Americans with Sub-Saharan African ancestry for historical reasons: slavery, partus sequitur ventrem, one-eighth law, the one-drop rule of 20th-century legislation, have frequently been classified as black (historically) or African American, even if they have significant European American or Native American ancestry. As slavery became a racial caste, those who were enslaved and others of any African ancestry were classified by what is termed "hypodescent" according to the lower status ethnic group. <answer>Many of majority European ancestry and appearance "married white" and assimilated into white society</answer> for its social and economic advantages, such as generations of families identified as Melungeons, now generally classified as white but demonstrated genetically to be of European and sub-Saharan African ancestry.
How did many multiracial Americans attain social and economic advantages?
Many of majority European ancestry and appearance "married white" and assimilated into white society