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The social structures that impacted this relationship were the laws that governed this type of family form were called anti-miscegenation. A loose  definition of miscegenation is marriage or cohabitation of people from different racial groups that procreate bi-racial offspring.

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"Guess who's coming to dinner" was Hollywood's foray into the controversial subject of interracial marriage. The movie heightened Americas awareness of interracial relationships as well as causing some backlash because white america was not ready to see it on the big screen. The movie was filmed before the Supreme Court ruling  (Pace v. Alabama) striking down anti-miscegenation laws.

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Much of the controversy surrounding interracial marriage stems from race-based slavery and the impact it has had on American culture and the way race is viewed.

http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/miscegenation-story-racial-intimacy

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In 1967, Mildred and Richard Loving won their supreme court case that struck down the 1883 Virginia law (Pace v. Alabama) which made it illegal to marry slaves. The Loving's story is inspiring because they fought for the right to marry the person you love, regardless of the color of their skin, and they also fought for their children to be recognized as citizens in the eyes of the law.

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Dating back to the 1600's governments were afraid of the mixing of the races. The only way to ensure that this would not happen was to threaten imprisonment if this law was violated. Below is a timeline that depicts the major laws that tried to prevent race mixing.

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Last speech by Spencer Tracy in guess who's coming to dinner

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Interracial marriages are defined as having a marriage union shared between people who identify with separate ethnic groups. Over time, this definition has become more and more specific. In 1664, the United States created laws specifically directed against white women and black men. This then was expanded to white men and black women. As the diversity in America increased, laws and definitions broadened to include more ethnic groups. Although now entirely legal in the U.S.  t is still a taboo topic. The last state to officially change this law was Alabama in the year 2000. Even still, there is wide spread controversy on the topic.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/cheerios-commercial-racist-backlash_n_3363507.html

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Cheerios' first ever Super Bowl ad featuring interracial family   Mail Online

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Speculating about future attacks from the enemy. [This video is not intended to condone violence or hate.] [This project is my livelihood. Please see http://www.millennialwoes.com/donate. Thank you.] ALTERNATIVE CHANNELS: http://www.vid.me/millennialwoes http://www.bitchute.com/channel/millennialwoes http://www.minds.com/millennialwoes

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To get a different perspective on interracial marriages and the effects their children, I interviewed my husband of 36 years. I am in an interracial marriage; my husband is white and I am black. We have 5 sons. Here are his thoughts on marriage and raising bi-racial children and their possible struggles with identity.

Marguerite: What are the struggles you have had in this interracial marriage?
Richard: “I don’t feel I’ve had any struggles, um I’ve worried that my kids would have struggles. I’ve always felt it’s easier for the white male in an interracial relationship, because I don’t think they are judged like a black woman is judged for marrying a white man or a white woman marrying a black man.”

Marguerite: Do you think raising 5 boys of mixed race, do you think they had any struggles identifying with one race or the other?
Richard: “They have never identified that to me, I feel that they probably have to a lesser extent that maybe others have. I know that my second oldest son Andre has said when he was going through high school he did not identify with either side and he was not excepted by either side. The whites did not fully except him even though he had white friends and the blacks would not fully except him even though he had many black friends. My other sons did not express problems with identity. I’ve always wondered if they had confrontation within themselves about their identity.”

Marguerite: Did you ever express to them that they are white or black? Did you just let them figure it out on their own?
Richard: “I never told them that, no. I never felt I needed too. My sons, um when they had problems it was usually standard problems any child would have whether they were white or black. I don’t recall ever having to deal with a racial issue because they were mixed. I think they grew up with pretty much normal lives.”

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" Now, almost four decades later, the public hardly reacts at all to interracial relationships. Both Hollywood movies and TV shows, including Die Another Day, Made in America, ER, The West Wing, and Friends, regularly portray interracial romance." (Qian, breaking the latest taboo: interracial marriage in America,https://new.oberlin.edu/dotAsset/695448.pdf)

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Since the ruling, which is celebrated annually on "Loving Day", interracial and inter-ethnic marriages have steadily increased in America, from around 5% of all weddings in 1970 to 18% in 2015." (Interracial Marriages are Rising in America, The Economist, https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/06/daily-chart-7).
They are considered heroes to many interracial couples because of their persistence to receive the same benefits as all other couples.

