Introduction
During the Mid-Late 20th Century and Early 21st Century, the concept of race and ethnicity has evolved significantly. This evolution has led to more inclusivity and a wider acceptance of both mixed and interracial people. That said, this project will explore how a myriad of American societal shifts, that largely stemmed from the effects of the Civil Rights Movement and evolving marriage laws, ultimately manifested themselves in California. California evolved into an environment that supported distinctively progressive ideology, events, and most importantly established the state as a welcoming home to America’s fast-growing mixed race and interracial populations.
Personal Interest
I chose this topic because in recent years it’s been interesting for me to see how the world around me has become increasingly more supportive of mixed people. I’m Black and Mexican, and all the challenges that I dealt with growing up I simply had to compartmentalize and get comfortable with; it made me who I am today. On the other hand, the mixed kids of today grow up in a completely different environment. Society and media tells them they’re cool, their parents are praised as being progressive, and it’s overall a more inclusive experience. Seeing that shift in real-time is what ultimately made me interested in this topic.
1948's "Perez v. Sharp"
1948's "Perez v. Sharp" was a landmark moment in California’s multiracial history. The court case took place in California’s Supreme Court and ended a state-wide ban on interracial marriage. This was done on the basis that interracial marriage should have been protected by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution; this hadn't been the case so it was rectified.
For perspective, this court case took place 19 years before the more popularized “Loving v. Virginia” court case that saw interracial marriage legalized across all states.
The Curious Case of Vivian Cash
Vivian Liberto Cash was born in 1934, and married legendary singer Johnny Cash at the age of 20 in 1954. At the time of their marriage Johnny Cash had yet to reach super-stardom; they lived a modestly in Memphis, Tennessee. One short year later, both of their lives’ changed when Johnny Cash’s music career suddenly took off. Vivian no longer had the luxury of operating under the radar as a wife, as a mother, or on any personal level.
Vivian was subject to scrutiny by the media and by white-supremacist groups, namely the KKK, because although Vivian self-identified as a White-Italian she distinctly had physical traits that would traditionally be associated with Black people; she simply looked black or at the very least multiracial. In hindsight, historians now understand that this was one of the reasons that Johnny, Vivian, and their 3 children moved to California in 1958. It would’ve been career suicide for Johnny if his wife was to outright come-out as a Black woman but if push came to shove and she was outed, California would’ve been the ideal place for it to happen. Even after the couple divorced in 1966 Vivian chose to live out her life as a California resident, passing for Italian-White, and in-turn raising her Children as if they too were not mixed.
The reality of Cash’s situation was that she lived in fear and made the safest choice for her children. This was only compounded by the fact that Cash was already ashamed of her multiracial heritage before her mainstream popularity explosion.
A byproduct of Cash’s choices were that her children, who could pass for white without any suspicion, were never put in touch with their true heritage until they were well into their established adulthoods. In the case of Cash’s children it gets even more confusing because they were never documented denying the fact that they may have been multiracial. Even though Cash denied the fact that she was multiracial her kids didn’t have that option because she effectively forced them into a corner of ignorance.
One has to ask themselves and be brutally honest: If Cash’s children were to have been raised as black-white people rather than Italian-white people how would their lives have changed for the better or worse? Being that they carried a last name that commanded so much respect in the entertainment industry, being that they grew up in a relatively progressive California, would they have gone on to touch on more topics, both politically and conceptually, that only black or multiracial entertainers dared to touch on? Nothing can be concluded definitively but it would’ve been a definite possibility considering the fact that Johnny Cash himself was known to bring attention to marginalized groups of people in his songs.
When analyzing the life and legacy of Vivian Cash we get to peak into what life was like for a segment of mixed people that didn’t often speak about their experiences: multiracial people that wanted to pass for white.
UC Berkely's First Renaissance
The powers heading UC Berkeley during the 1960s took it upon themselves to create and implement incredibly progressive actions long before the landmark “Regents of the University of California v. Bakke” (1978) supreme course case. The aforementioned case firmly established affirmative action’s place within the university admission process. UC Berkeley’s affirmative action went into effect in the 1960s and 1970s, along with other programs and initiatives such as the establishment of their Office of Student Research and Development and the establishment of their Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). That said, these cutting edge actions in the 1960s and 1970s led to unrivaled diversity on campus. This directly led to the normalization of romantic interracial relationships, as well as interracial friendships, on the campus.
UC Berkely's Second Renaissance
In 1994 the Multiracial/Multiethnic Student Coalition (MRC) was formed at Berkeley. The importance of the MRC was critical as it provided support and resources that were specifically tailored to the needs of mixed race students. Besides the aforementioned support that the MRC afforded their students, the awareness that the MRC raised for mixed raised dynamics was arguably even more important.
As an example, in 1995 the MRC was at the epicenter of planning for a mixed race conference that brought together scholars, activists, and community members to discuss issues related to mixed race identity and politics.
Lesser known, but equally important, within the same time period UC Berkeley was at the forefront of adding coursework that was centered on a number of mixed race topics. An example of such coursework was Ethnic Studies 150: People of Mixed-Race Descent” which was created by UC Berkeley’s Terry Wilson PhD in 1980.
By 1996, UC Berkeley had become the “epicenter of America’s burgeoning biracial baby boom. It is command center for a national movement dedicated to changing the way America measures its racial and ethnic complexity and also the way we think about who we are” (Gross, 1996).
