<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject . Please help improve the article with a good introductory style . (April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject . Please help improve the article with a good introductory style . (April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Interracial marriage is a form of exogamy that involves a marriage between spouses who belong to different races . It was historically a taboo in the United States of America and outlawed in South Africa . It was formally declared legal in the United States in 1967 when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in the case Loving v. Virginia that race - based restrictions on the set of individuals whom an individual is eligible to marry violate the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution . </P> <P> In English, an "interracial marriage" refers to the institution of marriage, including childless marriages . Formerly, the term was used more widely as a euphemism for interracial sexual unions that produced mixed - race offspring out of wedlock, since both miscegenation and illegitimacy were historically taboo in Western culture, particularly in the context of Victorian morality . </P>

When did interracial marriage become legal in the united states