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Part of General meeting discussion handout, September 20, 2006

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BLACK STUDENT UNION GENERAL MEETING
SEPTEMBER 20, 2006
INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIPS: BLACK COMMUNITY
ACCEPTANCEOR REJECTION

Does
the Black Community really accept interracial relationships, or
rejectthem? Is love color
blind?
-·

. .:

•

.

Patterns of interracial relationships:
• 40 out of the 50
states
at one
point in time
banned
the marriage of

persons c
ofo l o r a n d' w h i t e s.
that vs.
the supreme
Virginia
• It was not until 1967 with Loving
court brought
an
endto such statutes
s,:

Questions
1) How do you feel interracial relations are perceived
today?
"• .

·-

2) Are there stigmas that follow behind interracial marriage or
-__

relationships?
3) Is there a shift in racial attitudes that reflect a modern
commitment to the social norm?
4) Is there a difference in acceptance when

a personmerely
is dating

•

out of their race rather then getting

married

5) How does an interracial marriage. a f f eBlack
c tCommunity,
t h e if
at all?
6) Will we ever be on the verge to a world where a person's ethnicity
when it comes to marriage does not matter? Are we close to that
now?

UPCOMING EVENTS: SICKLE CELL CHARITY AUCTION WITH ALPHA
BETA SIGMA SORORITY, INCORPORATED SEPTEMBER 30TH 2006

Interracial Relationships: Black Community Acceptance or
Reiection
General Meeting September 20th, 2006
l )Treasure Report
2) Historian Report
3) Announcement about Publicity
4) General Announcements (Parties go lost)
(community service update)

***We are focusing on Black and White/ 2 polar extremes
I.

H.

Historical Background
a. Patterns of Interracial Relationships
i. Laws barring the marriage of persons of color and
whites existed in 40 of the 50 states
ii. Loving vs. Virginia Supreme Court in 1967 brought an
end to such staMes (anti-miscegenation
iii. Throughout history Black Men in comparison to Black
Women have "outmarried" to a for greater extent then
Black Women to all other ethnicities
iv. New York State (1919-1964} Found in only 2 years the
percentage of BJack females interracially married was
greater then the male percentage (1919 & 1935)
v. Over the years males have accounted for between 4190% of all black mixed marriages
Relevant History/facts
a. Highest incidence of "out marriage" is namely in the western
states
Useful Statistics
Are Interracial relationships negatively impacting the Black
Community?

Current interracial marriage disparities
In 1967, the Supreme Court ruling in Loving v. Virginia struck down the last of the anti­
miscegenation laws in the United States, and with this, the frontier of available marriage
choices shifted out. The number of interracial marriages in the United States has been on
the rise: 310,000 in 1970, 651,000 in 1980, and 1,161,000 in 1992 according to the U.S.
Bureau of the census 1993. Interracial marriages represented 0.7% of all marriages in
1970 to 1.3% in 1980, to 2.2% in 1992. With the introduction of the mixed-race category,
the 2000 census revealed interracial marriage to be somewhat more widespread, with
2,669,558 interracial marriages recorded, or4.9% of all marriages (census 2000 PHC-T-

19). (Here, marriages between two mixed-race persons, or where they are the same race
but one is Hispanic and the other not, are not counted as interracial.)
Although mixed-race partnering has increased, the United States still shows
huge disparities between African American male and African American
female endogamy statistics. The 1990 census reports that 17.6% of African
American marriages occur with White Americans. Yet African American men
are 2.5 times more likely to be married to white women than African
American women to white men. In the 2000 census, 239,477 African
American male to white female and 95,831 white male to African American
female marriages were recorded, again showing the 2.5-1 ratio. Despite this,
slightly more white men are married than white women.

Cohabitation and interracial marriage
African American men are 2.5 times more likely to be married to a white spouse and 3.3
times more likely to be cohabitating with a White American, as compared to their African
American female counterparts. Research yields that 7% of married African American
men are with white wives and 15% of African American men cohabit with white women

Immigrants and interracial marriage
It is found that racial endogamy is much stronger for immigrants as compared to natives;

it is 4.9 times more likely for immigrants of African descent than for African Americans.
Additionally, immigrants of African descent have the highest rates of endogamy of
immigrants. Also, African immigrants are much more likely to marry other same-race
immigrants and African Americans, than to out-marry racially. Native-born White
Americans are also 1.6 times more likely to marry a native-born African American than
an immigrant of African descent. Female immigrants of African descent are generally
more likely to marry native-born whites than their male counterparts.

Prison Rates: In 2004, more than 2.1 million Americans, or roughly 1 out of every 138,
were in prisons or jails approximately 40.2% of the prison population is black, while
32.1 % of the population is Hispanic
Black or African American 12.8% or 37.9 million,

Black Community has changed ultimately from where it was in the past
1) On one hand in the past it was never accepted
2) Now it is more widespread from Black Males perspective
Black Men enslaved historically by white men
Black women enslaved historically by white men/females - separation
with their children - Stigma to raise their black daughters to marry
black men because they saw it as a degradation of their family (own