Problems and Motives in Interracial Relationships

If it is true that about 70 NO of all American Negroes have whites among their ancestors (Lewis, 1964), sexual relations between whites and non-whites must have been quite widespread. In all probability such sexual communication was most frequent during period of slavery; before fear that racial mixing would lead to downfall of nation (as it allegedly had led to destruction of the civilization of Egypt, India, Phoenicia, Carthage, and Greece (Warren, 1956) had erupted into legislative action prohibiting cohabitation, as well as marriage, between whites and certain non-white races. The white planter's or overseer's motivation was simple and gratification of his appetite roused few if any problems: females' consent was not absolutely necessary, affair did not involve any obligations on man's part, and offspring resulting from intercourse with a slave girl might even be considered a paying investment (Franklin, 1 963). Legislation against interracial relations, married or unmarried, was accompanied by strong popular sentiment. Nevertheless, both legitimate and illegitimate unions of this kind continued to occur. There are no statistics on latter. Regarding former, estimates based on local statistics indicate that, in our time, they amounted to .77 % in 1961 and to .94 NO in 1963 (New York Times, 1963). Other data (Barnett, 1963) indicate that proportion of such marriages may have risen from 1.2 % in 1955 to 1.4 NO in 1959. All studies of racial attitudes in U. S. emphasize continuing resistance to interracial, especially Negro-white, marriages (Myrdal, 1944; Allport, 1958; Hernton, 1965) . According to a survey undertaken by Cewsweek (1966), 88 % of all whites (97 W0 of Southern whites) are opposed to dating between Negroes and white teen-agers, and 79 NO (91 NO in South) would object to marriage of a close friend or relative to a Negro. Corresponding data in Negro community have apparently not been published as yet. In view of such resistance, it is interesting to know motives of