How was this possible back in the late 1800s?

Question

I was looking in my great-grandmother's diary from the 1800s' and I discovered that she had an abusive husband before my great-grandfather. And he was Irish. My grandmother was married to since she was 14 and he abadonaded her when she was 21. My grandmother was Black, Didn't America have laws forbbing interracial marriages?

Answer 1

every state had different laws on the subject of interracial marriage.

so depending on where she lived it might have been legal.

Plus the fact that the guy was Irish might also factor in since (I know this is going to sound odd) Irish weren't seen as "white" or the mainstream in America.

Answer 2

In the South yes interracial marriage was illegal. In a lot of places in the western states and northern states interracial marriages were perfectly legal. In Louisiana it was also legal for the Creoles to marry white or black.since they weren't considered white or black.

Answer 3

Technically, yes, but people did weddings of a sort without any legal documentation that they were really married. Kind of like a common law marriage, only more complex back then.

Answer 4

just because it was illegal doesn't mean it didn't exist...there have been multi-racial marriages and relationships for as long as there have been different groups of people, and love crosses all sorts of boundaries