The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No. 55 of 1949, was an
apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
-era law in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
that prohibited marriages between "whites" and "non-whites". It was among the first pieces of apartheid legislation to be passed following the
National Party's rise to power in 1948. Subsequent legislation, especially the
Population Registration and
Immorality Act
Immorality Act was the title of two acts of the Parliament of South Africa which prohibited, amongst other things, sexual relations between white people and people of other races. The first Immorality Act, of 1927, prohibited sex outside of marri ...
s of 1950, facilitated its implementation by requiring all individuals living in South Africa to register as a member of one of four officially defined racial groups and prohibiting extramarital sexual relationships between those classified as "white" on the one hand and those classified as "non-White" (Blacks, Coloureds, later also Asians) on the other. It did not criminalise sexual relationships between those classified as "non-Europeans".
History
Background
Mixed races relationships occurred in South Africa as far back as 1669, and often took place between Dutch colonisers and indigenous South African women.
While mixed marriages did not become completely taboo until the rise of the
National Party in 1948,
in the years immediately preceding the passing of this Act, mixed marriages accounted for just a small fraction of all marriages in South Africa, and occurred almost evenly between the four defined racial groups (
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
,
Coloured
Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...
,
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, and
Asiatic).
Implementation
In July 1949, the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of 1949 that prohibited marriage or a sexual relationship between White people and people of other race groups in South Africa was passed.
Enforcement of the act was left to the police, who often followed people to their homes to ensure they were not in violation and raided the homes of those believed to be in a mixed marriage. The act applied to all mixed marriages between South Africans, so even marriages which took place in another country were not recognised within South Africa.
The punishment for people found to be in a mixed marriage involved arrest and a jail sentence. Anyone who knowingly officiated a marriage that violated the act was also subject to a punishment: a fine was imposed not exceeding 50
pounds.
Anyone who was found to have lied to an officiant was also subject to the legal punishment for perjury.
Some of the social consequences of entering into a mixed-race marriage included being ostracised from or ridiculed by one's family and community.
One example is a white South African sex worker named Ethal, who indicated that she felt more accepted by her peers when she was a sex worker than when she married a black African man.
In 1972, over 300 people were convicted under the act. These numbers had dropped to 187 people prosecuted and 97 convicted in 1980, with increased leniency shown towards Indians and Coloureds.
[Lelyveld, Joseph (29 November 1982)]
Love Finds a Way Past South Africa's Race Laws
''The New York Times''. Retrieved on 10 February 2025 In 1982, Prime Minister
P.W. Botha gave Ian Whiteley, a white man, and his Indian wife, Sherrin, his blessing for the couple to live at the edge of an Indian township in
.
[
]
Legislative history
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act of 1968 updated the original legislation to invalidate interracial marriages involving a South African citizen that were contracted in other countries.
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act was repealed by the Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act, 1985, which was passed during the presidency of P. W. Botha.
See also
*Anti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws are laws that enforce racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage sometimes, also criminalizing sex between members of different races.
In the United Stat ...
* Apartheid legislation in South Africa
*Interracial marriage
Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different "Race (classification of human beings), races" or Ethnic group#Ethnicity and race, racialized ethnicities.
In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United Sta ...
References
Further reading
Mixed Marriages Act
''South End Museum and why mixed marriage act was passed''
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act commences
''SA History''
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prohibition Of Mixed Marriages Act
1949 in South African law
Apartheid laws in South Africa
Marriage reform
Marriage law in South Africa
Interracial marriage