• Subtopic:

Topic :Race

Presenters: Janet | Ryan | Susan | Veronica

Cheryl Jarman | Pacific Oaks College

HD 361 Social Political Context

Miscegenation Presentation

• Defining Miscegenation• Influences: Miscegenation Laws• History: background• Marriages: statistics • Children's impact/ challenges/recommendations• Advocacy/ Awareness: support groups

Objectives:

• It is the mixing of racial groups, and ethnicities.• Usually relates to two humans of racially different backgrounds producing offspring.• Taken from two Latin words “ misce” to mix and “genus’ meaning race.

Definition: Miscegenation

• United states passed laws based on interpretations of the bible particularly story of Phineas.

• Prohibited any persons who were of different racial backgrounds from cohabitating or marrying each other.

• Prohibited any ministers /persons from marrying mixed couples. Punished if found guilty of violating.

• Charge was adultery or fornication (extramarital sex).• Severe punishments such as fines, prison, slavery, even death.

Influences: Miscegenation Laws

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History-Important Events

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1662- Virginia doubled the fine for interracial marriage.1691- Virginia Laws also stated that any white woman who bore a mulatto child

would pay a fine or submit to indentured servitude for five years and her child thirty years.1664- Maryland was the first colony to prohibit interracial marriages.1750- All the southern states as well as Massachusetts and Pennsylvania made

such unions illegal.1852- Alabama – barred marriages ceremonies between members of different

races.1948- The court to overturn an anti miscegenation law was the California

Supreme court.1950- Half of the states had laws prohibiting interracial marriage.1960- At least 41 states had adopted laws.

History / Timeline

• 16 States still had anti – miscegenation laws in place. Over turned in landmark case Loving vs. Virginia

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-yKjd-tUkI

• It took about 305 years for racial laws to be finally removed.

1967- Landmark case

• Just under 200,000 whites are involved in interracial marriages every year in the US• Of the 2,096,000 marriages in the US in 2010, some 275,500 were interracial—and of that number, 192,850

involved white partners, male or female.• The study found that in total, 8.4 percent of all current US marriages are interracial, up from 3.2 percent in 1980.• White Americans are statistically the least likely to marry outside of their race, although because of their numbers, are in

absolute terms involved in interracial marriages more than any other group.

• Some 2.1 percent of married White women and 2.3 percent of married White men had a non-White spouse. 1.0 percent of all married White men were married to an Asian American woman, and 1.0 percent of married White women were married to a man classified as “other”.

• Hispanics and Asians remained the likeliest to marry outside their race, and the increasing number of interracial marriages mostly reflects those groups’ larger share of the general population.

• The total number of Americans who listed their ethnicity as “mixed race” was just under 9 million in 2010.• Of the 275,500 new interracial marriages in 2010:• - 43 percent were white-Hispanic couples;• - 14.4 percent were white-Asian:• - 11.9 percent were white-black; and the remainder were other combinations.• Research has established beyond any doubt that interracial couples have a higher divorce rate than those who

marry within their race.

Interracial Marriages: Statistics

Thomas Jefferson , author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States had a 37 year Relationship and fathered 7 children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings.

• May have different racial identities from one another and is influenced by their individual physical features, family attachments and support, and experiences with racial groups.

• Need to develop public identity with the “minority” race, while maintaining a private interracial identity with family & friends in order to cope with society biases.

• Multiracial children in divorced families may have greater difficulties accepting and valuing the cultures of both parents.

• Institutional discrimination from government, private and public organizations. Many students are not allowed to choose more than one racial identity.

• They face discrimination and microaggressions.• Exclusion or isolation in which they are excluded due to their mixed status form families that disapprove of being

mixed. (Not being treated as their sibling).• They are teased and stared at when they are with their family.• They feel guilty or disloyal to a parent when choosing to adopt racial identity and/or culture of one parent.• They do not differ from other children in self-esteem, comfort with themselves, or amount of psychiatric problems,

but tend to be high achievers with a strong sense of self and tolerance of diversity.• Children with a true multiracial or multicultural identity generally grow up to be happier than multiracial children who

grow up with a “single race” identity.

Children's impact/challenges

What is your background? How did that affect you growing up?

Did you face racism /prejudice/due to your background?

What culture/religion do you most side with?

Where you ever teased or stared at as a child when you were with your parents?

What race do you consider yourself when filing out documents?

Was it a huge problem for your parents when they decided to get together because of their different

race/cultures?

Do you feel that having more than one race has benefited you?

In you own opinion, do you feel everyone should choose who to marry or stick to their own race?

Do you believe that mixing races one looses true culture and traditions are vanished?

Questions:

Interviewee:

• Assist them in developing coping skills in order for them to handle questions and/or biases about their background.

• Understand that the children might feel guilt and disloyalty when choosing one of his/her parents racial identity/culture.

• Locate books and/or watch movies about lives with multiracial individuals.

• Establish support networks through school, relatives, and friends.

• Encourage and support a multiracial life and live in a diverse community where the sense of being different or unacceptable is minimized. 

WAYS TO HELP MULTIRACIAL CHILDREN COPE WITH THE CHALLENGES

• 5. Play traditional music in your home. You can create fun games

about who dances better, who knows the lyrics and such.

• 6. Keep in touch with family members abroad. Let your children

talk to cousins, aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas. This

will make them feel part of that group as well.

• 7. Teach them basic history, the flag and basic geography of your

country. They won’t know as much as a child that is being raised

there, but they should know more than a child with a different

background.

• 8. Speak to them in your own language. It’s one of the basics for

your children to get immersed in the culture, being able to

communicate with relatives who don’t speak English.

