Dreams from My Father: on Civil Rights

Miscegenation a felony in 1960 when Obamas practiced it

Miscegenation. The word is humpbacked, ugly, portending a monstrous outcome: like antebellum or octoroon, it evokes images of another era, a distant world of horsewhips and flames, dead magnolias and crumbling porticos. And yet it wasn't until 1967 - three years after Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize, a time when America had already begun to weary of black demands for equality, the problem of discrimination presumably solved - that the Supreme Court of the US would get around to telling the state of Virginia that its ban on interracial marriages violated the Constitution. Source: Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama, p. 11 Aug 1, 1996

The civil rights movement was a success

As segregated as Chicago was, as strained as race relations were, the success of the civil rights movement had at least created some overlap between communities, more room to maneuver for people like me. I could work in the black community as an organizer or a lawyer and still live in a high rise downtown. Or the other way around: I could work in a blue-chip law firm but live in the South Side and buy a big house, drive a nice car, make my donations to the NAACP, speak at local high schools. Source: Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama, p.254 Aug 1, 1996

*The above quotations are from Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, by Barack Obama, published August 1996.* Click here for definitions & background information on Civil Rights. Click here for more quotes by Barack Obama on Civil Rights.
*2008 Presidential contenders on Civil Rights:*
*Republicans:* Chmn.John Cox Mayor Rudy Giuliani Gov.Mike Huckabee Rep.Duncan Hunter Sen.John McCain Rep.Ron Paul Gov.Mitt Romney Sen.Fred Thompson	*Democrats:* Sen.Hillary Clinton Sen.John Edwards Sen.Mike Gravel Rep.Dennis Kucinich Sen.Barack Obama	*Third Parties:* Green: Rep.Cynthia McKinney Socialist: Brian Moore Independent: Mayor Mike Bloomberg
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