The Seattle Republican. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1???-1915, 1901-07-05
MISCEGNATION IN NEW
YORK.
Increasing Number of Unions Be
tween Whites and Negroes.

During the past five years there
has been a decided increase in the
number Of marriages in New
York between white and colored
people. In 1895 there were 72Q
such marriages, 800 Negroes hav-
ing married white women and 900
colored women having been
married to white men. Last year
there were 1876, in which o2o
Negro women were married to
white men and o26 Negroes mar
ried white women.
One man whose position has
enabled him to make continued
and thorough observations of
conditions in the lives of the other
half of New York's population,
has this to say on the subject:
81 have met scores of these
mixed couples and SO far as the
principles are concerned I do not
believe that they are as a rule
either more happy or more miser-
able than their neighbors who
have welded like with like. They
have as few squabbles and as few
divorces proportionately as cou-
Piles that are wholly white or
wholly black.
"The children however are
not so fortunate. It is difficult for
the little tots to place themselves.
They are outcasts from both
white and colored focks and when
members of the same family are
ranged on different sides of the
color line, as is frequently the
case, their situation is the more
pitiable.
my observation has further
taught me that a colored man
makes a better husband for a
white woman than a white man
for a colored woman. The rea-
son of this is not far to seek. The
former seems to feel that he has
been honored beyond measure
by being accepted by white wo-
man and he will willingly work
his fingers to the bone to support
her and her children in good style.
The white man, on the other
hand, figures that he has degrad-
ed himself by marrying a colored
woman and he vents his displeas-
ure over the situation by letting
his wife bear the burden of sup
porting the entire family. 1t is
such despicable fellows as these
that are at the root of the trouble
whenever the woes arising from
mixed marriage are aired in
court.
So far as | can find out nine
tenths of these mixed marriages
result from unemployment of the
races. The selection of servants
without regard to racial charac
teristics is common in most CITY
families and public houses, and
men and women of all shades of
black and white are thus thrown
together. If this close acquaint-
ance reveals congeniality of tenn
per the question of color is elm
mated from the matrimonial dis
cussions, and for the time, at
least, each appears to lose sight of
the others complexion.
Another thing worth noting is
that the white partner in these
combinations is usually a for
eigner. People from other coun-
tries have not the save aversion
to the Negro that is implanted in
the American breast, and the man
and the woman new to our Gus
toms see nothing out of the way
in a union with a person with a
swarthy skin. If you come down
to statistics you will see that the
number of English people mar
ried to colored people in New
York exceeds any other nation
ality two to one.
'As to the residences of these
hybrid families, they are scat
tered around all over town. There
is one little colony of them over
on West Thirty-sixth and Thirty
seventh streets and another up on
the east side. To speak of their
social life is not easy because it
is something that they have very
little of. Still they manage to get
as much enjoyment out of living
as most other people in their en-
vironment, and were it not for
the uncertain status of the chill
dren | should not be prepared to
say that mixed marriages are at
all a bad institution. Elk.
Beautiful Swiss and Italian