Can a White Man Seduce a Colored Woman?
April 20, 1895
Summary
The law in Virginia is unclear as to what is acceptable and what is not when a person has intimate relations with a person of the opposite race.
Transcription
There has been much said and more written concerning the miscegenation laws of Virginia, wherein a colored man is forbidden to marry a white woman and a white man a colored woman.
This has led to concubinage on the part of white men with depraved colored women and many white wives have been made to feel the debasing effects of the same.
Moreover the resemblance of illegitimate mulatto children to legitimate white ones has led to a never-ending source of annoyance.
White men who talk against so-called social equality practice it, and politicians who alarm the neighborhood with reference to the intentions and desires of humble Negroes, under the cover of darkness, and sometimes in broad daylight practice the very “evils” which they vigorously condemn.
We have asserted that colored people in the South have no desire for so-called social equality, but simply demand civil rights and equality before the law.
They know that the social side of man regulates itself and that no gentleman will intrude himself upon a private party when he has not been invited; nor darken the door of the home of the white man when he knows he is an unwelcome visitor.
This is equally as true of the colored man in his social dealings with the colored man.
No colored gentleman will visit the house of any other colored gentleman if he is not invited and if he is invited and has reason to believe that it is merely for form’s sake and that he is not wanted.
But what about white men who force “social equality” upon colored ones? What about the white men who lay snares for innocent, virtuous colored girls, visit their homes in a clandestine manner when they cannot do otherwise, and openly when it suits their convenience?
What provision of the reaches them? Then arises the question, can a white man, in the eyes of the law seduce a colored woman and if he can what is the punishment, if adjudged guilty?
To understand the question and to make the proposition simpler we have but to ignore the color for the time being.
The law says if a man seduces an unmarried female of previous chaste character under promise of marriage he shall be confined in the Virginia penitentiary for not less than two nor more than ten years.
It will be seen then that as a white man cannot make a promise of marriage, he cannot seduce under such a promise, and the charge of felony reduces itself to that of misdemeanor. The white man is guilty of fornication for which the law provides a nominal fine of $20.
But suppose he is a married man, and seduces a female of previous chaste character, then if adjudged guilty his punishment is fixed at confinement in the Virginia penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years.
[This article continues for several more paragraphs]
This has led to concubinage on the part of white men with depraved colored women and many white wives have been made to feel the debasing effects of the same.
Moreover the resemblance of illegitimate mulatto children to legitimate white ones has led to a never-ending source of annoyance.
White men who talk against so-called social equality practice it, and politicians who alarm the neighborhood with reference to the intentions and desires of humble Negroes, under the cover of darkness, and sometimes in broad daylight practice the very “evils” which they vigorously condemn.
We have asserted that colored people in the South have no desire for so-called social equality, but simply demand civil rights and equality before the law.
They know that the social side of man regulates itself and that no gentleman will intrude himself upon a private party when he has not been invited; nor darken the door of the home of the white man when he knows he is an unwelcome visitor.
This is equally as true of the colored man in his social dealings with the colored man.
No colored gentleman will visit the house of any other colored gentleman if he is not invited and if he is invited and has reason to believe that it is merely for form’s sake and that he is not wanted.
But what about white men who force “social equality” upon colored ones? What about the white men who lay snares for innocent, virtuous colored girls, visit their homes in a clandestine manner when they cannot do otherwise, and openly when it suits their convenience?
What provision of the reaches them? Then arises the question, can a white man, in the eyes of the law seduce a colored woman and if he can what is the punishment, if adjudged guilty?
To understand the question and to make the proposition simpler we have but to ignore the color for the time being.
The law says if a man seduces an unmarried female of previous chaste character under promise of marriage he shall be confined in the Virginia penitentiary for not less than two nor more than ten years.
It will be seen then that as a white man cannot make a promise of marriage, he cannot seduce under such a promise, and the charge of felony reduces itself to that of misdemeanor. The white man is guilty of fornication for which the law provides a nominal fine of $20.
But suppose he is a married man, and seduces a female of previous chaste character, then if adjudged guilty his punishment is fixed at confinement in the Virginia penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years.
[This article continues for several more paragraphs]
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Cord Fox
Citation
“Can a White Man Seduce a Colored Woman?,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 16, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1390.