The federal laws of do not prohibit . Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of life and property as well as equal protection of laws to the citizens. The Amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without ; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.�

However, a few States in the past have enacted (Anti-Miscegenation) statutes prohibiting interracial marriages between Americans and Black Americans. One such State that prohibited interracial marriages was the A landmark case decided in the State of Virginia, then subsequently resolved by the on appeal is , 388 U.S. 1 (1967).

In this case a Black woman and White man were married in the District of Columbia, then returned to Virginia and declared their marriage. But, Virginia had enacted a statute prohibiting interracial marriages between Whites and Blacks. The Loving couple were criminally prosecuted for having an interracial marriage, convicted of a felony and sentenced to one year in jail. The trial court suspended the sentence but, banned the Loving’s from entering Virginia for a period of twenty-five years.

It is interesting to note the tenor and tone of the Court’s ruling. The trial judge opined that:

“Almighty God created the races White, Black, Yellow, Malay and Red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.� Wow…
Further, under Virginia code the punishment for interracial marriage read: “If any intermarry with a Colored Person, or any Colored Person intermarry with a White person, he shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than five years.�

Not surprisingly, in many cases Blacks were severely punished for interracial marriages and less punishment was given to Whites. Even under this statute, Whites fared much better than Blacks. The application of the Virginia code is historically consistent in terms of Blacks natural rights being given short shrift since 60 U.S. 393 (1857).

The matter of Loving couple was later appealed to the United States Supreme Court and the court held that prevention or prohibition of interracial marriages violates the Fourteenth Amendment. The court further observed that freedom to marry is an important personal right of an individual. It is one of the basic civil rights. Therefore, States cannot curtail such right by enacting laws violating the Fourteenth Amendment.

If you believe that, your civil rights, due process rights or equal protection rights are violated contact ¸£Àû¼§. in New York. We will review your claim thoroughly, providing you with an outline of possible actions you may wish to take. We are ready to be your voice for justice.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by White citizens to all male citizens in the United States “without distinction of race or color or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude.� This piece of legislation was groundbreaking; it was the very first law ever enacted that sought to protect Blacks from discrimination.

President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill the first time it was enacted by the US Congress, in 1865. President Johnson vetoed the bill again when Congress passed it for the second time in 1866 however, a majority vote of over two thirds, in both the Senate and Congress, overcame Johnson’s veto. The bill became effective on April 9, 1866.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, anti-Black sentiment was still very strong in some states, especially in the defeated South. The bill hoped to establish and enforce the status of freed slaves as equal to Whites.

This statute proved crucial, and has since impacted generations; as a result of this statute, all individuals born in the United States have been granted citizenship; regardless of their ethnic background.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted freed slaves the ability to fully participate in many legal activities that they had previously been denied; after the enactment, Blacks were able to:

– file lawsuits
– make and enforce contracts
– own property
– inherit property
– lease or sell property
The Civil Acts Rights of 1866, in itself, proved inadequate; it was unable to provide sufficient protection for Blacks, due mostly to the actions of white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Although the law was well-intentioned, it was quickly rendered ineffective by its incompleteness.

Blacks were still discriminated against, although many of these problems were subsequently addressed by the Enforcement Act of 1871. Discrimination in many forms still existed, for nearly a century, before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned racial segregation in schools and workplaces, as well as many other forms of discrimination.

Although the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was written with Blacks in mind, the law has since been interpreted by the Supreme Court to include all ethnic groups.

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