One of Hollywood's Earliest,
and Oftentimes Forgotten, Trailblazers
Marketed as “A Love Story of Today” by Colombia Pictures, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) was directed by Stanley Kramer and chronicles the story of an interracial couple in San Francisco. It’s important to note that the film was filmed on sets at Columbia Pictures' Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood and was made to look as if it was set in San Francisco; it was a Californian film through and through.
Besides the usual racist and closed-minded criticism, along with some honest praise, the film also received criticism that stemmed from those who believed that the film painted interracial relations in a far too positive fashion given the context of the era. Ironically, that was precisely what Kramer intended for the film; it wasn’t meant to be hyper-realistic and include hardships for the sake of including hardships. It was meant to depict a rare, yet obtainable, type of relationship for interracial people.
1990's Hollywood Trailblazers - Off Screen
Robert De Niro, widely considered to be one of the greatest actors ever, took it upon himself to date Grace Hightower in the late 1980s and marry her in the 1990s. Given his status in Hollywood some would say that this was a risky move for his career, especially considering that Hightower wasn’t a celebrity when they began dating. Instead his career continued to thrive.
Late 1990's/Early 2000's
Hollywood Trailblazers - On Screen
Television shows of the 2000s such as NBC’s The West Wing, which was written and filmed in Los Angeles, showcased interracial relationships through a matter-of-fact lens. The show showcased ordinary, educated, hardworking Americans functioning at the highest level of American society all while organically finding love from a partner from a different racial background; disingenuous motives were absent. Furthermore, one of the biggest draws of the show’s interracial dynamic was that the writers and producers went as far as to show how much more difficult life could be, and was, for interracial couples in America; the majority of the difficulty was shown to stem from irrational and blind hate that people in interracial relationships regularly had to deal with.
The 2000 Census
The 2000 census was the first census that allowed respondents to check more than one box for their racial identification. For mixed people this was generally viewed as a watershed moment. With the 1990s came new levels of social respect and in the 2000s came new levels of legal and political respect. It was a significant moment for multiracial people in a distinctly matter of fact way; these people finally got the recognition that they deserved “officially” because the government believed it was appropriate.
The importance of the precedent that the 2000 census set goes far beyond the census itself. It legitimized the right for mixed people to identify as they wished across countless proceeding legal documents; the census set a new standard.
Given that the number of mixed children more than quadrupled in the 20 year period preceding the 2000 census, this change was sorely needed. The 2000 census also firmly established the fact that California leads the nation in both interracial marriages and number of multiracial individuals by a wide margin.
Poltical Trailblazers
Aside from celebrity’s, who many argue live with fewer responsibilities and in-turn live above typical social norms, the 1990s even saw those who were firmly required and expected to live well within typical societal norms embrace interracial and mixed race culture. A prime example of such would is former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Charlane McCray. While it should be noted that de Blasio didn’t rise to the position of Mayor until 2014, he and his wife were dating from 1991 onwards; he built his political career with his wife on his side. This defied cultural norms of the time and changed what kind of relationships future politicians dared to take public.
To see an example of that precedent in action look no further than current Vice President Harris. Harris is a mixed woman, born and raised in Oakland by parents that were Berkeley and Stanford graduates. The majority of the general public believes that Harris is singularly a black woman that's married to a white man. From that perspective she's a figure that's equally important in mixed communities as she is in interracial communities.
Early 2010's Reality Check
In 2013, General mills debuted a Cheerios commercial staring a mixed race child along with her black father and white mother. The commercial itself was wholesome and seemingly non-problematic yet controversy arose.
The commercial became controversial in large part because the majority of American society wasn’t used to seeing these types of commercials featuring such racial diversity. The aligned argument essentially boiled down to the fact that interracial family’s had their place in movies and TV by this point because prospective viewers would have to make a concerted effort to find and watch that media. Commercials and ad campaigns on the other hand are simply unavoidable in most media. That said, this point in 2013 served as a reality check for mixed people as well as people in interracial relationships; you were tolerated, praised, and even supported by society yet there was still a very present, and vocal, disingenuous sector of society that thought of them as less.
But what does this have to do with California?
Camille Gibson, who was the former vice president of marketing at General Mills and the woman whose name is most commonly associated with the creation of the 2013 Cheerios commercial, abruptly retired shortly after the controversy from the commercial died down; she worked with General Mills for 32 years and largely worked out of their Minnesota headquarters. Gibson then came out of retirement in 2021 to become the CEO of Sana Foods which operates out of California. Sana Foods is leaps and bounds more progressive, and more importantly supportive, than General Mills was to her. At General Mills Gibson was simply one unique cog on a conservative wheel; if she fails the company still progress. At Sana Foods Gibson was allowed to be the entire wheel; the company went as she went. California’s culture allowed her to create ad campaigns that spoke directly to the state’s population.
California's Crown
The reality, and beauty, of American families is that you don’t have to be born in America to contribute to a section of American culture; this especially holds true in California. Look no further than Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Markle, a mixed woman, born and raised in Los Angeles, thrived in California long before she met Prince Harry; she found success as actress in the early 2000s and into the 2010s. Some even argue that Markle’s success stemmed in large part from the fact that she’s mixed.
That said, Prince Harry and Markle’s falling out with the British Monarchy saw them move their family from England to Southern California. They settled on California in large part because of how well supported and safe they felt as parents, as well as wanting their children to grow up in an environment that would support who they were unlike any other place in the world.
These actions were in direct response to how the monarchy, as well as British media, were continually critical of Markle and her children for seemingly no reason other than that they were mixed.