Interracial Marriage in the United States

Marriage, as an institution, has evolved in the last few decades. As society progresses, the ideas and attitudes about marriage have shifted. Today, individuals are able to choose their partners and are more likely marry for love than convenience. While individuals are guaranteed the right to marry and the freedom to choose their own partners, it has not always been this way. Starting from colonial times up until the late 1960’s, the law in several states prohibited interracial marriages and unions. Fortunately, in 1967, a landmark case deemed such laws as unconstitutional. Currently, as society progresses, racism and social prejudice have decreased and interracial marriages have become, not only legal, but also widely accepted.
Although society has progressed immensely, the freedom to marry someone of a different ethnicity is relatively new. The anti-miscegenation laws that were adopted by so many states were created in colonial times.
Anti-miscegenation regulations and laws existed long before the United States became a nation. The colony of Maryland passed the first anti-miscegenation law in 1664. This law prohibited the mixing of different racial groups through marriages and sexual relations. For instance, to discourage Caucasian women from being involved with African-American or African males, one law “required [that a] white woman who married a male slave, [had] to serve the master for the lifetime of her slave husband” (Robinson 3-4). After Maryland enacted its first anti-miscegenation law, colonies like Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Delaware and Georgia took the initiative to enact laws that would prohibit unions between Caucasians and other races.
The first anti-miscegenation law was passed in 1664. The spread of such laws throughout the United States, however, was only possible due to it was the discriminatory views and behaviors