just Black & White and based in the South. Based on the OP’s listed location it is worth mentioning that in 1880 California passed an anti-miscegenation law that prohibited the marriage of a white person to a “negro, mulatto or Mongolian” and was aimed mainly at the Chinese. Also, from MEBuckner’s site: Micongeniation statutes, intended to prevent racial interbreeding, led the list of Jim Crow laws enacted. At least 127 laws prohibiting interracial marriage and cohabitation were passed between 1865 and the 1950s nationwide, with 37 percent of the statutes passed outside the South. Western states enacted 33 such laws (27 percent). Both whites and blacks who ignored the law could receive sentences for up to ten years hard labor in the penitentiary in a number of states. Punishment for miscegenation in state statutes was still in force in the 1960s in Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and North Carolina. (_and Virginia which had the statute that the Supreme Court struck down in 1967 … Jimmmy ed_.) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/7 "2004-10-22T13:42:35Z")
BTW–there were few, if any laws prohibiting marriage between Whots & Native Americans. It happened too often, & if the offspring avoided Native American customs & mannerisms, he or she was basically treated as White. Of course, there were exceptions to this, but both my Boss & a co-worker are part Cherokee, & are though of as White. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/8 "2004-10-22T14:52:14Z")
Bosda- untrue. Many Western states had laws against the marrying of whites and Indians. Montana and Nebraska, just off the top of my head. In addition, in Virginia, Walter Plecker, registrar of Virginia’s Bureau of Vital Statistics in the early 20th Century, designated all remaining Indian tribes as “mulatto” or “negro”, thus making Indian-white marriages illegal. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/9 "2004-10-22T16:31:04Z")
Morrado beat me to the issue about Indians being “mulatto” or “colored” here in VA under Plecker’s administration of the Bureau of Vital Statistics. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/10 "2004-10-22T16:58:37Z")
\ this isn’t my week… ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/11 "2004-10-22T21:23:10Z")
[Here](http://www.styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=8894) is a nice article from Style Weekly about the Loving vs. Virginia case mentioned by **MEBuckner**. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/12 "2004-10-22T22:08:44Z")
What’s the most common form of interracial marriage in the United States? If it was just based on population, I’d assume it was black-white. But for cultural reasons, I’d guess black-white marriages are less common that random odds would indicate. Are Asian-white marriages more common? (I assume Asian-black marriages are the least common variation.) ---
**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/13 "2004-10-23T08:56:40Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > What’s the most common form of interracial marriage in the United States? If it was just based on population, I’d assume it was black-white. But for cultural reasons, I’d guess black-white marriages are less common that random odds would indicate. Are Asian-white marriages more common? (I assume Asian-black marriages are the least common variation.) It would be American Indian to something-or-other (black, “Hispanic” or white, probably white, since there are more whites in the US than blacks or Hispanics - for now, at least). Problem is, most people whose ancestors have been on this continent for at least a hundred years - and who are/were not of a religion and/or ethnicity which inculcated strong family/cultural ties and adherence thereto - has at least a smidgen of Native American/American Indian/whatever ancestry. During the first half of the 19th century, there was strong pressure from white culture for NDNs to be diluted out of existence (at the same time that they were claiming that “even a drop of Negro blood” made the possessor black). :rolleyes: Everybody knows that the one extreme is as silly as the other, right? 😛 But it leaves people like the Ross descendant who spoke up here a few months ago (and admitted s/he’s 1/128th Cherokee) able to claim legal identity as a Cherokee, while I, who am almost a full half Cherokee, am barred by law from being so identified, in accordance with several laws which all are based on the Dawes Roll. You do realize, don’t you, that you’re pushing this into controversial territory? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/14 "2004-10-23T16:28:49Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > [The History of Jim Crow](http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/) web site includes information on the different states’ laws against “miscegenation” (interracial marriage). The 1967 Supreme Court decision [_Loving v. Virginia_](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=388&invol=1) struck down all such laws that were still in effect. Damn activist judges. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interracial-marriages-in-the-us/270371/15 "2004-10-23T16:35:23Z")
> [@](#): > > You do realize, don’t you, that you’re pushing this into controversial territory? No, actually I’m not. I just asked a factual question with no hidden agenda. That sound is just a dial-tone.