Loving vs. Virginia
Loving V Virginia
Every human should be granted basic civil rights. The constitution itself claims we as American citizens are granted “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” but does the government always allow us these civil liberties? Life, yes we are all granted the right to be alive, but liberty and true pursuit of happiness maybe not as much. Webster defines Liberty as “The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life”. Our nation has failed to provide the freedom of liberty to many. Prior to 1967, the privilege to marry outside of one’s own race was unheard of in the United States. This may seem a bit outlandish considering the many freedoms granted to us today, but these freedoms were not easy to obtain. Now we are well aware that the color of someone’s skin should not influence how they are treated and who they should marry. A person does not decide who they love and they cannot control how they feel towards someone based exclusively on race. The unjust laws banning interracial marriage were defeated by the Supreme Court case Loving V Virginia and people were free to love as they wished.
Anti-miscegenation laws first came about in North America around the late 17th century. The term miscegenation means any person of a different race marrying or having a sexual relationship with a white person. Miscegenation relates closely to the word exogamy, a term used to describe people who marry someone that is from outside of their community or tribe. One of the laws put into action to discourage the act of miscegenation was The Racial Integrity Act of 1924 which stated that every person is required to have a full racial description report when they were born. There were only two groups that a child could be placed in: white people and colored people. The law made it clear that it was illegal for these two races to marry. In fact in one court case: Kirby V Kirby Mr. Kirby claimed his marriage
Every human should be granted basic civil rights. The constitution itself claims we as American citizens are granted “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” but does the government always allow us these civil liberties? Life, yes we are all granted the right to be alive, but liberty and true pursuit of happiness maybe not as much. Webster defines Liberty as “The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life”. Our nation has failed to provide the freedom of liberty to many. Prior to 1967, the privilege to marry outside of one’s own race was unheard of in the United States. This may seem a bit outlandish considering the many freedoms granted to us today, but these freedoms were not easy to obtain. Now we are well aware that the color of someone’s skin should not influence how they are treated and who they should marry. A person does not decide who they love and they cannot control how they feel towards someone based exclusively on race. The unjust laws banning interracial marriage were defeated by the Supreme Court case Loving V Virginia and people were free to love as they wished.
Anti-miscegenation laws first came about in North America around the late 17th century. The term miscegenation means any person of a different race marrying or having a sexual relationship with a white person. Miscegenation relates closely to the word exogamy, a term used to describe people who marry someone that is from outside of their community or tribe. One of the laws put into action to discourage the act of miscegenation was The Racial Integrity Act of 1924 which stated that every person is required to have a full racial description report when they were born. There were only two groups that a child could be placed in: white people and colored people. The law made it clear that it was illegal for these two races to marry. In fact in one court case: Kirby V Kirby Mr. Kirby claimed his marriage