As a White child growing up during the first wave of the civil rights movement, Sharon Nesbit's early affections and relationships challenged the stagnant mindsets of many around her and paved the path toward her life commitments both to the Baháʼí Faith and to the love of her life, George. In 1976, when Sharon and George were wed in a simple outdoor ceremony, there were many concerns amid the support from family and friends. George's mother wondered why her Black son would choose to make his life more difficult by marrying a White girl. Sharon's parents were not in attendance, despite having given their hard-earned blessing after five years. Even among well-meaning friends arose a question: "What about the children?" On a basic level, many people would accept the marriage of Sharon and George as normal: two people who loved each other. But in 1976, race complicated things. It still does. But that doesn't mean Sharon and George weren't intended to be together.

A distinguished Stanford law professor examines the steep decline in marriage rates among the African American middle class, and offers a paradoxical-nearly incendiary-solution. Black women are three times as likely as white women to never marry. That sobering statistic reflects a broader reality: African Americans are the most unmarried people in our nation, and contrary to public perception the racial gap in marriage is not confined to women or the poor. Black men, particularly the most successful and affluent, are less likely to marry than their white counterparts. College educated black women are twice as likely as their white peers never to marry. Is Marriage for White People? is the first book to illuminate the many facets of the African American marriage decline and its implications for American society. The book explains the social and economic forces that have undermined marriage for African Americans and that shape everyone's lives. It distills the best available research to trace the black marriage decline's far reaching consequences, including the disproportionate likelihood of abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, single parenthood, same sex relationships, polygamous relationships, and celibacy among black women. This book centers on the experiences not of men or of the poor but of those black women who have surged ahead, even as black men have fallen behind. Theirs is a story that has not been told. Empirical evidence documents its social significance, but its meaning emerges through stories drawn from the lives of women across the nation. Is Marriage for White People? frames the stark predicament that millions of black women now face: marry down or marry out. At the core of the inquiry is a paradox substantiated by evidence and experience alike: If more black women married white men, then more black men and women would marry each other. This book not only sits at the intersection of two large and well- established markets-race and marriage-it responds to yearnings that are widespread and deep in American society. The African American marriage decline is a secret in plain view about which people want to know more, intertwining as it does two of the most vexing issues in contemporary society. The fact that the most prominent family in our nation is now an African American couple only intensifies the interest, and the market. A book that entertains as it informs, Is Marriage for White People? will be the definitive guide to one of the most monumental social developments of the past half century.

The first in-depth history of miscegenation law in the United States, this book illustrates in vivid detail how states, communities, and the courts have defined and regulated mixed-race marriage from the colonial period to the present. Combining a storyteller's detail with a historian's analysis, Peter Wallenstein brings the sagas of Richard and Mildred Loving and countless other interracial couples before them to light in this harrowing history of how individual states had the power to regulate one of the most private aspects of life: marriage.

Before It Was Legal is not a happily-ever-after story, but an honest portrayal of the love and hurt that any two people, not just a bi-racial couple, may encounter in an intimate relationship. It is the story of an independent white woman, a talented black man, and the times in which these two remarkable people lived.

A critically acclaimed #1 New York Times best-seller with more than one million copies in print! Now a major motion picture. Gritty with pain, betrayal, and brutality, this incredible true story also shines with an unexpected, life-changing love. Meet Denver, raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana until he escaped the “Man” in the 1960’s by hopping a train. Untrusting, uneducated, and violent, he spends 18 years on the streets of Dallas and Fort Worth. Meet Ron Hall, a self-made millionaire in the world of high-priced deals—an international arts dealer who moves between upscale New York galleries and celebrities. It seems unlikely that these two men would meet under normal circumstances, but when Deborah Hall, Ron's wife, meets Denver, she sees him through God's eyes of compassion. When Deborah is diagnosed with cancer, she charges Ron with the mission of helping Denver. From this request, an extraordinary friendship forms between Denver and Ron, changing them both forever. A tale told in two unique voices, Same Kind of Different as Me weaves two completely different life experiences into one common journey. There is pain and laughter, doubt and tears, and in the end a triumphal story that readers will never forget. Continue this story of friendship in What Difference Do It Make?: Stories of Hope and Healing, available now. Same Kind of Different as Me also is available in Spanish.

This work examines the ultimate question of mutual acceptance of African and Anglo-Americans in intimate family relationships. The author focuses on marriage as the fulcrum of freedom of choice and equal status for rival race, religious, and ethnic groups. In his words, "The case for black-white unions is fundamentally the case for America, an America rid of its evil past of racism, which strides forward with black and white fully accepting one another." Through a careful review of the historical data and the attitudes of liberals, social scientists, and established religion, the author discusses the problems of "passing," the children of black-and-white marriages, and the folklore concepts of black-white marriage. This is a reprint of the 1970 Beacon Press edition.