ABSTRACT
This chapter includes a frank discussion of the women's reports about how they first met their partners and became involved in their intimate interracial relationship. It characterizes the different types of relationships on the basis of key themes that emerged in the women's descriptions about the beginning of their relationships. In each of the cases, the dominant theme that emerged was what the chapter utilizes to categorize the particular type of relationship. The chapter anticipates that the women's accounts of how their relationship began would be revealing of their own personal ideas about relationships, but the chapter also recognizes the potential value of personal narratives. African American women have taken to Internet dating sites in record numbers because of these reasons and a host of others. The greatest number of women recalled meeting their partners in social settings where dating and "hooking up" was typical. This included parties, bars, and museums among other things.
