The Legacy of Perceptions of Interracial Relationships as...

The Legacy of Perceptions of Interracial Relationships as Demonstrated in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Black Literature and Events The history of interracial relationships in America is a painfully loaded issue which is still evolving in the consciousness of the 20th century. Because the first instances of sexual integration occurred under the institution of slavery, our understanding of them is necessarily beset with dominance, violence, and rape. Interracial relationships and the children they produced became another manifestation of power relationships between whites and blacks in our contorted social atmosphere. Even to the present day, interracial relationships are often looked upon as being propelled by impure motives and†¦show more content†¦Dr. Gresham wants her to marry him but he wants her race to be kept from his family. Iola realizes that by agreeing to his proposal, her life and existence would be a facade, and that by concealing her race, she would be concealing implicit aspects of herself. Iola decides that she is unwilling to reject her race. Thus, she has to repress her feelings toward Dr. Gresham and of a life of happiness, as she puts it, no matter how much joy she would have felt or how much she actually sought his manly love, for there was too much at stake for her. W.E.B. DuBois The Souls of Black Folk In Chapter XI in The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Passing of the First Born, Dr. DuBois discusses the death and escape of his son. He struggles emotionally when he notices the white characteristics of his child. As he perceives the white blood that is flowing through his black childs vein, DuBois writes: ...(I) felt a vague unrest. Why was his hair tinted gold? An evil omen was golden hair in my life. Why had not the brown of his eyes crushed out and killed the blue? ...And thus in the Land of the Color-line I saw, as it fell across my baby, the shadow of the Veil (p 160, Bedford ed.). Du Boiss reaction to the racial duality of his child and the awful gladness he feels when his son dies is indicative of the way in which race and the metaphorical veil pervade every aspect of life. DuBois sees the veil as a result of doubleShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Imp ortant Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesand Meaning of the New York City Landscape Gerda Lerner, Fireweed: A Political Autobiography Allida M. Black, ed., Modern American Queer History Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past Sharon Hartman Strom, Political Woman: Florence Luscomb and the Legacy of Radical Reform Michael Adas, ed., Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History