At the heart of the criminal charges on which heavyweight champion Jack Johnson was convicted in 1913 were his relationships with white women. Gallup’s polling on the subject goes back only to 1958, but at that point, most Americans disapproved of marriage between whites and blacks. That opposition was much higher among whites than blacks and remains higher among white Americans. In fact, more than 1 in 10 white, non-Hispanic Americans told Gallup only five years ago that they still disapprove of interracial marriage. In 1972, more than half of those aged 56 to 80 supported legally banning interracial marriage, at a time when only 60 percent of Americans disapproved of such marriages.

Source: Washington Post May 24, 2018 19:11 UTC