Negro-White Marriages on Rise Here; Negro-White Marriage Here Show Rise Despite Problems of Prejudice

October 18, 1963

Marriage between Negroes and whites have been increasing in New York and have become a poignant part of the life of the city

The precise number of such marriages may never be known. Documents on file at the City License Bureau do not reveal clear figures because many couples refuse to state their color in the applications

Abut City Clerk Herman Katz, who issues licenses and performs marriages at the Municipal Building, said that o the basis of observations the number of mixed marriages had definitely risen in the last two years.

Civil rights organizations, other interested observers and interracial couples themselves said they were aware of an obvious increase in the number of marriages between Negroes and whites.

Some of them interpreted the increase as a logical extension of the desegregation movement, which has captured the emotions and attention of the country. “There’s more interracial everything these days,” said one observer.