A large audience turned out at Memorial Union Tuesday night to hear Harvard University law professor Randall Kennedy discuss the fears and biases of interracial sex, marriage and identity. Kennedy has written a number of books about the topic and has won awards for his book “Interracial Intimacies,” which discusses crossing the color line with friendships, relationships and marriages.

Kennedy presented a history of interracial relationships in the past and an assessment of how those situations caused and changed the laws regarding these relationships. Until the 1960s, interracial marriage was illegal in most states, but the Supreme Court struck down the laws after a number of instances with interracial relationships. Kennedy said there have been interracial relationships since the earliest phases of American history.

Kennedy said biases against interracial relationships have existed for many years.

“People have loved across race lines, but there have been impediments, both formal and informal,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said the central impediment in the past was the common desire to keep the United States a “white man’s country,” especially where reproduction was concerned.

Kennedy said that although white people produced laws in the past prohibiting interracial relationships and many African Americans today are virtually unanimous in attacking those laws, the majority of black Americans in the past joined whites in opposing interracial marriage.

Kennedy said he is in favor of people being able to display healthy affection without fear. He is “vehemently against” the biases of interracial relationships.

Kennedy said laws have become progressively more favorable to interracial marriage.

“There has been tremendous progress. Since 1967, states have been prohibited from impeding interracial marriage,” Kennedy said.

He went on to say that interracial marriages are steadily increasing. However, the history of bias has left a mark on people’s attitudes.

The number of marriages between whites and Asian Americans, Native Americans and Latinos has increased greatly, but the situation with African Americans is more moderate. Kennedy believes the increase is due to the past’s imprint on the two groups.

The issue of adoption is more complicated than marriage, but adoption issues have been inhibited by history as well. Although adoption laws that mandate placing children in a family of their own race have been abolished, Kennedy said there is still a large preference for race matching.

Kennedy said the reasons why people choose interracial relationships vary.

“Love’s made up of all sorts of ingredients,” he said.