The United States maintained a complicated and contradictory set of customs and laws prohibiting interracial sex and marriage until well into the twentieth century. This course illuminates this hidden history by examining the stories of those Americans who established relationships across the color line despite these proscriptions. Focusing on a series of case studies and groundbreaking court cases involving people of African descent (including the case of Elizabeth Key, Perez v. Sharp, and Loving v. Virginia), the class asks, what happens when private relationships become politicized? What roles have ideas about interracial intimacy played in defining and redefining the meaning of “race” in America? How have ordinary people used the law to advocate for their own relationships and families? Ultimately, we will see how these deeply personal and private histories helped to shape the culture of the nation.