1664: Maryland passes first law against Interracial marriageI don't have many events before 1700, so I apologize for that, but I do have two more I would like to cover, for specific reasons in each case.
In 1664, Maryland became the first state to make it illegal for Black people to marry white people. The true intent of the law was to keep Black men from marrying white women, specifically, as Black men were a threat that needed to be dealt with. The reason this was seen as a problem was because until this time, it had been common for women who were indentured servants to marry with men who served in the same home. Many of these men were Black, whether free or enslaved, and so it was felt a law was needed to separate the two groups and to keep the two "races" from mixing. Other states soon followed suit, making it illegal across the thirteen colonies.
Sources:
- Anti-Amalgamation Law Passed
- Maryland Enacts First Anti-Interracial Marriage Law
- Anti-Amalgamation Law Passed This Day in 1664
- Maryland Passes the First Anti-Amalgamation Law
As you can see, despite the significance of this law, there aren't many pages that actually focus on this law in specific. Usually, it is listed with a growing group of laws that made chattel slavery of Black people more and more of a thing until the US had the slavery we are now familiar with. But make no mistake, this type of law is a particularly bad one. It was not struck down until Loving v Virginia in 1967. Until then, Northern states pretended the laws didn't exist, and Southern states used the law as a way to harm Black people. Black men in particular. Never forget that.
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