Interracial marriage

Interracial marriage is a marriage between people classified as belonging to different racial groups. Its legal and social meaning has varied across societies and historical periods.

Anti-miscegenation laws: Laws prohibiting or restricting marriage and sometimes sexual relations between people assigned to different racial groups. These laws made racial classification a legal barrier to marriage in many jurisdictions.
Obergefell v. Hodges: The 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Its marriage-equality reasoning drew on Loving's treatment of marriage as a fundamental right.
Race: A socially constructed system for classifying people, often using perceived ancestry and physical traits. The meaning of interracial marriage depends on how societies define racial groups.
Perez v. Sharp: A 1948 California Supreme Court decision that struck down California's ban on interracial marriage. It was an early state-level defeat of an antimiscegenation law before Loving.
Loving v. Virginia: The 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision that invalidated state bans on interracial marriage. The ruling ended Virginia's ban and established a nationwide constitutional protection in the United States.
Fundamental right to marry: The constitutional principle that marriage is a protected liberty rather than a privilege granted at government discretion. Loving framed interracial marriage restrictions as an infringement of this broader right.
Endogamy: The practice or social expectation of marrying within a specified community or group. It describes the boundary-maintaining norm that interracial marriage crosses.
Naim v. Naim: A 1955 Virginia Supreme Court decision that refused to recognize an interracial marriage performed outside the state. It shows Virginia's effort to preserve its marriage ban despite marriages performed elsewhere.
Racial integrity laws: U.S. state laws that enforced racial classification and restricted marriage across designated racial boundaries. Virginia's racial integrity regime supplied the legal framework used against the Lovings.
Racial classification: The assignment of people to racial categories by institutions, laws, or social practices. Marriage restrictions depended on governments defining and policing racial categories.

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