Massachusetts outlaws marriage with "any Negro, Indian or Mulatto" (Massachusetts, Act of June 22, 1786)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1786 · Places: Northeast, Africa
SUMMARYMassachusetts outlaws marriage with "any Negro, Indian or Mulatto" (Massachusetts, Act of June 22, 1786) [Connections: Northeast & Mid-Atlantic, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDThe act said "no person by this Act authorized to marry, shall join in marriage any white person with any Negro, Indian or Mulatto" and "all such marriages shall be absolutely null and void." In 1831 The Liberator was still urging the legislature to repeal it
PATTERNThe law put Indian, Negro and Mulatto in one legal category, set against "white."
LENS (WW9)The law put the nations and the African-descended in the same box, and those who married within that box are the ancestors of many families labeled "Black."
OPENConfirm the repeal date (usually given as 1843) from the statute books
SOURCEThe Liberator, Jan. 8, 1831, "The Right of Interracial Marriage".