The For Multiracial Marriages And Multiracial Individual Identity

Interracial marriage has traditionally been viewed as a means of expressing a hatred of oneself, of escaping something in one’s culture or self that one no longer wants to identify with. Jacki Thompson Rand describes the outcome of this phenomenon in an essay on her experience as the child of an interracial marriage. She explains how her mother married a white man in an effort to make herself more white, and therefore more legitimate: “My mother 's marriage to my father was a racial love

Historically, interracial families’ were a taboo in the United States and many other countries. In the 1960’s, the civil rights movement caused the country to move

The trends in publicly celebrating and affirming the racial identities of multiracial individual’s shows hope for the “loosening of racial boundaries” (91). But what does that mean for children of mixed-race unions who have their own children? As Lee and Bean stated in this article, the continued shifting of the color line throughout history, with who is considered white and who is not, it is likely that “boundaries may continue to stretch to include newer groups” (88). For children of mixed-race unions who have their own children, especially Asians and Latinos, that means that they could be considered white instead of nonwhite. I believe that with our growing diversity as a nation, due to increasing intermarriage between different groups, that there will be an expansion the definition of who is considered “white” but that it will also create a more rigid boundary for those who are black. This would definitely be the case with the

It was the interracial marriages which made many states change their legislation, lift bans on interracial marriages and made amendments to the existing laws by showing acceptability and leniency to interracial romance. There have been reported cases where individuals from different racial background got married and lost acceptance from both the social groups which made them suffer a great deal. However, over the period of time, their relationship gained acceptance.

Can you imagine not being able to share your life with the person you love because of the color of your skin? Well, this was the case for those who resided in Virginia decades ago. Interracial marriages were not allowed in Virginia and sixteen other states due to the adoption of the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. The sole purpose of this act was to completely prohibit a "white person" marrying other than another "white person". Marriage licenses were not issued until the issuing official is content with the applications statements as to if their races are "correct". Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, a black woman, was not going to let the state of Virginia stop them from being married, so they left

This may hint to a growing acceptance among society. Interracial marriage becoming legal allowed for interracial families. The number of interracial families is growing along with the number of interracial couples. In the year 2000, the United States Census began allowing multiracial people to check multiple boxes when filling out the

For years there have been forbidden love and marriage in the history of the United States, I decided to write a reflection on my thoughts views, fact findings and information regarding biracial marriages and segregation laws that were discriminatory in history. I read the short story about the Loving family and their pursuit to the Supreme Court in 1967, I thought of my own family history and realized that my paternal grandparents would’ve been prosecuted had they lived in Virginia or any other state that prohibited bi-racial marriages in the 1900s.

Richard and Mildred Loving, a biracial couple, changed millions of lives in 1976 when they triumphed in the federal case, “Loving vs. Virginia” at the Supreme Court. Their case ended the anti-miscegenation laws created in the 1930s which outlawed interracial marriages. Nearly fifty years later, the U.S Census shows that there were 2.3 million interracial marriages in 2007 which is seven times the number calculated in 1970. This figure, many would say, is a sign of hope for a society has become more accepting and less racist. But how realistic is that idea? Many minorities still face racism and constant oppression every day of their lives. As our culture is constantly forming and changing, there emerge issues with how we understand race and ethnicity. While the concept of race is simply a social construct, with no real science behind it, its societal repercussions are entirely real due to the challenges that comes with it. This system of classification has progressed through centuries and led to the social, economic, and political prejudice against people of color, and further, has institutionalized racism to and systematized the oppression of these people.

The first black president, the world’s best golfer, or twins that we grew up watching; Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Tia and Tamera Mowry, besides from being in the light of superstardom, they are each a child of a interracial marriage. In the 21st century there are approximately 1.6 million interracial relationships or interethnic marriages, with the marriages making up 3% (Troy, Lewis-Smith, & Laurenceau, 2006). Interracial relationships over generations have changed from the way society has viewed them. As early as the 1600’s legislation has been banning black and white interracial marriages, and this law has stayed in place until 1967, and Alabama being the last place to maintain the law until 2000 (Troy, Lewis-Smith, & Laurenceau, 2006).Years ago white women and black men were severely punished for engaging in sexual relations, however the white male power was not threatened by exploiting black women nor by a black woman having their baby (Childs, 2005). In contrast, a white woman who gave birth to a black man’s baby, would be considered polluting the purity of the white race; thereby including racial boundaries and the power of white man (Childs, 2005). Irony as times progressed in 1993, there were 246,000 black-white marriages an 163,000 of these were between black men and white women (Childs, 2005).

