Crossing the Line: A Quantitative History of Anti-Miscegenation Legislation in the United States, 1662–2000

This article examines laws against interracial sex or marriage in the United States between 1662 and 2000. Isolating the period after Reconstruction, it surveys four regions: the South, the West, the Midwest, and the Northeast. Several findings are reported. In addition to a contagion process affecting (1) levels of activity, (2) definitions of the word “Negro,” and (3) penalties, the article documents the existence of a stigma peculiar to the black population. Although the racial coverage of anti-miscegenation statutes expanded during the post-Reconstruction era, state legislatures did not respond to the threat posed by Asians, Indians, and blacks identically.