Bridget Brantley

Assimilation and Intermarriage

The acts of social injustice and racial oppression are not something that many African Americans find easy to forget.  Many African Americans have purposely distanced themselves from the dominant culture because they don’t want to conform to the ways of the dominant society. As a result, they have encountered economic hardships, exploitation, and racial hatred, which has led to such activities as “color coding.” Now, African Americans have chosen to maintain distinct communities thus creating greater social distance from Whites. However, there seems to be a change of heart on the part of African American males, who have started to assimilate to white America more through intermarriage. After all, the “melting pot” concept is the “American” who bears no marks of ethnic or tribal identification.  Is it realistic for African American men to become Americanized without losing their identity? This is the fear of so many who resist assimilation. What implications might this have on the African American woman and the family?  Have some African American males found a loophole to finally get ahead in society?

Minorities must take advantage of social and economic resources to get ahead in America.  One example of a minority group which exemplifies these traits is Asian Americans. Asian Americans are identified as the “model minority.”   They take advantage of economic and educational opportunities. In contrast, African Americans are identified as “the problem minorities.” But, in a scholarly article Gender Differentials in Intermarriage among Sixteen Race and Ethnic Groups, one critic identified as Merton notes, African American males are able to “offset a lower racial caste position by obtaining a relatively high status occupation, and as a result increase his marriage ability to a white woman” (622).  In addition, Merton explains, “Minority group members with significant economic or cultural resources are more likely to marry their way into white society since these resources allow them to compensate for the social disadvantages that race or ethnicity represents to many in the dominant group. These resources do take place in the physical locations, whether board room or locker room or classroom so that people can meet each other” (624). Objective 2 notes the dominant culture might absorb practices brought by other ethnic groups if they conform to the ways of the dominant culture. Like so many immigrants who have come to American searching for opportunities and a better way of life, African American men deserve this same chance.  My concern is that they do not perceive intermarriage as something they feel they must do just to be accepted into the dominant culture.  The idea that intermarriage “fosters a sense of whiteness” and “hastens the process of Americanization” is the belief of some minority groups (Qian, Lister).

As I noted above, minorities must take advantage of the social and economic resources available to them. Dr. White of immigrant Literature 5731 points out that intermarriage with other nationalities is an essential feature of immigration to the USA as a “nation of many nations.”  After all, America does celebrate difference. However, if some African Americans are using intermarriage as their means to get ahead, this does not seem to be the answer to gain acceptance into the dominant culture.  A research study linked with Ohio State University entitled “Options: Racial Ethnic Identification of Children of Intermarried Couples” indicates that intermarried couples in which the minority spouse is male, native born, or has no white ancestry are more likely to identify their children as minorities than are those in which the minority spouse is female, foreign born, or has part white ancestry (Qian). In other words, African American children who have black and white parents are still considered part of the minority group. “Children of white-Asian and white-Hispanic parents will have no problems calling themselves white, if that’s their choice,” said Andrew Hacker, a political scientist at Queens College of the City University of New York and the author of a book about race (Roberts).  Unfortunately, children who are born to parents that are black-white will always be identified as minorities.  If African American males are choosing intermarriage mainly to assimilate with the hope that they will be perceived differently by White America, this may not be a realistic expectation. In the poem “Blonde White Woman” the speaker, Patricia Smith, wished she was white when she was a young child. She had unrealistic expectations of the color “white.”  She wrote in one line, “When I was white, my name was Donna. My teeth were perfect; I was always out of breath.”  She had impractical expectations of the color “white.” As a young child, she viewed “white” as something perfect.  Do some black males have unrealistic views of what assimilation to the dominant culture will be like for them?

Assimilating to the dominant culture and maintaining one’s ethnic identity is not easy.  Irish immigrant playwright, Eugene O’Neill, was a successful American playwright who achieved fame and fortune in America.  He suffered from alcoholism and depression, and he never seemed to find his place in America.  African slaves and Irish immigrants do share some commonalities. Both African slaves and Irish immigrants left much of their family history behind in Africa and Ireland when both groups came abroad to America.  They were each stripped of something. The Irish Catholic lost their language and their religion. Similarly, in the slave story “The Narrative of the Life of Olaudah  Equiano,” Equiano’s name was changed to Gustavus, and he lost his identity and family ties.  Today, most African American males have assimilated to the dominant culture. The African American male has taken advantage of the opportunities presented to him by the dominant culture.  Because of the oppression and exploitation that many African Americans experienced during the Great Migration and Civil Rights period, they have taken steps to make sure their kids do not suffer the same injustices today.  Most black women have also assimilated to the dominant culture. Today, black women are taking advantage of education.  They hold more college degrees than black males. Many of them work in corporate America. Also, many black women have taken on the role of male and female in the household because many black men are not there.  Whether the black man has chosen to marry outside his race, or he has gone to prison for a crime, black women have had to step up and become matriarchs of their homes.  Assimilation is an on-going process in the lives of most African Americans in America.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Jerry A. and Teresa G. Labov. “Gender Differentials in Intermarriage among Sixteen Race and Ethnic Groups.” Sociological Forum, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Dec., 2002) pp. 621-646.

Quian, Zhenchao and Daniel T. Lichter. “Measuring Marital Assimilation: Intermarriage among Natives and Immigrants.” Department of Sociology, Arizona State University and the Ohio State University, 2001.  www.sociology.ohio-state.edu/zcq/publications/ssr-qianlichter.pdf

Quian, Zhenchao. “Options: Racial Ethnic Identification of Children of Intermarried Couples.”

Ohio State University. www.sociology.ohio-state.edu/zcq/publications/ssq-qian.pdf

Roberts, Sam. “Intermarriage and Assimilation: Black Women See Fewer Black Men at the Alter.” New York Times.com, 3 June 2010.