Miscegenation Research Paper

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Erica Kelley Afro-American History 2381 Professor Antrece Baggett Miscegenation Miscegenation The definition of miscegenation is the sexual relations between people from different racial groups. It comes from the Latin words “miscere” and “genus,” which mean “to mix” and “race,” respectively. For white men, having sex with women of any race was acceptable as long as it was not public. Legal, political, and social restrictions against these relationships have existed at various times. Maintaining racial purity within the white race has been the dominant discourse in marriage laws and intermarriage prohibitions. Historically, legal restrictions placed on inter-marriage and miscegenation has varied by state. Miscegenation had been…show more content…
Sex between black men and white women was punished, because these relations were a threat to the power and privilege of white men. However, sex between white men and black women did not threaten the white power structure, but instead reinforced the domination of white men up through the 1800s. White men had free access to black women on plantations. Black women were over sexualized in the minds of white men, especially in contrast to white women. White men used this depiction to justify the idealization of the white woman, the degradation of black women, and the privilege awarded to white men, especially in terms of unlimited sexual access. Interracial sex did not challenge the purity of the white race because children born of white fathers and black mothers were demoted to slave status. The law of slavery seemed to support, and didn’t seem to contradict that slaves had no legal recourse against advances by whites. Plantation owners were placed on the defensive because mulatto slaves in the South were evidence that there were sexual relations between white men and slave…show more content…
Beauty is naturally meant to be a blessing, not a curse, yet for the slave woman, it can lead to great troubles. Even those who are not beautiful suffer, as they lose their innocence living the life of a slave. The slave owner’s wives also suffered emotional issues. Knowing that her husband is engaging in sexual practices with a black slave girl would cause jealousy to arise in many of the wives. They would often mistreat the slave that is having an “affair” with her husband. Advances by white men towards black slave women must have made married couples miserable. The husband may have found it hard to have intimacy with his own wife knowing that his white owner has pleasured himself with her. If the married slave had a child by her owner more than likely that husband would not accept the child as his own and even the slave owner would not acknowledge the child. Single slaves who had children by whites may have been stigmatized in their efforts to build a family. While there are still Americans who disagree with miscegenation, the number of interracial relations has increased in today’s society. Recent surveys show that more young adults are prone to miscegenation. If both members of an interracial relationship trust and respect each other, if they can make each other laugh and help each other grow, and if each is willing to commit to staying with the relationship, then those two people have good reason to pursue interracial
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