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Mildred Jeter was born in 1939. She was of African and Rappahannock (Native American) descent. Richard Loving was born in 1933. He was of Caucasian (white) descent. Mildred and Richard were childhood sweethearts in Caroline County, Virginia. When they grew up, they decided to marry.

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When you consider the racism that black and white couples endured in the 1960's, one tends to focus on the white community fighting against this type of union. Rarely do we focus on views from the black community. Below is a video of Muhammad ali discussing his disdain for racial mixing. He felt that every race should stick to their own kind and also believed that interracial marriages weakened the African American community.

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Muhammad Ali on Integration and interracial marriage

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Uploaded by Black Thought on 2015-01-28.

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Highlights of interviews on the interracial family form with Zina Burns and my husband Richard Cosens.
I interviewed a co-worker who is a child of an interracial marriage. We had a conversation about her family a few weeks ago and her views about interracial couples surprised me. Below are some excerpts from our conversation:

Zina: “Hi my name is Zina and I am the product of an interracial relationship. My father is African American and my mother was (she passed away) white and Spanish. I kind of grew up with my father’s side of the family because my mother’s side of the family lived in another state.”

Zina: “I do see positive and negatives in interracial relationships. I know personally for myself, I don’t think I can do that. I am engaged to an African American male. It has a lot to do with the fact that I’m kind of uncomfortable with interracial relationships. There is the higher possibility that your partner would not really be able to understand or relate to your struggles whether internally or systemically, society kind of has especially right now; our current president and the issues going on in the world, it seems that there is a really bad connotation umm with being black.”

Marguerite: What kind of struggles did you have growing up?
Zina: “I would say the biggest struggle for me growing up was probably identity, um my father everyday would tell me you’re a Burns, you’re black and don’t let no one put their hands on you; he said that to me every day. There was never a time when I did not know I was black, but When it comes to my black family or my black friends a lot of people think it’s funny to um call me white. I don’t have anything against that part of my life or my identity, but for some reason I always take offense to that cause I feel like they are not saying that in a nice manner even though they are “joking” so I would say identity is a big thing.”

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Report on the Loving case 1967: https://youtu.be/FaHhZ4IbVYY

Interracial Marriages are Rising in America, The Economist, https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/06/daily-chart-7

Muhammad Ali on Integration and interracial marriage: https://youtu.be/ZB0j1p8Seos

Guess Who's coming to dinner Speech: https://youtu.be/d6QiEqWcYrA

Timeline PowerPoint:
https://www.thoughtco.com/interracial-marriage-laws-721611

Qian, breaking the latest taboo: interracial marriage in America ,https://new.oberlin.edu/dotAsset/695448.pdf
http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/miscegenation-story-racial-intimacy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/cheerios-commercial-racist-backlash_n_3363507.html

https://youtu.be/uGQBl0W7bb8

http://www.ozy.com/flashback/the-forgotten-era-of-punjabi-mexicans/65005

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Miscegenation, although taboo, has been practiced in other cultures due to convenience and often necessity within America. In the early 1900s, a generation of working men from Punjab immigrated to the United States to become farmers. The farmers worked to pay for their wives and children to join them in the land of opportunity. Unfortunately, new immigration laws soon made this impossible. Meanwhile, Mexican women were also flocking to California, working the cotton fields for the Indian men who by now oversaw most of the farms. The California Alien Land Act of 1913 prohibited most immigrants from owning land, but many worked out deals with white landowners to sign property records on their behalf. The loneliness and angst of being away from their families led many Indian men to attempt to take their Mexican workers as brides. Laws forbidding interracial marriage made getting marriage certificates difficult — unless the men and women simply listed their ethnicities as “brown,” thereby skirting the legislative constraints. Midway through the 20th century, county records showed at least 378 marriages between Punjabi-Mexican couples in California alone. In 1946, the Luce-Celler Act loosened U.S. immigration laws and ended the ban against non citizens owning land. This meant the long-settled immigrants could send for their Punjabi sons and daughters to come to the states.

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http://bit.ly/OwWAA6 You can listen to the full interview with Mary Rai. Punjabi-Mexican refers to a small community of people in California and Arizona that came together in the early 20thc. Nearly 100 years ago mostly male immigrants from the Punjab Province of British India came to the USA.