blended

Look Back

Today marks 50 years since the Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia struck down laws against interracial marriage in the U.S. In our December 2002 issue, Randall Kennedy looked back on its legacy:

Although white and black Americans are far more likely to date and marry within their own race than outside it, the cultural environment has changed considerably since Loving. … The de-stigmatization in this country of interracial intimacy is profoundly encouraging. Against the tragic backdrop of American history, it is a sign that Frederick Douglass may have been right when he prophesied, even before the abolition of slavery, that eventually “the white and colored people of this country [can] be blended into a common nationality, and enjoy together ... the inestimable blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Read more here.