Things you can do on a daily basis that will stay with your children while they grow.• 1. Cook traditional foods and make mealtime something

important. Eating while all sitting at the table will make the foods more meaningful.

• 2. Don’t forget your home country’s holidays; it will definitely be fun for your kids to have more holidays and celebrations.

• 3. If you live in a community where there is no representation from your culture, become one. Plan activities for your kids where you can show them more about your culture, invite your children’s friends.

• 4. Involve your children in issues relevant to your culture (depending on their age). Make them aware of cultural events, news or needs of the community.

Tips on keeping traditions alive in the home: to help children appreciate their Heritage

• Association of Multiethnic Americans (www.ameasite.org) - The Association of Multiethnic Americans is a nationwide confederation of local multiethnic/interracial groups, incorporated as a

nonprofit public benefit organization. AMEA was founded in November of 1988 by representatives of local multiethnic/ multiracial organizations from across the United States. Members of

local groups come from all walks of life and include people from many racial/ethnic backgrounds and mixtures. AMEA is a secular, non-denominational organization open to people of all

faiths...AMEA's primary goal is to promote a positive awareness of interracial and multiethnic identity, for ourselves and for society as a whole...

• Check One (dolphin.upenn.edu/~check one) - Check One is an affinity group for students of mixed heritage put together by our friends down at the University of Pennsylvania. A great bunch

of folks, Check One engages in regular exchange with us here at SMHAC and, like us, they are very interested in hooking up with other mixed heritage affinity groups on the East Coast.

• Famlee Homepage (www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/~thompson/famlee/home.html) - A group of over 100 members celebrating multiculturalism and multiracialism.

• Hapa Issues Forum (www.wenet.net/~hapa) - Based out the University of California at Berkeley, HIF is one of the largest and best organized groups dealing with issues of mixed heritage. An

excellent model for fledgling mixed race affinity groups.

• Hapas in the Bay Area(www.webwind.com/hapa/Resources.html#Personal Homepages) - We are a group of people, mixed-race, Asian-Pacific families, couples, and individuals in the San Jose

- Bay Area (California) that have found that in the coupling of our Asian and non-Asian cultures, there are challenges and issues (along with a lot of fun and joy!). Issues arise in

communications, traditions, acceptance by others, childrearing, identity development of children, etc.

• International Interracial Association (icg.stwing.upenn.edu/~Konrad/iia.html) - The International Interracial Association (IIA) was founded in June 1995 by Konrad Hernblad, with the support of

three other individuals. They all met over the Internet from places as diverse as Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, and the United States to form an organization with the aim of promoting racial

and cultural harmony worldwide. The association is open to all who have an interest in improving racial and cultural unity through supportive discussion of: interracial/cultural individuals,

individuals who are involved in an interracial/cultural relationship, parents who have adopted interracially/culturally, those who simply have an interest in interracial/cultural issues Given the

increase of interracial/cultural marriages and births worldwide, we plan to translate the home page into many different languages so as to maintain an international scope and to reach as

many people as possible.

• The website currently features: a calendar of events worldwide, a discussion forum, a listing of contributing members, extensive resources, success stories, and a 'what's new' section to keep

you informed of our latest developments.

• Objectives

• To help unite people of the world through positive interracial/cultural experiences.

• To foster the understanding, growth, and greater awareness of interracial/cultural individuals, couples, and parents.

• To provide support to interracial individuals, couples, and parents.

• To become internationally recognized as the primary source for information on interracial issues.

• To establish and maintain the world's first interracial database for statistical and research purposes.

Advocacy: support groups

• My Shoes (myshoes.com) - a support group in cyberspace hosted by clinical psychologist Dr. Juanita Brooks for biracial/multiracial children, adolescents and adults who have a white appearance.

• My Shoes was created for the biracial individual who has a white appearance and wishes to interact with others of similar heritage. My Shoes is for you if you are biracial with a white appearance and have ever wished that you could share your unique thoughts and feelings with others who could more easily identify with them.

• My Shoes is for you if you have ever believed that only another biracial person with a white appearance could fully understand some of your personal dilemmas.

• My Shoes is for you if you have ever felt isolated and just wanted to meet other individuals like yourself. • There are two support groups that you can join. One is for youth through high school age and the other is for

adults. Although these groups are similar, age separation will allow the members of each group to better identify with each other. However, no one is restricted from participating in either group.

• Tokyo Hapa Club (www.twics.com/~williams/hapa.html) - Founded in 1993, THC states it primary mission is: ...to provide an outlet to those with common backgrounds and interests, the opportunity to make friends with other half-Japanese (or half Asian) people and those brought up in a bicultural environment. Additionally, we want to support those who may need a friend and those who may be uncomfortable due to various reasons about their identity.

Continued: support groups

Interesting Facts:

•From 1970 to 1994 the number of mixed race married couples increased from 310,000 to 1.1million

•Alabama was the last state to repeal the anti-miscegenation laws in November 2000.

•The first interracial marriage was between Pocahontas and John Rolfe in 1614.

• Carter, Greg. The United States of the United Races: A Utopian History of Racial Mixing. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

• Fulbeck, Kip. Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle, 2010. Print.

• Berlatsky, Noah, and Lynn M. Zott. Multiracial America. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2014. Print.

• Guterl, Matthew Pratt. Seeing Race in Modern America. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

• Downing, Karen E., Darlene P. Nichols, and Kelly Webster. Multiracial America: A Resource Guide on the History and Literature of Interracial Issues. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2005. Print.

Resources