Anti-miscegenation laws failed, so white men deployed two false myths
Evidence
In most states laws were enacted forbidding inter-racial marriage, but such laws did not prevent blacks and whites from uniting. Manumitted black men and white women in northern states were married in noticeable numbers. White men, who so desired, legalized relationships with ex-slave women. A report of a marriage between a white man and a black woman published in a New Orleans newspaper, the Tribune, carried the headlines, “The World Moves.” In the article, the journalist advised other white men to “take a hint now that the law allows it legitimize their children.” Inter-racial marriages between black women and white men evoked fear and rage in the white public. White male legalized sexual unions with black women and black male legalized sexual unions with white women threatened the entire foundation of apartheid. Since anti-amalgamation laws were not sufficient deterrents to interracial marriage, white men used psychological warfare to enforce the ideal of white supremacy. They employed two important myths to brainwash all whites against the newly manumitted blacks: the myth of the “bad,” sexually loose black woman and the myth of the black male rapist. Neither myth was based on fact. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 191
Related
- The black rapist myth responded to marriage fears, not real rape (similarity 0.85)
- Whites feared legally sanctioned racial mixing of either sex (similarity 0.81)
- White men were encouraged to exploit black women but not marry them (similarity 0.81)
- Black men’s inter-racial choices reveal sexist double standards against black women. (similarity 0.79)
- White male-black female marriage would threaten white patriarchal rule unlike the reverse (similarity 0.78)