Anti-Miscegenation Laws

Anti-Miscegenation

Works Cited

Balkin, Jack M. An Interactive Civil Rights Chronology. Yale U. nd. Web. 2014. March 22. < http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/jbalkin/brown/1883.html >

Maeda. Daryl J. Chains of Babylon: The Rise of Asian America. (2009) : 26 - 27. Web. 2014. March 12. < http://books.google.com/books?id=eKiOLvSd4agC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=1905+california+anti-miscegenation+law&source=bl&ots=4OQlDU4nRG&sig=ki8tN9w-4JU03B9nArlE6SjVtaU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QJAfU9iZIYe90AH8_4DQAw&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=1905%20california%20anti-miscegenation%20law&f=false >

Randall, Vernellia R. "In Error to the Supreme Court of Alabama." Dayton School of Law. Web. 2012. April 25. 2014. March 22. < http://academic.udayton.edu/race/04needs/106us583.htm >

American Anti-miscegenation (Anti-Mixed Marriage) Laws. Idaho U. nd. Web. 2014. March 20. < http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl_258/Lecture%20Notes/american_antimiscegenation.htm >

The Chinese Experience in 19th Century America. Illinois U. nd. Web. 2014. March 12. < http://teachingresources.atlas.illinois.edu/chinese_exp/resources/resource_2_4.pdf >

"Anti-Miscegenation Laws in the United States". Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 15 March. 2014. Web. 22 March. 2014.

"Loving v. Virginia". Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 21 March. 2014. Web. 22 March. 2014.

Miscegenation is defined as:

"Miscegenation Definition". Merriam-Webster.com. nd. Web. 2014. March 12. < http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miscegenation >

"Pace v. Alabama". Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 6 November. 2013. Web. 20 March. 2014.

"Racial Integrity Act of 1924". Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 22 January. 2014. Web. 12 March. 2014

"Sexual relations or marriage between people of two different races" - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miscegenation

What is miscegenation?

The word was invented by American journalists in 1863 to discredit the Abolitionist movement

Anti-miscegenation could be defined as:

people or laws that are against the mixing or marrying of different races of people

Noteworthy

Anti-Miscegenation

Cases:

Pace v. Alabama

Perez v. Sharp

Perez v. Sharp (California)

Loving v. Virginia

In 1948 Andrea Perez, a Mexican American woman and Sylvester Davis, an African American man were denied a marriage license in Los Angeles because of California's anti-miscegenation law that was enacted in 1850

At the time, the state of California considered Mexicans to be white because of their Spanish lineage. California's anti-miscegenation law prohibited whites from marrying people of African and Asian decent

Both Perez and Davis were Catholics and wanted to have a Catholic mass for their wedding

The California State Supreme Court ruled the state's anti-miscegenation law in violation of the 14th Amendment because the Catholic Church was willing to marry them and therefore the law infringed on their religious rights

Pace v. Alabama and the 14th Amendment

Anti-miscegenation and the US Courts

Tony Pace, an African American man, and Mary Cox, a white woman, were both sentenced to 2 years in prison for being in an unwed interracial relationship in 1883

Section 1 of the 14th Amendment states: No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Loving v. Virginia

The Supreme Court of the US upheld the conviction stating that it did not violate the couple's 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law because both parties received equal sentences for violating the law

Mildred and Richard Loving were married in Washington DC in 1958. This allowed the couple to marry outside of Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 which made miscegenation a felony punishable by 1 - 5 years in prison

The police were informed of their illegal marriage by anonymous tip

When the police showed up at their house the officers were presented with the Lovings' marriage certificate.

Anti-miscegenation laws are:

This was later used as evidence to charge them with being an interracial couple that had married out of state and then returned to Virginia and miscegenation. The Lovings plead guilty in 1959 and received a 25 year suspended sentence if they agreed to move out of Virginia which they did

Laws that have been enacted to prevent the mixing of races

Laws that criminalize interracial marriage

The Lovings wrote to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1964 to protest their inability to visit family in Virginia. They were referred by him to the ACLU which plead their case to the state court of Virginia

Used to promote the segregation of races

The Lovings filed multiple lawsuits against the state court of Virginia after no decision had been made on their case

What are anti-miscegenation laws?

After the initial ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court of Virginia in a ruling very similar to Pace v. Alabama, their case reached the Supreme Court of the US

On June 12, 1967 the US Supreme Court deemed the ruling of the Supreme Court of Virginia to be in violation of the 14th Amendment, thereby overturning their ruling as well as the ruling of Pace v. Alabama and making all anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional and unenforceable.

Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States

Anti-miscegenation laws were laws enacted by individual states to prevent interracial marriages

The first laws were introduced by Virginia in 1691 and Maryland in 1692 to keep slaves and indentured servants from marrying

This was the first time laws were used to keep individuals from marrying based solely on race

Some states such as California rewrote their laws multiple times to include other races such as Asians to keep those groups from marrying whites

41 out of 50 states had such laws

In 2000, Alabama became the last state to overturn it's law