November 1: Marriage Across the Color Line
- Compare Race Mixing to other historical works we have read in this course. Which histories does Romano's book most resemble with regard to sources, method and theme? What seems new or distinctive about Romano's work?
- What has love got to do with it? What does Romano argue about the relationship between changing beliefs about the place of love in marriage and changing ideas about race and marriage across the color line? What do you think of her argument?
- Analogies between taboos against same-sex relationships and taboos against sex and marriage across the color line are common in the current debates over gay marriage. Taking into account what you've learned from Romano, what do you think of such comparisons? In what ways do they seem appropriate, and in what ways misleading?