Sanctioning Matrimony

Western Expansion and Interethnic Marriage in the Arizona Borderlands

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Sanctioning Matrimony by Sal Acosta, University of Arizona Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sal Acosta ISBN: 9780816533763
Publisher: University of Arizona Press Publication: May 12, 2016
Imprint: University of Arizona Press Language: English
Author: Sal Acosta
ISBN: 9780816533763
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Publication: May 12, 2016
Imprint: University of Arizona Press
Language: English

Marriage, divorce, birth, baptism, and census records are the essential records of a community. Through them we see who marries, who divorces, and how many children are born. Sal Acosta has studied a broad base of these vital records to produce the largest quantitative study of intermarriage of any group in the West. Sanctioning Matrimony examines intermarriage in the Tucson area between 1860 and 1930. Unlike previous studies on intermarriage, this book examines not only intermarriages of Mexicans with whites but also their unions with blacks and Chinese.

Following the Treaty of Mesilla (1853), interethnic relationships played a significant part in the Southwest. Acosta provides previously unseen archival research on the scope and tenor of interracial marriages in Arizona. Contending that scholarship on intermarriage has focused on the upper classes, Acosta takes us into the world of the working and lower classes and illuminates how church and state shaped the behavior of participants in interracial unions.

Marriage practices in Tucson reveal that Mexican women were pivotal in shaping family and social life between 1854 and 1930. Virtually all intermarriages before 1900 were, according to Acosta, between Mexican women and white men, or between Mexican women and blacks or Chinese until the 1920s, illustrating the importance of these women during the transformation of Tucson from a Mexican pueblo to an American town.

Acosta’s deep analysis of vital records, census data, and miscegenation laws in Arizona demonstrates how interethnic relationships benefited from and extended the racial fluidity of the Arizona borderlands.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Marriage, divorce, birth, baptism, and census records are the essential records of a community. Through them we see who marries, who divorces, and how many children are born. Sal Acosta has studied a broad base of these vital records to produce the largest quantitative study of intermarriage of any group in the West. Sanctioning Matrimony examines intermarriage in the Tucson area between 1860 and 1930. Unlike previous studies on intermarriage, this book examines not only intermarriages of Mexicans with whites but also their unions with blacks and Chinese.

Following the Treaty of Mesilla (1853), interethnic relationships played a significant part in the Southwest. Acosta provides previously unseen archival research on the scope and tenor of interracial marriages in Arizona. Contending that scholarship on intermarriage has focused on the upper classes, Acosta takes us into the world of the working and lower classes and illuminates how church and state shaped the behavior of participants in interracial unions.

Marriage practices in Tucson reveal that Mexican women were pivotal in shaping family and social life between 1854 and 1930. Virtually all intermarriages before 1900 were, according to Acosta, between Mexican women and white men, or between Mexican women and blacks or Chinese until the 1920s, illustrating the importance of these women during the transformation of Tucson from a Mexican pueblo to an American town.

Acosta’s deep analysis of vital records, census data, and miscegenation laws in Arizona demonstrates how interethnic relationships benefited from and extended the racial fluidity of the Arizona borderlands.

More books from University of Arizona Press

Cover of the book Activist Biology by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Global Indigenous Health by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Arizona by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Apache Indian Baskets by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Inheriting the Past by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Western Avenue and Other Fictions by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Havana and Other Missing Fathers by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Vernacular Sovereignties by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Celluloid Pueblo by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Outside Theater by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Centuries of Decline during the Hohokam Classic Period at Pueblo Grande by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book The Ecological Other by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Before Kukulkán by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Ambitious Rebels by Sal Acosta
Cover of the book Telling and Being Told by Sal Acosta
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy