INTERRACIALISM
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loginWhat is American about American culture? Many readers insideand outside ofthe United States are now suspicious of this line of questioning, for does it notexaggerate what distinguishes this country from other countries, and is this notan ‘‘exceptionalist’’ approach that stylizes the United States as unique? We havebecome skeptical of sweeping views of American history and literature that isolatethe frontier or mobility, notions of virgin land and abundance, or peculiar formsof pastoralism as the distinguishing features of the UnitedStates. Instead, wehave turned toward internationalist approaches and towardthe study of regionsand ethnic and gender groups to avoid generalizations about the United States.One theme that has been pervasive in U.S. history and literature and that hasbeen accompanied by a 300-year-long tradition of legislation, jurisdiction, protest,and defiance is the deep concern about, and the attempt to prohibit, contain, ordeny, the presence of black-white interracial sexual relations, interracial marriage,interracial descent, and other family relations across thepowerful black-whitedivide. Many fears have been attached to the formation of the otherwise idealAmerican social institution: the heterosexual family. T hus a complicated area de-fined only by the racial difference of bride and groom was designated where familyfounding was considered ‘‘null and void,’’ and children of interracially marriedcouples were deemed illegitimate. T his focus on marriage, children, legitimacy,property, and family created a paradox in American society,idealizing the conceptof family while destroying certain families.
