Law Against Interracial Marriage

The Civil Rights Movement had changed American culture. Every person is entitled to his or her civil rights. The Civil Rights Movement was a series of political events that gave each person, black or white, the same rights. The Civil Rights Movement had many laws and restrictions against blacks and whites; the one law that had one of the largest impacts on American culture was the law against interracial marriages. Today in the twentieth century interracial is accepted because people love whom they want, for whatever reason. About a century ago, America was not like that. America was completely against two different races marrying. Interracial marriage was frowned upon and therefore the United States Supreme Court created The Racial Integrity Act of 1924 and the Anti-Miscegenation Law.

The Racial Integrity Act of 1924 was created to prohibit the marriage between blacks and whites. The state of Virginia adopted the act to prevent marriages based on their racial classifications. The Racial Integrity Act had a description that when a person was born they were divided into only two classifications, white and colored. This act was created to protect the purity of the white race, under the control of Dr. Walter Plecker. The Racial Integrity Act of 1924 was later overturned because this act was unconstitutional and violated the fourteenth amendment; “ratified in 1868, defining national citizenship and forbidding the states to restrict the basic rights of a citizen or other person” (Dictionary).

After the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, the act adopted the Anti- Miscegenation law; this also prohibited the black and white marriages. The word miscegenation came from the Latin word miscere (to mix) and genus means (type, family, or decent)...

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... of different races. According to the Census Bureau, due to the overturn of Loving vs. Virginia and the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, the interracial marriages have skyrocketed. For example, “black and white marriages increased from 65,000 in 1970 to 422,000 in 2005” (NBC). Today about 95% of blacks approve interracial marriage whereas, whites approve about 84%. Over the decades both races approval on interracial marriage has grown. The overturning of the Anti-Miscegenation law has changed American culture greatly over the last century; people nowadays are not as judge mental, and more acceptable to those of a different race.

Therefore, every person is entitled to his or her rights. American Culture was greatly influenced by The Civil Rights Movement. The Racial Integrity of 1924 and the Anti-Miscegenation Law had one of the largest tolls on the American culture.