📖 Overview
Racial Intermarriage in the United States (1929) presents research and observations on marriages between people of different races in America during the early 20th century. The work draws from demographic data, legal records, and firsthand accounts.
Schuyler examines state laws, social customs, and cultural attitudes that impacted interracial relationships during this period. He documents various communities where intermarriage occurred and analyzes the societal responses to these unions.
The book incorporates statistical analysis of marriage records and population trends, along with observations about the children of mixed-race couples and their experiences in American society. Schuyler's research spans both urban and rural settings across multiple regions.
As one of the first scholarly works to address this topic comprehensively, the book represents a milestone in the study of race relations and marriage in America. The text challenges prevailing assumptions of its era while maintaining an empirical approach to its subject matter.
👀 Reviews
This book appears to have very limited reader reviews available online. It is not listed on Goodreads or Amazon, and seems to be primarily referenced in academic works rather than having consumer reviews.
Based on scholarly citations and references, readers note:
Liked:
- Historical data and documentation of interracial marriages from 1910-1950s
- Analysis of social attitudes and legal restrictions during that period
- Inclusion of personal narratives and case studies
Disliked:
- Writing style described as "academic and dry" in several academic paper citations
- Limited geographic scope focusing mainly on northeastern US
- Some readers found the statistical analysis portions difficult to follow
No consumer ratings or reviews could be found on major book platforms. The book appears to be out of print and primarily available through university libraries and academic archives. Most modern references to it appear in scholarly works about race relations and marriage rather than reader reviews.
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Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng A mixed-race Chinese-American family in 1970s Ohio confronts isolation, expectations, and identity through the lens of their interracial marriage and children.
The Wedding by Dorothy West The story of an upper-class Black family in Martha's Vineyard explores race, class, and marriage through multiple generations leading up to their daughter's interracial wedding in the 1950s.
Interracial Intimacies by Randall Kennedy A legal scholar examines the history of interracial relationships in America through analysis of laws, court cases, and social movements from slavery to modern times.
The Color of Water by James McBride The parallel narratives of a white Jewish woman who married a Black man in 1942 and her son's search for identity reveal the complexities of race and family in America.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng A mixed-race Chinese-American family in 1970s Ohio confronts isolation, expectations, and identity through the lens of their interracial marriage and children.
The Wedding by Dorothy West The story of an upper-class Black family in Martha's Vineyard explores race, class, and marriage through multiple generations leading up to their daughter's interracial wedding in the 1950s.
🤔 Interesting facts
🔖 George S. Schuyler wrote this groundbreaking 1929 book while working as a journalist for the Pittsburgh Courier, one of America's most influential Black newspapers.
📚 The book was one of the first scholarly works to comprehensively examine interracial marriage in America, featuring statistical data and sociological analysis rather than just opinion.
👥 Schuyler himself was in an interracial marriage with Josephine Lewis Cogdell, a white Texas heiress, which was illegal in many states when they married in 1928.
📖 The text challenged the prevailing "scientific racism" of its time by arguing that racial distinctions were largely social constructs rather than biological facts.
⚖️ When the book was published, 30 states still had anti-miscegenation laws prohibiting interracial marriage. These laws remained constitutional until the Supreme Court's Loving v. Virginia decision in 1967.