ABSTRACT
Mixed-race people historically presented challenges to societies wanting uncomplicated divisions by race. Space limitations prohibit in-depth discussion of the diverse experiences and sociohistorical journeys of mixed-raced people from different White-minority and nonwhite-nonwhite racial heritages. Two categories of laws are particularly important for understanding the social and historical evolution of mixed-race people's experiences in the United States: blood quantum laws and miscegenation laws. Eventually, the number of nonwhite people outnumbered White people in the settlement, when counting mixed-race people and African slaves. The primary focus of civil rights activists was equality in education, work, and housing. As a result, the issue of mixed-race people's right to racially self-identify reappeared in late twentieth century as a primary focus of a Multiracial Movement. Although the leaders and the aims of the Multiracial Movement faced criticism, the ability of mixed-race people to self-identify further troubled the notion of race as distinct biological categories.
