Societal Views on Interracialism Throughout American History

The Harlem Renaissance was a time for racial uprising and change. However, sexuality is rarely discussed when researching and reflecting on this time. Many of the leaders in the Harlem Renaissance identified somewhere along the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual) spectrum. “Claude McKay, Wallace Thurman, Alain Locke, Richard Bruce Nugent, Angelina Weld Grimké, Alice Dunbar-Nelson and Langston Hughes, all luminaries of the New Negro literary movement, have been identified as anywhere from openly gay (Nugent) to sexually ambiguous or mysterious (Hughes). In a 1993 essay, “The Black Man’s Burden,” Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Root‘s editor-in-chief, notes that the Renaissance ‘was surely as gay as it was black.’”

Published in 1986 during the Postmodernist era in America. The setting of the play focuses on the Civil Rights Movement and the dismissal of African Americans from society.

There is a universal notion that interracial relationships, particularly in black and white relationships, are considered taboo or unwelcome. Now thrust a biracial child into the world from that couple and you’ll have a recipe for more prejudice and whispered insults than you could possibly imagine. You don’t ask to be born biracial yet ignorant people continue to make their asinine comments towards us. Bile rises in my throat with every glare and side eye I receive. I have not felt this ostracized since I was 10.

To be or not to be? Once again this is the question. In the past, social scientist and society in general, categorized people involved in interracial romances as disturbed, or they labeled these relationships as acts of rebellion, or attempts to move up on the social ladder (Majete 2000, 1). Today this no longer seems to be the case. However, this can still be quite controversial. Part of the reason for this controversy begins with the fact that there were laws barring intermarriage between persons of color and whites in forty of our fifty states until 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that these laws were unconstitutional. Once this law was lifted the number on

On January 23, a couple of classmates and I went to see Young Jean Lee’s “Straight White Men,” a play examining the values and privileges of being a straight white male. The play is set in a house on Christmas Eve. Although we originally chose this performance because it fitted best with our schedules, I was interested to see what message the Asian playwright wanted to convey to her audience through the interactions of a white family. As a student at the University of Michigan, I interact with students of many different races on a daily basis, so I felt that the play could inform me of the misconceptions that people have about race. After watching the performance, I was impressed by the presentation of subjects such as the white privilege and the attitude of white people towards race. Overall, I felt that the play was thought-provoking and surprisingly captivating with its simple concept and straightforward plot.

Opportunity and inequality have been portrayed in America since It’s existence. In this great American play written by Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, Opportunity for the Younger family is being told without the death of a relative or family member, money will always be a complication when reaching for higher possibilities. As, said in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” But if all men are created equal, why is it that inequality between blacks and whites is still such a big problem when the younger family are given the opportunity to move into a predominantly white neighborhood? In this play, the set is took place in Chicago’s Southside, throughout World War II. Our main characters include: Ruth (the wife), Walter Lee (the husband), Travis (the son), Beneatha (the sister in law), and Lena (the head of the household). Each of the character’s personality show great difference between each other. In this small household, a family of five strives for reaching greater opportunities, human rights, and equal freedom.

In this article, the writer described how the idea of interracial marriage is changing over times. In the beginning, he gave an example about interracial marriage that happened in 1960s between Ann Dunham and Barack Obama which led to born Barack Obama Jr. who became the president of United-States in 2008. Then, the writer was collecting survey data from 1960s that showed that the 42 percent of northern and three-fourths southern having the same idea of banning interracial marriage. After that, he moved to the twenty- first century which showed the idea of interracial dating and marriage became different from that in the twenty century. It became more common and acceptable. Also, he collected surveys from different ages to see how the idea

The issue of racism and relationships in the United States has been rooted back in the country’s history. According to Roberts, by the time of the March on Washington in 1963, nineteen states in the U.S. had laws that did not allow men and women of different races to get married (2). The laws that did not allow interracial marriage would not be abolished, until four years after the March on Washington. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Loving v Virginia.

Fifty years ago, many Americans strongly disapproved of interracial relationships, and especially in the south, they clearly voiced their opinions about them. Interracial couples dealt with many trying situations in the late 1800s and clearly 1900. Even though many interracial couples today do not experience such severe punishments from society as they did fifty years ago, they still know they are viewed negatively by some Americans. Although, American society’s attitudes about interracial relationships, the lives of most mixed couples are negatively affected even today. For many generations, parents have had an extremely difficult time accepting that their children were in interracial relationships.

Being an interracial couple could have the possibility of losing valued traditions, and their children could face prejudice from society due to the color of their skin (Root , 2006 ). When looked at this way, the information shows that families may not want to date outside of their race because it could create problems in their family’s traditions. Also, parents and grandparents may not have wanted to marry outside of their race because if they have a child, that child could face prejudice because of their different races and skin

When it comes to public attitudes of interracial relationship Americans have become more accepting of other races as a result of education and meeting more people of other races. Neighbors has become more diverse have given opportunities to reduce stereotypes and establish friendships. Also, senior with racist attitudes are die and are replaced by younger more accepting

Unremarkable the love affairs between Black men and White women and between Black women and White men have also been presented frequently by prime time television shows and movies. Americans have become familiar with indirectly experience interracial intimacy between Black and White through celebrity liaisons. Americans are becoming less opposed to interracial dating and marriage than in previous decades according to National Opinion Research Center in 2002. Why has interracial love and marriage become more acceptable in recent years, and, more importantly, why is Black and White interracial sexual affinity often presented as an interracial stereotype at the moment in American life? Just 50 years ago, a Black man in the South risked his life if suspected by Whites of looking the wrong way at a White woman. A White woman faced rejection by her family and disgrace in the eyes of White society for having a mixed child with a Black man. The decision of the Supreme Court in 1967 has opened a lot of minds throughout the

I feel these two plays can compare in a multitude of ways despite being written in different historical times.

Imagine living in the 1930s as an African-American human being; the white man and woman have control and authority over all. During these times a great African-American writer tried to convey to his people that there was no such thing as a superior race. Langston Hughes was not an average African-American for those times. He was a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance and a pusher for equal rights. Through his many writings he showed his disappointment and disbelief with the behaviors of North and South African-Americans. In 1934, he wrote and published a book called, “The Ways of White Folks”. The play “Mulatto” is a version of one of the

Society has been tainted through the implementation and creation of race so as to separate groups of people from one another. The concept of race has been effectively infused into society simply to label and classify humans; labels such as “Black,” “White,” “Asian,” have been proposed to the world as “societal norms” which we have been forced to believe, process, and eventually accept. But even though these labels have become “normalized” to us as a society, labels do not define an individual and are unacceptable means of characterizing a human being; we are defined by who we are fundamentally and morally as human beings, not by the tone of our skin, the heritage of our ancestors, nor where we are from.