hardheadjarhead
Senior Master
Here are some other instances where states and its citizens regulated marriage and told people what restrictions were placed on their affections. I make a link between this and Gay marriage at the bottom, and you'll note another Alabama Constitutional clause that is similar to another we've discussed in a thread of its own.
Interesting-sometimes horrifying-information, which I hope you take the time to read:
Examples of laws prohibiting marriage.
The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay, or Hindu shall be null and void. -Arizona
All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited. -Florida
It shall be unlawful for a white person to marry anyone except a white person. Any marriage in violation of this section shall be void. -Georgia
All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, or between a white person and a member of the Malay race; or between the negro and a member of the Malay race; or between a person of Negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, and a member of the Malay race, are forever prohibited, and shall be void. -Maryland
The marriage of a white person with a negro or mulatto or person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void. -Mississippi
All marriages between...white persons and negroes or white persons and Mongolians...are prohibited and declared absolutely void...No person having one-eighth part or more of negro blood shall be permitted to marry any white person, nor shall any white person be permitted to marry any negro or person having one-eighth part or more of negro blood. -Missouri
All marriages between an Indian and a Negro or between an Indian and a person of Negro descent to the third generation inclusive shall be utterly void. Provided, this act shall only apply to the Croatan Indians. -North Carolina (North Carolina's Constitution of 1875 specifically forbade the marriage of whites with negroes and Indians of third generation descent.)
All marriages between an white person and a colored person shall be absolutely void without any decree of divorce or other legal process" -Virginia
All marriages of white persons with Negroes, Mulattos, Mongolians, or Malaya hereafter contracted in the State of Wyoming are and shall be illegal and void. -Wyoming
Any person...who shall be guilty of printing, publishing or circulating printed, typewritten or written matter urging or presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to fine or not exceeding five hundred (500.00) dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months or both. -Mississippi
Multiple sources, primarily:
http://www.nps.gov/malu/documents/jim_crow_laws.htm
One of many lynchings.
1905—On July 6 Joseph Woodman, an African American, and his white fiance attempt to leave Arkansas to go north and marry. They are stopped by a sheriff’s posse, and Woodman is lynched. Between 1885 and 1915, according to historian Paul Spickard, there occur at least 2,715 lynchings of black men and women in America. The fear of “miscegenation”—race mixing—fuels the intensity of white violence against blacks.
http://www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss111/history.htm
Fear endures.
As of July 1999, Alabama still had a clause in its constitution prohibiting a black person or descendent of a black person from marrying a white person.
One Court Case.
Loving v. Virginia: In 1958 a couple was convicted under Virginia's anti-miscegenation law. While they were "exiled" from Virginia for 25 years, they could have received a 5 year prison term. The judge in his ruling appealed to religion and stated the following:
"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races show that he did not intend the races to mix."
http://www.angelfire.com/ab3/freewill/CMILecture14Supplement.htm
Review of the laws.
At least 127 laws prohibiting interracial marriage and cohabitation were passed between 1865 and the 1950s nationwide, with 37 percent of the statutes passed outside the South. Western states enacted 33 such laws (27 percent). Both whites and blacks who ignored the law could receive sentences for up to ten years hard labor in the penitentiary in a number of states. Punishment for miscegenation in state statutes was still in force in the 1960s in Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and North Carolina.
In September 1949, only 15 states had no segregation laws in effect. These included Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Of the remaining states, 30 states prohibited mixed marriages and "race mixing." Thirteen of those were plains states.
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/hs_es_jim_crow_laws.htm
Cohabitation.
Any negro man and white woman, or any white man and negro woman, who are not married to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the nighttime the same room shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred ($500.00) dollars. Florida
http://www.nps.gov/malu/documents/jim_crow_laws.htm
And guess what's happened in your lifetime...
In February of 1994 a school principal in Alabama threatened to cancel the Prom if any mixed couples planned on attending the event.
In 1996 a Georgia church decided to disinter the body of a bi-racial infant buried on church property. It later backed down, but later made national headlines when it refused to marry the child's parents.
http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/family/cruz-berson.html
Interesting to note which "red states" were reluctant to part with such laws.