Davenport’s (2016) article The role of gender, class, and religion in biracial Americans’ racial labeling decisions examines how social identities are formed by class, gender and relation and the link between how multiracial people label themselves within a multicultural group. Davenport’s article analyzes the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Surveys from the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California (LA); students are to take this survey prior to the school year beginning. The survey asks a variety of questions on such topics as ethnic backgrounds, educational history and social interests (Davenport, 2016, p. 65). It is common for mixed raced individuals to question basic fundamental biases, like the ‘check one box only’ on ethnicity questionnaires that often cannot be filled out honestly due to one’s mixed race. Emphasis on racial identity does not necessarily stem from the individual, but from outsiders wishing to classify the individual. Davenport’s findings show that, for the growing mixed race population, racial labelling choices are closely linked to social group attachments, identities and income (Davenport, 2016, p. 78). Limitations of Davenport’s (2016) study include the collection of data from CIRP; the author discusses the possibility that some students may be influenced by the college application process, in which they see racial identification as a part of the admissions ‘game’

In social scientific research, intermarriage is treated as a key indicator of social distance among different groups (Qian et al 2012). More specifically, marriage between immigrant/ethnic minorities and the native/dominant racial group indicates the extent to which new immigrants, minorities, and/or their children have assimilated into the host society (Gordon 1964). Nonetheless, contemporary scholars have pointed out that the original theoretical framework of intermarriage as a litmus test for immigrant and minority integration may be outdated and inadequate for several reasons. First, the demographic and racial profiles of “new” immigrants of post-1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act are vastly different from that of early 20th century European immigrants (citation). Most notably, these immigrants are mostly from Asian and Latin American countries. Their non-whiteness, therefore, may not lead them to the same patterns of group boundary shifting that resulted in many South and Eastern European immigrants becoming “white.” Second, whereas early 20th century European immigration eventually stopped, the post-1965 immigration is still ongoing (citations). This continuous immigrant replenishment creates diversity

The growth in the multiracial population in the United States of America since the 1970’s has greatly increased and is continuing to increase. Although the number of biracial and multiracial Americans is relatively small to the total population at 5 million, the multiracial population is growing at a rate of ten times faster than that of the White population (Stuckey 2008). These facts weren’t officially known until the United States government’s verdict to allow individuals to claim multiple races on the 2000 US census. Along with these aspects, the increased exposure of multiracial public figures and celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Halle Berry, and Barack Obama, has caused the focus of public discussion and scholarly attention on

The two articles used were “Understanding the Occurrence of Interracial Marriage in the United States through Differential Assimilation” (Lewis, Ford- Robinson, 2010) and “Marital Dissolution among Interracial Couples” (Zhang, Van Hook, 2009). The first article “Understanding the Occurrence of Interracial Marriage in the United States through Differential Assimilation”, spoke about the unprecedented changes that our society is going though in the 21st century.

The law forbidding interracial marriage was terminated in 1967, and in the midst of rapid racial change, one fact is unmistakable: A growing number of Americans are showing that we all can get along by forming relationships and families that cross all color lines. In the past couple decades, the number of interracial marriages has increased dramatically. Interracial dating and marrying is described as the dating or marrying of two people of different races, and it is becoming much more common to do so. Thirty years ago, only one in every 100 children born in the United States was of mixed race. Today, the number is one in 19. In some states, such as California and Washington, the number is closer to one in 10 (Melting Pot).

The population of multiracial group is growing rapidly in recent years, after the policy implemented in 2000 by the United States Census Bureau, which is about people beginning to have their own choice of choosing multiple races to describe themselves. More and more people from multiracial group are struggling with identity problem, especially for children, who are in the most crucial stage in racial identity development. Accordingly, helping children to develop a healthy racial identity becomes a huge challenge for parents in multiracial families.