EFFECT OF INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE ON AFRICAN AMERICANS DURING THE 50'S:
Segregation had a great impact on the African Americans living in the United States of America during the 1950's and 60's. Even though the 13th amendment freed the slaves, the 14th amendment allowed citizenship, and the 15th amendment prevented discrimination towards people according to their races, African Americans were still being treated unfairly. African Americans didn't receive the rights they hoped they would receive.
For example, white people refused to serve African Americans in restaurants; they were put in jail, fired with water from fire hoses, etc. African Americans began to be outraged by the away they were being treated. They began to have "sit-ins", where they would go into a food place and sit there until they got what they wanted. These sit-ins were in the limits of Martin Luther King Jr.'s ideas of non-violence and peaceful protests.
Martin Luther King Jr., a co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and a NAACP member, accepted his job, and the consequences that came with. Because of his many non-violent protests and his strive for equal rights, he was abused, and his home was bombed. MLK Jr. recited his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, which raised awareness on how unfair the African Americans were being treated. In Martin Luther King's letter from Birmingham from jail shows his opinion and his feelings towards the actions of the whites.
"I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here."
Here, Marin Luther King Jr. states his feelings:
"I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
Because of all this segregation in affect during the 1950's and 1960's, African Americans tried their best to get their rights back. Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy was through non-violence, while Malcolm X's ideas were through fighting back and “Black Power.”
During the 1950's, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong. White people disliked the idea of a white girl marrying an African American boy. If a girl was white and she married an African American, it was looked upon. The same reasoning for blacks stood as well. Because of Black prejudice, African-Americans didn’t like their children marrying whites. It was a vicious cycle, but many people, both whites and blacks, knew the situation couldn’t stay like this.
However, the dividing line still exists. Of course many have warmed up to the idea of interracial marriages. Who are we to denounce another solely based on the color of their skin? Yet this is not always enough. Prejudice still exists and segregation has spread to all races. Hopefully, this will give some courage and others hope that even with this “dividing color line,” we can all get along whether it’s in marriage or friendship.