The 1600s was the start of laws banning interracial couples, mainly between white people and enslaved people. The laws banning these types of couples were called anti-miscegenation laws. Anti-miscegenation laws were highly enforced on black people and white people, but also applied to other groups such as Asians and Native Americans.  These laws were heavily strict, it was not only illegal in the US, but it was a felony offence to be in a interracial marriage.

The General Assembly of the United States, also known as the UNGA, which is the policymaking part of the United Nations Organization passed the first law limiting interracial marriage in 1691. Even before this official law interracial couples were not accepted socially. But years later the General Assembly had deemed interracial couples wrong. There were punishments for people being in an interracial marriage. In 1848, there was a penalty for white people to be sent to jail for twelve months if in a interracial marriage. Then in 1873, the punishment for interracial marriage was paying a fee and being sent to jail for a year. The fine for a white person in a marriage with someone of a different race was one hundred dollars, and it was two hundred for the person who made the marriage official. A few years later the General Assembly made the punishment equal for both partners in the marriage. Both people were considered to be sent to jail, and serve between two to five years in jail.