Same bigots. Different marriage issue.
Regards,
Steve
Interesting-sometimes horrifying-information, which I hope you take the time to read:
Examples of laws prohibiting marriage.
The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay, or Hindu shall be null and void. -Arizona
All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited. -Florida
It shall be unlawful for a white person to marry anyone except a white person. Any marriage in violation of this section shall be void. -Georgia
All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, or between a white person and a member of the Malay race; or between the negro and a member of the Malay race; or between a person of Negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, and a member of the Malay race, are forever prohibited, and shall be void. -Maryland
The marriage of a white person with a negro or mulatto or person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void. -Mississippi
All marriages between...white persons and negroes or white persons and Mongolians...are prohibited and declared absolutely void...No person having one-eighth part or more of negro blood shall be permitted to marry any white person, nor shall any white person be permitted to marry any negro or person having one-eighth part or more of negro blood. -Missouri
All marriages between an Indian and a Negro or between an Indian and a person of Negro descent to the third generation inclusive shall be utterly void. Provided, this act shall only apply to the Croatan Indians. -North Carolina (North Carolina's Constitution of 1875 specifically forbade the marriage of whites with negroes and Indians of third generation descent.)
All marriages between an white person and a colored person shall be absolutely void without any decree of divorce or other legal process" -Virginia
All marriages of white persons with Negroes, Mulattos, Mongolians, or Malaya hereafter contracted in the State of Wyoming are and shall be illegal and void. -Wyoming
Any person...who shall be guilty of printing, publishing or circulating printed, typewritten or written matter urging or presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to fine or not exceeding five hundred (500.00) dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months or both. -Mississippi
Multiple sources, primarily:
http://www.nps.gov/malu/documents/jim_crow_laws.htm
One of many lynchings.
1905—On July 6 Joseph Woodman, an African American, and his white fiance attempt to leave Arkansas to go north and marry. They are stopped by a sheriff’s posse, and Woodman is lynched. Between 1885 and 1915, according to historian Paul Spickard, there occur at least 2,715 lynchings of black men and women in America. The fear of “miscegenation”—race mixing—fuels the intensity of white violence against blacks.
http://www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss111/history.htm
Fear endures.
As of July 1999, Alabama still had a clause in its constitution prohibiting a black person or descendent of a black person from marrying a white person.
One Court Case.
Loving v. Virginia: In 1958 a couple was convicted under Virginia's anti-miscegenation law. While they were "exiled" from Virginia for 25 years, they could have received a 5 year prison term. The judge in his ruling appealed to religion and stated the following:
"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races show
http://www.angelfire.com/ab3/freewill/CMILecture14Supplement.htm
Review of the laws.
At least 127 laws prohibiting interracial marriage and cohabitation were passed between 1865 and the 1950s nationwide, with 37 percent of the statutes passed outside the South. Western states enacted 33 such laws (27 percent). Both whites and blacks who ignored the law could receive sentences for up to ten years hard labor in the penitentiary in a number of states. Punishment for miscegenation in state statutes was still in force in the 1960s in Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and North Carolina.
In September 1949, only 15 states had no segregation laws in effect. These included Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Of the remaining states, 30 states prohibited mixed marriages and "race mixing." Thirteen of those were plains states.
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/hs_es_jim_crow_laws.htm
Cohabitation.
Any negro man and white woman, or any white man and negro woman, who are not married to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the nighttime the same room shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred ($500.00) dollars. Florida
http://www.nps.gov/malu/documents/jim_crow_laws.htm
And guess what's happened in your lifetime...
In February of 1994 a school principal in Alabama threatened to cancel the Prom if any mixed couples planned on attending the event.
In 1996 a Georgia church decided to disinter the body of a bi-racial infant buried on church property. It later backed down, but later made national headlines when it refused to marry the child's parents.
http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/family/cruz-berson.html
Interesting to note which "red states" were reluctant to part with such laws.
Same bigots. Different marriage issue.
Regards,
Steve
