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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - II. Race - 5. Race and Ancestry - 6. Miscegenation in Recent Times
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128 An American Dilemma
There have been no scientific studies which even suggest tentatively the
actual quantitative trend of interracial sexual relations. Most of the infor-
mants the writer has questioned on local trends—^but by no means all—have
agreed in the belief that sex relations between members of the two groups
are decreasing. The same opinion is expressed in the literature.’*® It should,
however, be considered with the greatest reservation, as such an opinon
is opportune in both the white and the Negro groups. The matter is of
great social Importance because of the way in which the Negro problem has
been defined in America, and it is, therefore, urgent that science should
bring light upon this phase of social life—in spite of the natural reiuctance
and perhaps even resistance from the side of the public.
But even if Interracial sexual relations were not decreasing, the offspring
from intermixture may be decreasing. The scanty evidence available seems
to point in this direction.^^ In considering trends in the injection of white
genes into the American Negro population, the amount of sex relations
between members of the two races is not the only factor which must be
taken into consideration.
An increased utilization of effective contraception, decreasing the rela-
tive and absolute amount of mixed offspring, has the same genetic effect
as decreased interracial sexual relations. Writers who have considered
recent trends in miscegenation generally tend to ignore trends in use of
contraceptive devices.*^ It is possible that, as means of effective birth control
have become spread among the American population, they have been
utilized with particular eagerness and efficiency in mixed sexual relations.*"
The writer has, from the information he has been able to gather from
doctors, social workers, Negroes with wide community knowledge, and,
occasionally, from average Negroes themselves, got the Impression that,
at least in cities, even Negroes in lower strata have kept pace with knowl-
edge about contraceptives.**
Even more important is a change in the character of interracial sexual
relations. The more stable type of sex unions—marriage and concubinage
—
have probably been decreasing,* ’
and these are the types of relations most
productive of offspring.® On the other hand, prostitution is mostly sterile,
while other casual types of relations may have increasingly involved the
use of contraceptives.*®
The probable decline in offspring with one white parent and one Negro
parent should, therefore, not be taken to mean that interracial sex contacts
have necessarily decreased: a rise in prostitution and other casual sex
contacts may have counterbalanced the decline in marriage and concubinage.
From a genetic standpoint, the only sex relations which matter are those
• The cultural, social, and personal side of miscegenation, the different types of sexual
unions, the legislation against intermarriage and the research on intermarriage will be dealt
w\tV\ \xi \ater cViapleis on diacruninaiion and caste. (^Sec Chapters 29 and
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