STATES REPEALING LAWS AGAINST INTERMARRIAGE Only five States that once had laws against miscegenation have repealed them since 1865. New Mexico,[196] in 1866, Rhode Island,[197] in 1881, and Maine,[198] in 1883, repealed their laws against intermarriage outright. A statute of Michigan[199] in 1883 provided that all marriages theretofore contracted between white persons and those wholly or in part of African descent should be valid and effectual and the offspring legitimate, but it said nothing about marriages contracted in the future. Professor Frederick J. Stimson[200] has apparently interpreted the statute to apply to marriages in the future as well as to those already contracted. Finally, Ohio[201] in 1887 repealed its law of 1877, providing for the punishment of persons of “pure white blood” who intermarry or have carnal intercourse with any Negro or person having a distinct and visible admixture of African blood. MARRIAGES BETWEEN THE NEGRO AND NON-CAUCASIAN RACES It is significant that the States have not prohibited intermarriage between two different races except where one is the Caucasian. In no State is it unlawful for Mongolians and Indians, Negroes and Mongolians, or Negroes and Indians to intermarry. The only exception to the last is that in North Carolina[202] it is unlawful for Negroes to intermarry with Croatan Indians or to go to the same school with them. To this statute hangs a beautiful historical tradition. In 1585, the date of the first attempt by Englishmen to colonize the New World, there was an island off the coast of North Carolina called Croatoan. By the shifting of the sands, it is now probably a part of Hatteras or Ocracoke Island. In 1587, a colony of one hundred and seventy-seven persons under John White was landed by Sir Walter Raleigh on this island. Here, the same year, was born Virginia Dare, granddaughter of John White and the first child of English parents born in America. Later, part of the colonists under White had to go back to England to seek further aid. By agreement, those left behind were to go over to the friendly Croatoan Indians if they needed succor. When Governor White returned many months later, he found the settlement deserted and carved upon a tree nearby the single word “Croatoan.” This supposedly meant that the colonists had gone over to the Croatoans. For some unexplained reason, the party under White never went in search of their lost brethren. Not a word more has ever been heard of Virginia Dare and the others. A tradition says that they went over to the Croatoans and eventually became absorbed into that tribe.[203] Credence is given to this by the fact that there are many Croatoan Indians—now called Croatans—with light complexion and blue eyes. Recently a considerable body of mixed-blooded Indians in Robeson County, North Carolina, have laid claim to descent from this lost colony, and the State has officially recognized them under a separate