Anti-Miscegenation Laws Enforced Across 30 States with Criminal Penalties

By 1920, 30 states had laws prohibiting marriage or sexual relations between white and Black people, with criminal penalties ranging from one to ten years imprisonment. Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924, championed by eugenicist Walter Plecker, required all citizens to register their race and classified anyone with any Black ancestry as 'colored.' These laws institutionalized the one-drop rule, prevented family formation across racial lines, and created legal infrastructure for racial surveillance. They remained on the books until Loving v. Virginia in 1967.