The Legacy of Perceptions of Interracial Relationships as Demonstrated in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Black Literature and Events

In his essay, “The Souls of the Black Folk” Du Bois (1903) states that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line,-the relation of the darker to lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea” (275). According to Appelrouth and Edles (2012: 269) “the color line is both a preexisting social and cultural structure and an internalized attitude”. In addition, they explain that the color line “addresses the historical and institutional (i.e., colonial) dimensions of race” (269).

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

   In his book The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois says “The negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second sight in this American world – a world which yields him no self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world” (pg 348). He uses the metaphor of a veil to describe the social distance between people. However as I read through chapter one, it was interesting for

As DuBois looks through the veil, he can see a world that he loves, but cannot belong to because it belongs to the whites. The veil perpetuates the concept of alienation from the world to which he knows he will never belong. From the other side, whites look through at blacks, and construct their own opinions of the opposing race, and in doing so, create an opinion that is accepted by blacks themselves. The distortion created by the veil muddles the world of the whites and also the self-knowledge within each individual on the black side of the veil.

In Mat Johnson’s novel, Loving Day, interracial relationships are showcased throughout the text. The main character, Warren’s, journey through the story to re-identify who he is as a person mirrors the way America has thought about interracial relationships and marriages over time; as the book progresses, so do the thoughts of the main character regarding race and his personal relationships, as if the reader is walking through time from the days when interracial marriages were illegal, to modern day where interracial marriages are becoming more common and accepted. Warren encounters other people whose views reflect the “traditional” outlook on race and relationships as well as people with “progressive” views regarding race and relationships. He has to navigate through his own personal beliefs, the way he was raised, his personal experience, the way others react to him, and the way

In Queer Loving Siobhan B. Somerville examines the history of the imposed restriction on the seemingly simple, yet complex features of love in regards to race and sexuality. on heterosexual interracial love and homosexual love. Somerville suggest that the many legal constructions and restrictions placed on race and sexuality are undeniably and inevitably intertwined. Thus, she approaches the subject from what she refers to as a sideways view rather than examining the relation parallel to one another. This in turn proves that there is a heteronormative construct that is a reoccurring pattern in society.

In What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America, Peggy Pascoe examines the history of miscegenation and how it laid the foundation of white supremacy in the United States. While visible forms of white supremacy such as segregation helped mask the importance of miscegenation laws, Pascoe argues that miscegenation laws was a national movement tied inseparably to gender and sexuality that went beyond the Black/White dynamic, which courts and bureaucracies of local marriage officials used to produce race in America. Pascoe goes on to argue that the core of miscegenation laws reached beyond the realm of romance as courts began to condemn the respectability of interracial relationships by equating them with illicit sex rather than marriage. Thus, this idea of unrespectable, unnatural, and immoral relationships became women into the fabric of the American society.

The human relationship shows readers how the African American is treated and viewed during the 1950’s.

In this paper I will discuss three of my favorite television shows, Black Lightning, the George Lopez show and Good Times; I will describe three of the main characters in each show based on gender, race and how each are portrayed, including the racial stereotypes and how they helped shape our perceptions of each character. Furthermore, I will discuss and answer questions about the taboo of interracial marriages in America; why are interracial marriages considered a taboo, why are interracial marriage rates lower for blacks than for nonblack racial-ethnic groups such as Hispanics and Asians, why may the continued immigration slow the growth of intermarriage for Hispanics and Asians? Finally, I will explore interracial marriages in other cultures and societies, comparing the similarities and differences with the U.S.

For DuBois, the veil refers to three things. First, the veil suggests to the darker skin of Blacks, which is a physical difference from whiteness. Secondly, the veil suggests white people’s lack of clarity to see Blacks as “true” Americans. And lastly, the veil refers to Blacks’ lack of clarity to see themselves outside of what white America describes and provides for them. Dubois believes that socially present-day African-American has had at least two life-altering experiences in life. The moment they realized they was Black, and the moment when African Americans realize their blackness is a problem. Dubois realized his blackness being a problem For DuBois, these realizations came during a ball, “at which he was “peremptorily”

The Veil was one of the predominate elements that prevented the Negros from living a life of freedom. This Veil forced the Negro to live a life of sociological understanding of themselves not from the lens of the white society.

His son “knew no color-line…though it shadowed him, had not yet darkened half his sun” (173, Du Bois). The clashing physical characteristics that he possessed symbolized this, he has not yet been subjected to to a situation that planted him into his designated side. Du Bois wonders “why had not the brown of his eyes crushed out and killed the blue? –for brown were his father’s eyes, and his father’s father’s” (170, Du Bois). Du Bois’ son does not know what the colour divide is and his clashing traits represent it.

Collins approaches the beliefs of misconceptions already existent towards multi social groups’ underlying different issues mostly affecting African Americans. These issues highlighted by Collins include, “a set of ideas and social practices shaped by gender, race, and sexuality that frame Black men and women’s treatment of one another, as well as how African Americans are perceived and treated by others” (p.7). These ideas encapsulate a false understanding of the issues surrounding the persecutions the black community undergoes frequent. The notion of Black sexual politics addresses many connotations influencing behaviors as well as analyzing the reasons as to what affects explain the Black injustice created within our social structure. Furthermore, Collin does express how these perceptions created from gender, race, and sexuality not only affects the black community but also impacts other interracial injustices. These arguments affect a larger portion of society relative to: “Puerto Ricans, indigenous people, Haitian, Chicanos – as well as issues concerning poor health, homelessness, joblessness, and so on” (Collins p.13). This interracial component relates to global phenomena acknowledging these exploitations that affect society, nevertheless as a reader of Collins theories, she invites us to comprehend the actions and analyze our position within these issues. Other, components that relate to Black sexual Politics are the political structure and mass media. The development

The Aesthetic Movement of Mixed Race W.E.B. DuBois stated within “The Souls of Black Folk” (Dubois, 533-47) that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” Being mixed race has been a growing struggle for individuals. In times of slavery, mixed race children were treated just as harshly as other people of color and disregarded by their white fathers. Even individuals who had a white appearance were treated harshly if it was known that they had black ancestry. Being an outsider because of mixed race has also been prominent in other cultures.

For U.S.A., one of the most multinational countries in the world, the issue of intermarriage is particularly relevant. Modern America is characterized by the high concentration of people of different color, culture and religion and an increase in inter-ethnic and inter-racial marriages. In particular, in comparison with the last century, the number of marriages between African-Americans and Whites has increased. The problem of the interracial family life in America is affected in many studies due to its relevance. Many authors use different approaches in their studies of this subject. Generally, main two of them could be distinguished to “external” and “internal”.