17 June 2010

50 years of American marriages

I find this graph to be particularly interesting because my grandfather, a staunch full-blooded Norwegian, was genuinely disturbed when my aunt chose to marry a Swede in the 1940, and only grudgingly permitted it.  Some years later, when I was a child, another uncle kept his even more radical marriage (to a Catholic!) secret from everyone else in the family for many years.

Now, my generation of the family has I think four interracial/interethnic marriages and one same-sex union, and no one thinks twice about any of them.

All this change within one lifetime.

Chart via The Daily Dish.

5 comments:

  1. gbradleyJune 17, 2010 at 10:07 PM

    That is a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 18, 2010 at 4:08 AM

    I have noticed you type "noone" throughout your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MinnesotastanJune 18, 2010 at 12:16 PM

    29 times, actually. I don't know when I lapsed into that error - obviously many years ago.

    Fixed. 29 times.

    Thanks.

    Stan

    ReplyDelete
  4. BarbwireJune 18, 2010 at 10:14 PM

    When we lived in Stoughton WI, the big celebration was not 4th of July, it was Settende Mai (sp?). Most of the population was of Norwegian descent. I was told that there's only one thing dumber than a dumb Norwegian--a smart Swede. I understand in Minnesota, it's the other way around.

    Seriously, my family is mixed, which only enriches us all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ShayJune 19, 2010 at 10:47 AM

    "Ten thousand Swedes
    Ran through the weeds,
    Chased by one Norwegian..."

    I distinctly remember picking up the notion back in the mid-late 60's when I was a prisoner of a Catholic grade school, that dating one of the boys from the Lutheran school in town would lead to drinking, smoking, and probably sex.

    ReplyDelete