Interracial Marriages Reach All-Time High

Interracial couples now make up 8.4 percent of all marriages in in America, double the number in 1980, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. In 2010, 15 percent of all new marriages in America were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity. In 1980, the rate was just 3.2 percent.

The statistics indicate that Americans’ tolerance for mixed-race couples is growing, too, especially among young people and those who live in the West and Northeast part of the country.

The Pew Research Center study, released Feb. 16, 2012, analyzes how interracial unions and
the mixed-race children they produce are challenging typical notions of
race in America.

Interracial marriage was considered illegal in 16 states until 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court finally struck down all anti-miscegenation laws.

Earlier this week, HBO premiered “The Loving Story,” a documentary film about the Virginia couple who are the namesake of the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision. Richard Loving is white and Mildred Loving is black. Virginia’s “Racial Integrity Act of 1924, forbade them from marrying in their home state, so they wed in Washington, D.C. When the couple returned to their rural home in Virginia, police raided their home in the middle of the night and arrested them.

During the Supreme Court hearing, when asked by his lawyer if he had
anything to say, Richard Loving reportedly told the justices, “Tell the court I
love my wife, and it’s just unfair that I can’t live with her in
Virginia.” Here is the full text of the court’s decision:

Learn more about the documentary on the film’s official website.

In the 45 years since Loving v. Virginia, interracial relationships and marriage have become much more common. Celebrities are a testament to that.