Why Are Black/White Marriages So Rare?
By Grant Crosslin
“At a time when interracial marriages in the U.S. are occurring at record rates among whites, Asians, Hispanics, and American Indians, unions between whites and blacks remain rare” (Hayes; Schodolski 1). Why is that? Are there some unwritten rules about black- white marriages? Actually, maybe there are unwritten rules, or written ones for that matter. “Interracial Relationships,” by Roman Simmons explains the hardships that people go through to be in successful interracial relationships. Authors Dion V. Haynes and Vincent J. Schodolski, who wrote “Interracial Marriages Increase,” explain why, after the barriers are broken, interracial marriages are so successful. Also, author Clayton Majete, a teacher in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Baruch College of CUNY, with information he gathered so far from 450 couples in interracial marriages, in an ongoing research project, wrote “What You May Not Know About Interracial Marriages”. The article tries to explain every aspect of interracial marriages, including society’s reaction and the family’s reaction, both positive and negative, the effect it has on the people in the marriage, as well as the children that are a product of such a marriage, and how they try to find their racial identity. Finally, a study by STATS, Statistical Assessment Service, they compare income and education levels with respect to black- black marriages, and mixed marriages.
When the Europeans first started migrating towards America, race basically meant nothing, but as slavery became more popular, it became more noticeable. “When black servants were reduced to slavery, the colonial governing classes redoubled their efforts to stamp out racial mixing” (Simmons 1). As a result, racial mixing became a serious moral issue for the Puritans, and a threat to slave labor.
The earliest record available of miscegenation was in the 1600’s between a black man and white woman. This resulted in a public beating for the black man, as well as a public confession for his “crime” the following Sabbath.
The first law to deter miscegenation was in the 1660’s in Maryland. It stated that “any freeborn white woman who intermarried with a negro slave...would have to serve her husband’s master as long as the slave lived” (Simmons 2). This was later changed in 1681 allowing a white woman to retain her freedom, however the leader of the ceremony was to be fined a large sum of money. Other states soon followed with similar legislation to deter interracial marriages.
With the passage of the 14th amendment, allowing blacks equality, questions arose about the legality of the anti-intermarriages laws. Since most of the cases were settled in the state courts, the laws were upheld.
Even today, many people consider the United States one of the most race conscious countries in the world, pretty much tied for that “honor” with South Africa. As of 1967, 16 states still had laws on interracial marriages, and until recently, in 1999, Alabama revoked their law prohibiting that type of marriage. Even though that law wasn’t enforced, the fact is, it could have been.
At one time or another, “33 states prohibited one or more forms of interracial marriage” (Simmons 2). What seems to be the big deal about black-white unions? “A confluence of factors including history, prejudice, and differing concepts of beauty are used by experts to explain the resistance to intermarriage in the African-American and white communities” (Hayes; Schodolski 1).
The reason for the increase of interracial marriages was because the U.S. Supreme Court found in 1924 that the 14th amendment banning anti-miscegenation was unconstitutional. The case was brought forth by a white man and a black woman, who married in a legal place to perform interracial marriages. When they returned to Virginia, the people found out, and told authorities. The state courts ruled that the couple could remain married only if for a period of 25 years they left Virginia, and never came back together. If they were to come back together, or be in Virginia at the same time, they would be charged with a felony, and incarcerated for 5 years.
Many sociologists have proposed theories as to why people marry interracially. At the same time, however, “social scientists are as much to blame as anyone for the misinformation that exists around interracial marriages” (Majete 8). In isolated cases, these theories may hold true, however, the social scientists contend that these five theories are the only reasons explainable as to why people marry interracially.
The first theory as to why people marry interracially is the mythological stereotypes about sex that come with black people. That stereotype is that all black women are sex freaks, and all black men have a rather large sex organ. The second theory is to prove to society that they aren’t prejudice, so they date the other person, being black or white, just for the sole purpose of showing people they don’t mind people of other races. The next theory is that the person hasn’t been thoroughly integrated into their social group, such as that one white family that won’t move out in a black neighborhood, or the pioneer black family that moves into a white neighborhood. The fourth reason was to defy their parents. Many parents have strong opinions as to whom their children can and cannot date, and usually make those opinions well known. However, if the parents go too far, then their son or daughter just might come home with that person of a different color, so watch out.
