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13 Nat'l Black L.J. 165 (1993-1994)
Sexual Racism: A Legacy of Slavery

handle is hein.journals/natblj13 and id is 169 raw text is: Sexual Racism*: A Legacy of Slavery I. INTRODUCTION Why do people feel so strongly about interracial sex and marriage? Why do interracial couples face hatred, bigotry, and discrimination from society? Why is there so much hostility to the mixing of the races? To answer these questions, one need only research the topics of miscegenation, interracial sex, and interracial marriage. This Note will demonstrate that the negative atti- tudes that people have regarding interracial sex and marriage are a legacy of American slavery. The anti-miscegenation statutes which made interracial sex and marriage illegal gave legitimacy to the idea of White supremacy and racial purity. Even twenty-five years after the anti-miscegenation statutes were struck down as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment in Loving v. Vir- ginia,' strong negative attitudes remain throughout society. These attitudes constitute sexual racism, one of the last barriers to a fully integrated society. Sexual racism is the sexual rejection of the racial minority, the conscious attempt on the part of the majority to prevent interracial cohabitation.2 This Author believes that the heart of the racial conflict today is the hostility sur- rounding interracial sex and marriage and that that hostility creates a barrier to achieving racial harmony. II. THE HISTORY OF ANTI-MISCEGENATION STATUTES The word miscegenation comes from the Latin words miscere which means to mix and genus which means race. The term miscegenation was coined in 1864 by the author of a pamphlet called Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races.3 Anti-miscegenation laws prohibited interracial sex and marriage with most of the emphasis placed on the purity of the White race (prohibiting Whites from marrying some other racial group).4 The his- tory of anti-miscegenation statutes dates back over 325 years.5 Since there was no ban on miscegenation at common law or by statutes in England at the time of the establishment of the American colonies, anti-miscegenation laws originated in this country.6 Prohibitions against miscegenation date back to the earliest colonial times; the first record of sanctions imposed for interracial sex seems to be in Virginia. September 17th 1630. Hugh Davis to be soundly whipped, before an assem- bly of Negroes and others for abusing himself to the dishonor of God and * This phrase was coined by Charles Stember in his book SEXUAL RACISM: THE EMOTIONAL BARRIER TO AN INTEGRATED SOCIETY ix (1976). I chose Sexual Racism: A Legacy of Slavery as the title of this Note because I believe that sexual racism is a direct result of slavery and the anti- miscegenation statutes which were originally passed to ensure the survival of the slavery system. 1. 388 U.S. 1 (1967). 2. CHARLES HERBERT STEMBER, SEXUAL RACIsM: THE EMOTIONAL BARRIER TO AN INTE- GRATED SOCIETY ix (1976). 3. Published anonymously in 1864, authorship of the pamphlet has been attributed to David Croly and George Wakeman. 4. Harvey M. Applebaum, Miscegenation Statutes: A Constitutional and Social Problem, 53 GEO. L.J. 49 (1964). 5. Id. 6. Id. at 50.

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