"The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation"

[LincolnToddFan]

[ would hazard to guess that the white men (and maybe white women too, and who knows, maybe even a few of the black mothers of the mulattoes, as well as some of the mulattoes themselves) justified or condoned or tolerated all the miscegenation as something that could ultimately be beneficial to the black race (you know, something along the lines of "it'll do them/us good to get some white blood in their/our veins.") All one has to do is look at what is happening today to see that that is a distinct possibility. There are more than a few black males (I have no idea what percentage, though) who seem to prefer white females over black females. Just look at some of the rich and famous black men in sports, TV, etc., who are married to white women and have mixed race children. Why do they prefer white women? Was there evidence, back in the days when the miscegenation laws were created, that some black men might actually prefer white women? Is that too hard to believe]

Kate,

The short answer is YES. It is indeed that hard to believe. Correct me if I am wrong, but you seem to insinuate that many of these Black women welcoming an infusion of White blood on the grounds that it will "do us some good" had a choice. Putting aside the question of exactly what kind of "good" their master/rapist's blood would be doing them and their children, these were not romantic, fuzzy love affairs we are discussing.

Do you really think these women and girls had a choice, when the master or his sons or overseers crept down to the slave cabins at night do their chattel "some good"? Would you like to venture a guess about what would have happened if these females or their menfolk had resisted the benefits of master's sexual overtures?

Nope. Neither would I.

I am sure there were indeed male slaves lusting after massa's woman. But they acted on that attraction in forfeit of their lives, unlike their masters and overseers, who could and did act out their attraction to Black women in what must have been astonishing numbers given the not insignificant numbers of mixed race people at that time.

Me and my ancestors are living proof of that attraction, and we are not the half of it.

As far as current AA male celebrities, who knows? You have a point there. There is undoubtedly a "forbidden fruit" aspect to interracial dating...on both sides. Lena Horne, Whoopi Goldberg, Diana Ross, Mrs. Robert DeNiro, Marian Wright Edelman, Mrs Roger Ebert, Dorothy Dandridge, Diahann Carroll, Paula Patton Thicke...these are just a few of the famous Black women who have been involved with White men who-at least in the cases of DeNiro and Thicke-have rather emphatically stated their preference for women of color.

And last but not least there is yours truly. I am an AA woman who loves Black men. I love men period. But I have been pursued by and have dated, in no particular order... a German-Irish law student, a Greek aspiring actor, a Jewish businessman, an Italian male model, and very recently a minor Austro/Brit aristocrat. Not once did I spend time with these guys in anticipation that their Caucasian blood would do me some good. I was with them because in each case I found them warm, funny, smart, sexy and very definitely attractive.