| |
Adapted from the compilation by Shizue Seigel, George Kich, Ph.D.
and Randall Senzaki
From the National Japanese
American Historical Society's publication: Nikkei Heritage.
| 1661 |
The first
anti-miscegenation law is passed. Maryland prohibits marriages
between blacks and whites, as a way of controlling property
rights and social privileges. |
| 1790 |
The first U.S. Naturalization Act limits the right
to become a naturalized citizen to "free white persons." |
| 1880 |
California prohibits the issuance
of licenses for marriage between a white person and "a Negro,
mulatto, or Mongolian." |
| 1883 |
A Missouri judge prevented an intermarriage because,
"It is stated as a well authenticated fact that if the (children)
of a black man and white woman, and a white man and a black
woman intermarry, they cannot possibly have any progeny, and
such a fact sufficiently justifies those laws which forbid the
intermarriage of blacks and whites. |
| 1896 |
Plessy v. Ferguson The U.S. Supreme
Court rules in an 1896 decision, that state-imposed racial segregation
of railroad cars is constitutional. Homer Plessy was denied
the right to sit in a "Whites Only" train section because he
had one black great grandparent, thus establishing a legal precedent
that legitimized the "One Drop" rule. |
| 1909 |
California passes a law specifically adding the
Japanese to the list of those barred from marrying whites. |
| 1922 |
The Cable Act specifies that any U.S.-born woman
marrying a "person ineligible for citizenship" would automatically
lose her U.S. citizenship. In a marriage terminated by divorce
or death, a Caucasian woman could regain her citizenship, but
a Nisei woman could not, because she was "of a race ineligible
for citizenship."
In Ozawa vs. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court rejects naturalization
for Japanese immigrants on the grounds that Japanese, like other
Asians, could never assimilate with white Americans. |
| 1924 |
The Quota Immigration Act, also known as the "Japanese
Exclusion Act," stops further immigration from Japan. |
| 1936 |
The Cable Act is repealed. |
| 1942 |
E.O. 9066 sets into motion the eviction and incarceration
of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. Since persons
with as little as 1/16 Japanese ancestry were subject to internment,
mixed-race people were also incarcerated. A subsequent policy
of forced "resettlement" disperses internees to areas of the
U.S. other than the West Coast. |
| 1945 |
California Assembly Bill SB 321, signed by Gov.
Earl Warren, prohibits marriage between whites and "Negroes,
mulattos, Mongolians, and Malays". |
| 1945-1953 |
The Occupation of Japan and the Korean War lead
to significant U.S. troop levels in Japan. Despite restrictions
against fraternization with the local populace, many relationships
develop between servicemen and Japanese women. |
| 1946-1957 |
The "G.I. Fiancees Act", or "War Brides Act" allows
the wives and children of American military personnel to enter
the U.S. as non-quota immigrants. The law primarily benefits
Europeans, but for the first time since 1924, some immigration
from Japan is permitted. In 1947, legislation specifically addressing
marriages between U.S. servicemen and Japanese citizens subjects
both parties to rigorous background checks, and bars women who
are employed in activities considered undesirable. Not until
1957 does new legislation relax restrictions against marriages
between U.S. military and Japanese nationals. |
| 1948 |
In Perez vs. Sharp, the California Supreme
Court rules against anti-miscegenation laws, stating that they
were based on racial distinctions that were "by their very nature,
odious to a free people". The U.S. Supreme Court rules that
race-restrictive housing covenants are unconstitutional. As
Japanese Americans move into integrated neighborhoods, increased
social interaction leads to more intermarriage. |
| 1952 |
The McCarran-Walter Immigration and Naturalization
Act allows Japanese immigrants to become naturalized citizens. |
| 1958 |
The first Gallup poll conducted on the subject
of interracial marriage revealed that 94% of whites opposed
them. |
| 1959 |
Judge Leon Bazile of Virginia sentenced Richard
and Mildred Loving to prison for one year for their interracial
marriage. |
| 1967 |
In Loving vs. Virginia, anti-miscegenation laws are
ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case
is argued by William Marutani, JACL legal counsel, and the
first Nisei to argue before the Supreme Court.
|
Excerpted from Intermarriages and Hapas: An Overview
by George Kitahara Kich, Ph.D., Rebecca Chiyoko King, Ph.D., Larry
Hajime Shinagawa Ph.D. and Shizue.
From the National Japanese
American Historical Society's publication: Nikkei Heritage.
To understand people of mixed race, we must begin with the history
of interracial relationships and marriages. The social and legal
contexts of such unions have paralleled the history of race-relations
in the U.S. Being in a "mixed marriage" or being a "mixed race"
person was a vastly different experience100 years ago than it is
today. Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States were in force
for over 300 years, leaving the taint of misinformation, prejudice
and fears within all communities.
The first anti-miscegenation law, barring marriage between
whites and blacks, was passed in Maryland in 1661. By the nineteenth
century, such laws had been enacted in most states. In 1880, California
passed a law prohibiting the issuing of licenses for marriage between
any white persona and a "Negro, mulatto, or Mongolian." ("Mulatto"
was a negative word derived from the mixture of a donkey and a horse,
producing a mule, which was not itself able to reproduce.) Aimed
at the Chinese, the law was supported by the likes of John F. Miller,
who said in 1878, "Were the Chinese to amalgamate at all with our
people…the result of that amalgamation would be…a mongrel
of the most detestable that has ever afflicted the earth." In 1909,
California specifically added the Japanese to the list.
In 1922, the Cable Act decreed that any U.S.-born woman who
married a "person ineligible for citizenship" would automatically
lose her own U.S. citizenship. The Cable Act was repealed in 1936.
However, as recently as 1945, California passed a bill reiterating
the ban on marriages between whites and other races. In 1948, the
tide began to turn when the California Supreme Court found the State
anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. However, not until 1967
was the last anti-miscegenation law in the U.S. struck down by the
U.S. Supreme Court (Loving v. Virginia).
The late 1940s through 1960s saw steady gains in civil rights
for minorities. In addition to the overturning of anti-miscegenation
laws, race-restrictive housing covenants were ruled unconstitutional,
and opportunities steadily increased in education and employment.
Increased socio-economic success, status and education resulted
in more contact with European Americans and other races.
The civil rights movement also increased multicultural consciousness
and cross-racial political and community involvement. In the decades
following the 1950s, gender and sex-role scripts loosened throughout
society. Cultural expectations about relationships, mates, marriages
and parenting became more fluid. These postwar circumstances led
to increased intermarriages.
In conclusion, mixed-race people and interracial families need
to be recognized, welcomed and supported as vital assets to the
whole community. Interracial couples consistently deal with one
or the other being an "insider", while the other feels like an "outsider"
within their separate ethnic and racial communities. If the insiders
are sensitive to and welcome the outsider, chances increase that
the insider's customs, traditions and values will be incorporated
into the couple's lives and passed on to their children.
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