Race Mixing: Black-White Marriage in Postwar America

"The culmination of a prodigious excavation from a wide and fascinating array of sources, including African American publications and archives that are often overlooked. Romano shapes this material into a lively narrative that will be enlightening to experts in the history of black-white relations as well as to general readers."-Randall Kennedy, author ofInterracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption "Expertly maps changing attitudes and experiences of black-white marriages since World War II . . . the individual stories that punctuate her engaging narrative range from disturbing to heartwrenching."-The American Historical Review "Romano is to be commended for tracing with equal care the evolution of black and white opinions about interracial marriage and gender differences within each group."-The Journal of American History "Cogent and extremely readable . . ."-African American Review "Romano's monograph is excellent, and I hope it will gain the large audience that it deserves."--Atlantic Monthly Marriage between blacks and whites is a long-standing and deeply ingrained taboo in American culture. On the eve of World War II, mixed-race marriage was illegal in most states, politicians argued for segregated facilities in order to prevent race mixing, and interracial couples risked public hostility, legal action, even violence. Yet sixty years later, black-white marriage is no longer illegal or a divisive political issue, and the number of such couples and their mixed-race children has risen dramatically. Renee C. Romano explains how and why such marriages have gained acceptance, and what this tells us about race relations in contemporary America. Although significant numbers of both blacks and whites still oppose interracial marriage, larger historical forces have greatly diminished overt racism and shaped a new consciousness about mixed-race families. The social revolutions of the 1950s and 1960s (with their emphasis on individualism and nonconformity), the legal sanctions of new civil rights laws, and a decline in the institutional stability of marriage have all contributed to the growing tolerance for interracial relationships. Telling the powerful stories of couples who married across the color line, Romano shows how cultural shifts are lived by individuals, and how these shifts have enabled mixed couples to build supportive communities for themselves and their children. However, Romano warns that the erosion of this taboo does not mean that racism no longer exists. The history of interracial marriage helps us understand the extent to which America has overcome its racist past, and how much further we must go to achieve meaningful racial equality.Race Mixingwill be welcomed as a text for classes in history, sociology, and African American studies.Renee C. Romano is the author of 'Race Mixing: Black-White Marriage in Postwar America', published 2006 under ISBN 9780813029801 and ISBN 0813029805.