Editing Miscegenation (section)

==History==
{{main|History of miscegenation}}
Interracial relationships have profoundly influenced various regions throughout history. [[Africa]] has had a long history of interracial mixing with non-Africans, since [[Prehistory|prehistoric times]], with migrations from the [[Levant]] leading to significant admixture. This continued into antiquity with [[Arab]] and [[Europe]]an explorers, traders, and soldiers having relationships with African women. Mixed-race communities like the [[Coloureds]] in [[South Africa]] and [[Basters]] in [[Namibia]] emerged from these unions. In the [[Americas]] and Asia, similar patterns of interracial relationships and communities formed. In the US, historical taboos and laws against interracial marriage evolved, culminating in the landmark ''[[Loving v. Virginia]]'' case in 1967. [[Latin America]], particularly [[Brazil]], has a rich history of racial mixing, reflected in its diverse population. In Asia, countries like [[India]], [[China]], and [[Japan]] experienced interracial unions through trade, colonization, and migration, contributing to diverse genetic and cultural landscapes.

In Europe, [[Nazi Germany]]'s anti-miscegenation laws sought to maintain "racial purity," specifically targeting [[Jewish]]-German unions. [[Hungary]] and France saw mixed marriages through historical conquests and colonialism, such as between [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] men and French women during the early 20th century. In [[Oceania]], particularly [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]], dynamics varied; Australia had policies like the [[White Australia policy]] and practices affecting [[Indigenous Australians|Indigenous populations]], while New Zealand saw significant [[Māori people|Māori]] and European intermarriages. In the [[Middle East]], inter-ethnic relationships were common, often involving [[Arabs|Arab]] and non-Arab unions. [[Portuguese colonies]] encouraged mixed marriages to integrate populations, notably seen in Brazil and other territories, resulting in diverse, multicultural societies.

===Laws banning miscegenation===
{{Main|Anti-miscegenation laws}}
{{Sex and the Law}}
Laws banning "race-mixing" were enforced in certain U.S. states until 1967 (but they were still on the books in some states until 2000),<ref name="abc news">{{cite news | url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3277875 | title=Groundbreaking Interracial Marriage | work=ABC News | date=14 June 2007}}</ref> in [[Nazi Germany]] (the [[Nuremberg Laws]]) from 1935 until 1945, and in South Africa during the [[apartheid]] era (1949–1985). All of these laws primarily banned marriage between persons who were members of different racially or ethnically defined groups, which was termed "amalgamation" or "miscegenation" in the United States. The laws in Nazi Germany and the laws in many U.S. states, as well as the laws in South Africa, also explicitly banned sexual relations between such individuals.

In the United States, various state laws prohibited marriages between [[White Americans|whites]] and [[African Americans|blacks]], and in many states, they also prohibited marriages between whites and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] as well as marriages between whites and [[Asian Americans|Asians]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Karthikeyan|first=Hrishi |author2=Chin, Gabriel|year=2002|title=Preserving Racial Identity: Population Patterns and the Application of Anti-Miscegenation Statutes to Asian Americans, 1910–1950|journal=Asian Law Journal|volume=9|issue=1|ssrn=283998}}</ref> In the United States, such laws were known as [[anti-miscegenation laws]], with the [[Maryland General Assembly]] the first to criminalize interracial marriage in 1691.<ref>{{cite news |title=Eugenics, Race, and Marriage |url=https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/eugenics-race-and-marriage |access-date=July 21, 2024 |website=Facing History.org}}</ref> From 1913 until 1948, 30 out of the then 48 states enforced such laws.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lovingday.org/map.htm|title=Where were Interracial Couples Illegal?|work=LovingDay|access-date=13 July 2008|archive-date=31 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231145639/http://www.lovingday.org/map.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although an "Anti-Miscegenation Amendment" to the [[United States Constitution]] was proposed in 1871, in 1912–1913, and again in 1928,<ref>[http://lovingday.org/courtroom.htm "Courtroom History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231035205/http://www.lovingday.org/courtroom.htm |date=31 December 2007 }} Lovingday.org Retrieved 28 June 2007</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stein|first=Edward|year=2004|title=Past and present proposed amendments to the United States constitution regarding marriage|journal=Washington University Law Quarterly|volume=82|issue=3|ssrn=576181}}</ref> no nationwide law against racially mixed marriages was ever enacted. In 1967, the [[United States Supreme Court]] unanimously ruled in ''[[Loving v. Virginia]]'' that anti-miscegenation laws are [[unconstitutional]] via the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] adopted in 1868.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/388/1|title=Loving v. Virginia|website=LII / Legal Information Institute|language=en|access-date=2024-07-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015003713/https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/388/1|archive-date=2019-10-15|url-status=live}}</ref> With this ruling, these laws were no longer in effect in the remaining 16 states which still had them.

The Nazi ban on interracial sexual relations and marriages was enacted in September 1935 as part of the [[Nuremberg Laws]], the ''Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre'' (The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour). The Nuremberg Laws classified [[Judaism|Jews]] as a race, and they also forbade extramarital sexual relations and marriages between persons who were classified as "[[Aryan race|Aryans]]" and persons who were classified as "[[Untermensch|non-Aryans]]". Violations of these laws were condemned as ''[[Rassenschande]]'' (lit. "race-disgrace/race-shame") and they could be punished by imprisonment (usually followed by [[deportation]] to a [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]]) and could even be punished by death.

The [[Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act]] in South Africa, enacted in 1949, banned intermarriages between members of different racial groups, including intermarriages between [[Whites in South Africa|whites]] and non-whites. The [[Immorality Act]], enacted in 1950, also made it a criminal offense for a white person to have any sexual relations with a person who was a member of a different race. Both of these laws were repealed in 1985.