The fifth reason is so that black people can climb a social ladder. This means that white people are on top of the social caste system in the United States, and black people are on or near the bottom. A successful black male in the business world won’t feel complete unless he has a white woman to give him his whiteness. Larry Davis, a professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis says, “As black women do better economically, you will see more black women marrying white men,” (qtd. in Hayes; Schodolski 20).
In a study conducted by STATS, they compared two types of marriages; marriages in which both partners were black, and mixed race marriages. The study’s main focus was comparing income level and level of education to these types of marriages. Some surprising results were gathered.
At lower income levels, the ratio of both-black marriages to mixed race marriages is heavily skewed towards both-black couples, each notch up on the income ladder brings the two figures into closer alignment, until at the highest income level ($100,000 and above) they are nearly even, with 86,443 both-black couples and 75,410 mixed race couples. A similar phenomenon is apparent for educational attainment. At the "non high school graduate" level, there are more than four times as many both-black couples as mixed race couples, but with each step of educational attainment, the figures get closer. At the "graduate or professional degree" level they were again almost even, with 160,367 both-black couples and 146,763 mixed race couples (STATS 1.)
That study, “Can Intermarriage Make You Smarter and Richer?” basically states that the more better off people are, with respect to either education or income, the more likely they are to be in some type of interracial marriage. This is a perfect follow up to the earlier statement by Larry Davis about black women being more likely to be in an interracial marriage in the future as they do better economically.
Most people however marry interracially because of the many things they have in common, like most same race marriages. That common bond was discovered by Clayton Majete, He states, “interracial marriages do significantly better, and last longer than same-race marriages because people getting involved in an interracial marriage know it’s going to be hard” (qtd. in Hayes; Schodolski 20).
Majete’s studies have shown that white women marrying black men are more likely to be alienated by their family mostly because of the negative reputation that the black man has in society today. This reputation is that most black men are drug dealers, gang members, or are in a relationship for nothing but sex, and as soon as they get someone pregnant, they run off and find another “victim”. Most black men have some problems getting their family to accept that type of marriage also. On the other hand white men and black women tend to have high acceptance rates from both sides of the families for this marriage, with the black woman having a slightly lower acceptance rate than the white man. However, on an over all basis, when you add all the black and white people together, “black families are usually more accepting of the interracial relationship and the partner than white families are of the relationship and partner” (Majete 10). This difference could be the result of the black families having almost “twice as many family members who dated interracially” (Majete 10).
Society has many different reactions toward interracial relationships. Most churches tend to be accepting of interracial marriages as long as it isn’t homosexual. Occasionally one may find an innocent, or not so innocent remark in a hospital about a newborn baby, concerning a lighter skinned baby than the mother, in a black woman-white man case, or a darker skinned baby than the mother, in a white woman-black man case. In such cases, a staff member usually voices their displeasure of that kind of relationship, or innocently makes a remark about the baby being adopted.
Because of these negative remarks, it is obvious that society still isn’t too keen on interracial marriages or relationships. Like most marriages, the husband and wife plan on having kids. Because these kids will look different than “all white” and “all black” children, they may not fit in as well. As was mentioned before, the black families tended to “approve” of an interracial relationship a lot more than white families did, that would probably be a good reflection on society’s reaction to interracial relationships too. Because of the high rate of disapproval people in interracial relationships face in a predominately white community, whether it be stares, comments, or violence, most people in these unions “live in a black or integrated community” (Majete 10).
Not only are these communities more accepting towards people who are married, or are dating interracially, they can be a better area for any children who come from these unions to find their racial identity. Also, it is easier for them to make friends, since in an integrated neighborhood, race, culture, and color, really aren’t brought up or stressed. Because of that, the children won’t have to decide whether or not they want to be white or black, they can be both.
The future of interracial marriages will eventually be nonexistent. For example, “in this generation, for black people 25 and under, the ratio of interracial marriage to black marriage is approaching 1:1” (STATS 2). It is obvious that people in general are becoming more open minded and accepting of interracial marriages, however, there still are many social taboos that “prevent” people from being in such a marriage. As more and more people marry interracially, people become more open minded and less color conscious, and as society becomes more and more tolerant, maybe in the future color or race won’t matter any more.
