Mixed Race Studies

Hawkins told Smith that he has three sisters married to white men who do not suspect their wives of having negro blood.

“Would-Be Bridegroom Takes Oath He Is Negro,” The San Francisco Call, Volume 104, Number 70 (August 9, 1908). page 31, column 4. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19080809.2.99.

Would-Be Bridegroom Takes Oath He Is Negro

The San Francisco Call
Volume 104, Number 70 (1908-08-09)
Page 31, Column 4
(Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection)

Cannot Get License to Wed Mulatto Until He Proves His Race

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 8.— “You can’t get a marriage license here,” said Leon G. Smith of East St. Louis yesterday when William Hawkins and a mulatto woman named Fanny F. Austin of East St. Louis came into the marriage license clerk’s office and asked for a license.

Hawkins inquired what the reason was for refusing him a license, and was told that licenses would not be issued for mixed marriages, whites and negroes. Then he laughed and told Smith that while he generally passed for a white man and very few people ever imagined he had negro blood, that he really was a negro. To prove this Hawkins opened his shirt collar and showed that below his throat he was somewhat darker than his face appeared. He also showed his finger nails to prove his negro blood, and finally made an affidavit that he was a negro. Then the license was issued. Hawkins told Smith that he has three sisters married to white men who do not suspect their wives of having negro blood.

Counting The People

San Francisco Call
Sunday, 1890-06-01
page 6, column 7
Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

Some of the Inquires to Be Made by the Census Enumerators in June

The eleventh census of the United States will be taken during the month of June. The census enumerators will begin their work on to-morrow, and will visit every house and ask questions concerning every person and every family in the United States. The questions that will be asked call for the name of every person residing in the United States on the first day of June, with their sex and age, and whether white, black, mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, or Chinese, Japanese or Indian. Inquiry will be made also of every person as to whether they are single, married, widowed or divorced and, if married, whether married during the year. The place of birth of every person, and the place of birth of the father and mother of each person, will also be called for, as well as a statement as to the profession, trade or occupation followed and the number of months unemployed during the census year. For all persons 10 years of age or over a return must be made by the enumerator as to the number able to read and write, and also the number who can speak English. For those who cannot speak English the particular language or dialect spoken by them in will be ascertained. For children of school age, also, the number of months they attended school will be recorded by the census enumerators. In the case of mothers an inquiry will be made as to the number of children they have had, and the number of these children living at the present time. This inquiry is to be made of all women who are or have been married, including all who are widows or have been divorced. Foreign-born males of adult age, that is, 21 years of age or over, will be asked as to the number of years they have been in the United States, and whether they are naturalized or have taken, out naturalization papers. Of the head of each family visited the question will be asked as to the number of persons in the family, and whether his home is owned or hired; also, if owned, whether the home is free from mortgage incumbrance. If the head of the family is a farmer, similar inquiries will be made concerning the ownership of the farm. In addition to these inquiries, all of which are made on the population schedule, the law under which the census is taken makes provision for special inquiries concerning such of the population as may be mentally or physically defective in any respect, that is insane, feeble-minded, deaf, blind, or crippled, or who may be temporarily disabled by sickness, disease, or accident at the time of the enumerator’s visit. Certain special inquiries will also be made concerning inmates of prisons and reformatories and of charitable and benevolent institutions. Besides this, a statement will be called for concerning all persons who have died during the census year, giving their name, age, sex, occupation and cause of death.

This official count of the people comes but once in ten years, and every family and every person should consider it to be a duty to answer the questions of the census enumerators willingly and promptly, so that definite and accurate information may be gained concerning the 65,000,000 people living within the bounds of this great country.

Brown Man and Fiancee Can Not Get Knot Tied

San Francisco Call
Volume 107, Number 106 (1910-03-16)
page 3, column 5
Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

Unfeeling Goldfield Sheriff Suggests a Hurried Departure

GOLDFIELD, Nev., March 15.—George Masaki, a Japanese gardener, and Juliette S. Schwann, both of Los Angeles, were unable to get a judge to make them man and wife here today. Masaki took out marriage license during the afternoon, but as soon as the sheriff found it out he hunted the couple up and escorted them to the railroad station, where he ordered them not to appear in Goldfield again. This action of the authorities was taken because of unpleasant publicity resulting from a recent case of miscegenation.

The couple took a train to Tonopah. The authorities in Tonopah have been warned.

Afro-Chinese Wedding

San Francisco Call
Volume 78, Number 147 (1895-10-25)
page 4, column 2
Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

STOCKTON, Cal., Oct. 24.—Chu Gun, a local Chinese sport, was to-day married to Irene Wilson, a dashing octoroon girl. The entire population of Chinatown celebrated the affair this evening.

Japanese Officer Slain

San Francisco Call
Volume 113, Number 107
1913-03-17
page 3, column 4
Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

Los Angeles Half-caste Policeman Is Murdered in “Little Tokyo”

LOS ANGELES, March 16.—Tom Fushiyama White, a half-caste Japanese, who had been connected with the Los Angeles police force for half a dozen years, was found murdered early today in an alley in “Little Tokyo.” the Japanese quarter of the city. He had been struck on the head with a blackjack and there was a “bullet hole through his head.