Abstract
Using The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White, along with additional scholarly research and legal documentation for context, explores the ramifications and reasonings behind the creation and enforcement of anti-miscegenation laws. The primary individuals focused on suggest that anti-miscegenation laws were enacted for reasons outside of marriage's status as a union between two individuals. Social status, property inheritance, and even voting rights were denied to African Americans via the vehicle of anti-miscegenation laws. Just as other antebellum laws served to advance the agendas of the time, anti-miscegenation laws were no different. And the specific stories elaborated on show the many ways that individuals were alienated.
Recommended Citation
Dean, Tyler.
"The Question of the Purpose of Anti-Miscegenation Laws."
Merge, vol. 6,
Iss.
1
2022
.
Available at:
https://athenacommons.muw.edu/merge/vol6/iss1/1
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Law and Race Commons, Legal Commons, United States History Commons