intro

Interracial romance has been a point of difficulty in America since the first English settlers found colonies in the 17th century. Back in 1664 Maryland banned interracial marriage just to questions over whether the offspring of a black slave and a white person would be considered a free person or property. In following years, many other states like Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina started a law called “anti miscegenation laws” which banned interracial marriage. In 1691 Virginia outlawed interracial couples and labeled their children as “that abominable mixture and spurious issue.” When slavery was canceled by the 13th Amendment in 1865, many southern states started what were known as the “Black Codes.” In addition to stripping freed slaves of most of their just got rights, these codes continued the ban of marriage between whites and blacks. This was based on the commonly held notion that Africans and Native Americans as well were common races and interbreeding would violate the white gene pool. When Congress tried to override the “Black Codes” by issuing a series of laws from 1866 to 1875 the Supreme Court hold most of the law void and upheld the southern states right to ban interracial marriage.