Interracial Marriages among African American and Whites

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore the concept of interracial marriages in a holistic manner. The core objective of this paper is to analyze the fact that the interracial marriages (The marriages among African Americans with other ethnicities; especially, the whites) are healthy as compared to the intra-racial marriages. Nonetheless, the paper also aims to analyze the effect of the interracial marriages between the African Americans and the white on the biracial children. The paper focuses of diverse dimensions of literature in order to analyze the effect of interracial marriages on children. Nonetheless, the paper validates the literary information by analyzing the primary data accumulated through randomly selected sample size in order to test the study hypothesis and to measure the effect of interracial marriage on the biracial children.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Problem Statement5

Theoretical Framework5

Hypothesis6

Literature Review7

Advantages of Interracial Marriages9

Disadvantages of Interracial Marriages9

Methodology12

Research Design12

Sampling12

Data Collection Process13

Data Collection Instrument13

Data Analysis Technique13

Results and Findings14

Discussion and Conclusion17

References18

Appendix20

Interracial Marriages among African American and Whites

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and discuss interracial marriages among African Americans and the whites. The core objective of the paper is to explore the fact that is it healthy for African Americans to marry outside their race; especially, the whites. Moreover the paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of interracial marriages along with the effects of the interracial marriages on the biracial children. Bans on interracial intimacy took different forms. Some states, such as Alabama, broadly criminalized attempts at intermarriage, interracial adultery, and interracial fornication between African Americans and Whites as felonies, and the courts interpreted these bans to bar sexual relationships that paralleled legitimate same-race marital relationships. Other States made interracial marriage between African Americans and Whites a serious crime; but, left interracial fornication at the level of a misdemeanor offense.

Traditionally, the white families compared to African American families were most often in opposition. Opposition by white family members was most often based in racist assumptions and stereotypes, but also based in concern about the racism that the couple would face from society at large. Moreover, white families were concerned that marrying interracially meant a poor economic future. Other concerns raised by white families included issues of safety and well-being, as well as the issue of raising a biracial child. Close family members might have been militantly against the marriage; but, mothers in African American families played a key role in providing acceptance of the interracial marriage.

Several States of the world often incorporated a bewildering array of racial groups in their injunctions against interracial intimacy between Whites and the African Americans; but, some states also barred marriages between Whites and African Americans. Through the first three decades of the twentieth century, cultural and legal definitions of race increasingly moved toward eliminating the broad array of terms for mixed-race individuals in favor of a limited range of rigid categories. The category of mulatto gradually disappeared in favor of a strict separation between African American and Whites, with those formerly considered ...