What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America

I had the opportunity to get to know Peggy Pascoe before her unfortunate death. This is a very well written and researched book. I had previously read a library copy but wanted one for myself. It is hard to believe that as late as the 1960's - not the 1860's - that interracial marriages were still banned in some states and that interracial couples had to live in D.C., could not live in Virginia. At the time I read it originally we were getting ready for my daughter's wedding. I was half way through this excellent book before I realized that since her husband's parents were from Taiwan, her marriage would have been banned in the not so distant past. The justifications of laws against interracial marriage that were given at the time, painting African American's as sub human, citing the bible as a justification of hate are breathtaking. I firmly believe that in the future a book about the fight for marriage equality will be written. Hopefully it will be as good as this excellent book. It is too sad that Ms. Pascoe will not be here to write. it.

Professor Pascoe provides a sweeping historical and sociological review of America's laws against interracial marriage, their origins, and demise, focusing not just on Southern states' statutes targeting and limiting relationships of African Americans, but also the Western states' many laws targeting people of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Hawaiian descent - with particular attention to the cultural attitudes that once sustained these laws.Professor Pascoe is a careful scholar and a brilliant author, whose book represents academic historical writing at its very finest. She provides an extensively documented and objective yet gripping, indeed often moving, account - one that personalizes the effect of the laws explored on the lives of specific individuals who found themselves caught up in a legal system that denied legitimacy to their most important familial relationships.

Peggy Pascoe's book on miscegenation laws (laws banning "interracial marriages") is--by far--the best book on the subject. While the author was a professor (not an attorney), she had an exceptional understanding of the history of miscegenation laws as well as the legal cases that eventually arose.There are a variety of stories involved. Some results seemed reasonable; others were disheartening. All of them help demonstrate the extent to which some states would ban marriages.The book is exceptionally well researched, extremely well written, and very readable.The notes are excellent and informative, but it would have been helpful to have a bibliography.One final observation: What Comes Naturally shows just how difficult it would be to have miscegenation laws. I realize of course, that there are people who are against gay marriage and/or interracial marriage. After reading the book, you'll understand why the U.S. Supreme Court will not undermine interracial marriage.

Just as advertised. Happy with the product.

It was interesting to read about, but I believe we are all human beings and should be treated as equal.

Good book. Excellent delivery time.

Let me start by saying that, yes I did like this book. It was well-researched, great use of quotes and analysis. A very gripping and thorough book looking at the rise, decline and fall of Miscegenation laws in the USA. However I do have a few criticisms for this book. First the authors use of the term “white Supremacists”. Although the people who passed miscegenation laws and any other racialist law were white supremacists, the term is very simplistic and modern. Such a phrase kindles up in my mind, small groups of people with white gowns and hoods, swastikas and pictures of Hitler. These were not the people of 19th or 20th century America. These are modern white supremacists. The phrase makes the people who made such laws of miscegenation as being a part of a small minority, the ‘one percent’, thugs and men who had no real education. The men who put forth these laws, were not a minority, in fact the majority of white Americans carried such sentiments at the time. Racism was not a bad word as it is today, it was praised and even encouraged. The term white supremacist is in essence a justifiable term to be used, lacking a good replacement, but it is too simplistic and modern to be used to describe thoughts and feelings of people of the past. I did find that the author was very bias throughout the book. You can tell from the outset where the author leans on this subject from her explanations and opinions. History is about fact, to find what essentially happed and why. Historian should not be saying “the false idea of race”, “The appalling laws” and so forth. My professors took more than a few percentage points off essays that had opinionated words in them. Saying something is false, appalling, dreadful are words to describe the author’s own emotional judgements on the subject. Historians are not here to judge people in history; they are investigators, which means that you cannot take a stance on the issue at hand. Such words are a reflection of bias, saying to the reader that this is what you believe the laws to be and therefore you must agree. Historians must realize that the people in the pasts views and ideas are just as valid as our own. Don’t get me wrong I loved the book! Looking past the bias, it was a great read.PS: I would suggest also reading Matha Hodes “ White Women, Black Men”, which goes into detail on interracial sexual relationships pre and post emancipation