Mary Brooks

The Fall and Rise of Intermarriage

Intermarriage became the fire over which the great melting pot of American culture was stirred. In the beginning, it was a great melting of Northern European cultures willing and able to come to a New World and start anew. The differences were only those of culture and a previous life that was left behind. They were creating a new society of Americans; not attempting to meld into an existing culture and society. This was not an easy process for everyone, but intermarriage within the various white ethnicities and cultures was a successful process for assimilation. The problem arises when one begins to see intermarriage between minorities and the dominant culture. The issues are a combination of racial prejudice, differing narratives, and defining of identity. The question that arose in my mind was: What effect does color have on intermarriage as a path to assimilation?

The first group that stands out in this attempt to explain intermarriage is African Americans.  Unfortunately, African American men and women do not have the luxury of the immigrant narrative. They were instead unwilling participants in a migration to American shores creating a different narrative. This is a tainted history that changes the underlying structure of their narrative in such a way that it inexorably blocks their path to freedom. Their story becomes a story of hope and struggle that is tainted by slavery, color, and circumstance. This creates an immediate difference in what intermarriage means to this group of individuals. However, “a new study shows that more and more black men are marrying women of other races” (Roberts, 1). This trend shows that the “lines dividing these groups are getting blurrier and blurrier” (Roberts, 1). But, does this new trend show a new melting pot of assimilation into the dominant culture?

It would appear that statistically intermarriages do not result in either the parents or the children identifying themselves as just American. This differs greatly from the trend found in that past within the Northern European intermarriage statistics. It appears that the generation of children born from intermarriage will “be black because that’s the way they’re seen.” (Roberts, 1). So at least from the perspective of statistics marriage between African Americans and Whites will not result in the creation of simply Americans. The fact that society still sees the children as black will always come before assimilation into the dominant culture. This inability to assimilate also shows up when considering where to live “Native- born blacks in mixed-race partnerships are more likely to share neighbourhoods with blacks than mixed–race households involving foreign-born blacks.” (Holloway et al. 318). This difference between native and immigrant blacks seems to suggest that assimilation depends greatly on the immigrant narrative. It is the belief in the narrative and the experience of the narrative that make intermarriage and assimilation work.

If we continue to look at the statistics we find another author willing to say that the African American experience with intermarriage and assimilation is far less positive than one would originally think. Rosenfeld cites, “a hierarchy of generalization assimilation: The White ethnics are the most assimilated, the Blacks are the least assimilated, and the Hispanic and Asian groups all reside on the endogamy scale somewhere between the assimilated ethnic Whites and the isolated non-Hispanic Blacks” (156). This discrepancy seems to be hardwired but is it simply that the money is going to research that will present this division again and again? Can it possibly be the truth that African Americans are blocked from assimilating by some invisible barrier?

This initial research seems to suggest that the past is an immovable wall and that color will win out no matter the circumstance. However, according to Bean and Lee’s research “the late-twentieth century immigrants may be people of color, but the degree to which they view themselves and are viewed by others as closer to black or white is highly ambiguous” (Bean, 222). This is a much brighter take on the current state of intermarriage and bodes well for the idea that intermarriage leads to assimilation no matter the color of the individual. Another hopeful note is that “rising rates of intermarriage combined with a growing multiracial population may indicate that boundaries are weakening overall, providing evidence of a declining significance of race for all groups.” (Bean, 223). This thought is a marvelous one and one that in my heart I hope is the truth.

So, what effect does color have on intermarriage and the path to assimilation? I prefer to adhere to Bean’s idea that the answer is ambiguous: That race is declining in significance and that this fact alone will mean that intermarriage, no matter the color, will lead to assimilation. It simply may not be the assimilation that one might have envisioned when America began. The new assimilation is no longer the great melting pot of Crevecoeur’s time. The new assimilation is now a jumble of cultures and colors finding common purpose in America and breaking down the old boundaries. These changing boundaries seem to suggest that intermarriage is not leading to assimilation into the dominant culture. It appears that, much like the original settlers of America, the intermarriage that is occurring now across cultures, colors and ethnicities is creating a new dominant culture. This new dominant culture is defined not by color but by their embracing of the American Dream. This new dominant culture is unfettered by biology, culture and ideology. They strive for a common purpose and a common hope in a land where everyone can have their chance at success.

Works Cited

Bean, Frank, D  and Lee, Jennifer. “America's Changing Color Lines: Immigration, Race/Ethnicity, and Multiracial Identification.” Annual Review of Sociology 30. (2004): 221-242. Academic Search Complete. JSTOR. Web. 2 July 2010. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29737692

Holloway, Steven R., Ellis, Mark, Wright, Richard and Hudson, Margaret. “Partnering ‘Out’ and Fitting In: Residential Segregation and the Neighbourhood Contexts of Mixed-Race Households.” Population, Space and Place 11. (2005):299-324. Academic Search Complete. Wiley InterScience. Web. 2 July 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/psp.378

Rosenfeld, Michael J. “Measures of Assimilation in the Marriage Market: Mexican Americans 1970 – 1990.” Journal of Marriage and Family 64. (2002): 152-162. National Council on Family Relations. JSTOR. Web. 2 July 2010. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3599784

Roberts, Sam. “Black Women See Fewer Black Men at the Altar.” NYTimes.com 3 June 2010. Web. 2 July 2010. http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/xcritsource/intermarticle.htm