Pascoe, Peggy. "Miscegenation Law, Court Cases and Ideologies of 'Race' in Twentieth-Century America." Unequal Sisters. Ed. Vicki Ruiz and Ellen Carol Dubois. New York: Routledge, 2000. 161-178.
The thesis of this article is that ideas about race are fungible, i.e., are subject to complete revision depending on the context in which they are considered. In other words, notions of what constitutes "race" as a concept worthy of serious discourse, as well as the place of race both in the sensibilities of the culture and in the scheme of social consequences that issue from such notions are unstable. The evolution of such notions does not, however, necessarily indicate that they have been disposed of. Race in American culture is therefore problematized, and it is likely to remain so as long as variable social benefits attach to those who are identified as one race or the other.
It is important to recognize that Pascoe's intent does not appear to be to settle once and for all whatever issues are relevant to or problematic because of race. Nevertheless, it appears to be the case that Pascoe's view is that awareness, by itself, may be relevant to more complete appreciation of what direction the discourse of race might take. Of particular importance is that such discourse involves "racial ideologies," or prevailing notions of what constitutes race--which generally comes down to how limited access to the social benefits of being white/Caucasian is to be defined.
The evidence that the author uses to support the basic thesis takes the form of a historical survey of key cases that had the objective of disposing of the race question in America once and for all. The fact that the objective was not achieved constitutes a commentary on the intransigency of fundamental issues. However, information about the cases themselves is instructive. Several cases in particular are cited by Pascoe.
In Kirby v. Kirby (1921), wherein a marriage was annull...