Anti-Miscegenation Laws Spread Across Southern States 1880s

Alabama, Georgia, and other Southern states codified or strengthened anti-miscegenation statutes through the 1880s, making interracial marriage a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment. The laws were systematically applied against Black men accused of relationships with white women, feeding the lynching epidemic. Alabama's 1883 statute imposed up to seven years imprisonment for interracial cohabitation.