KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- According to new data released by the Pew Research Center, 15 percent of all new marriages in the United States in 2010 were of mixed race or ethnicity. That is double the amount in 1980.

Among all newlyweds in 2010, the study found that 9 percent of Whites, 17 percent of Blacks, 26 percent of Latinos, and 28 percent of Asians living in the United States married outside their race.

It also found that Asian and White newlyweds between the years of 2008 to 2010 have significantly higher annual incomes than any other pairing. In addition, White male newlyweds who had an Asian, Hispanic, or Black spouse had higher combined earnings than White newlyweds whose spouse was White. Finally, the study  found that interracial marriages appeared to be more prevalent in the west with one in five newlyweds living in western states marrying someone of a different race between 2008 to 2010.

For this story, we interviewed Janie and Burt Picht, of Kirksville, who tell us what it was like to marry outside their race before it was legal.

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Burt Picht said he fell in love with his wife of 45 years when they were in college in Des Moines. They worked in the same shopping center and after meeting, he began giving her rides to work and then, they said the relationship "developed."

"She looked like a little princess," said Burt Picht. "People I worked with said she looked like a China doll."

After Janie and Burt fell in love and decided to get married, there was one problem. They had to obtain a marriage license. Back in 1966, interracial marriages were banned in several states across the nation.

"Interracial marriage was illegal in Missouri. Since she was Japanese, we could not get a license here," said Burt Picht.

"I didn't say anything then because I was kind of shocked," said Janie Picht.

" We both were," said Burt Picht. 

"I walked away and I'm going , man this is unreal. Are we living in the Dark Ages?" said Janie Picht.

That was their reactions when they were denied a marriage license in Kirksville, where they were planning to live because Burt had received a job there as a store manager. After being denied the license, the couple tried again in Polk County, Iowa; there, they said they had no problems exchanging their vows in the courthouse amongst close friends.

But, the marriage license was not the only obstacle. Janie said she had to impress Burt's mother, who was not too fond of the marriage at first; she also had to impress her own mother, who was a second generation Japanese living in Hawaii, where Janie grew up.

"She wasn't nasty or anything. It's just the idea I think," said Janie Picht.  "She just felt like she was inferior and you shouldn't marry anybody higher. She felt that they, white people, were way up here and I was way down here and that's not right."

After the couple worked out the kinks, they said they lived happily ever after in Kirksville. Their home now is dubbed "Serenity Acres." They raised their only daughter here in the Heartland, Nancy Picht. Janie said after a few unsuccessful attempts, she gave up on teaching her daughter Japanese early on, and has for the most part, has done away with her own Japanese traditions. 

The Pichts said their marriage has survived four decades because they're laid back, and have learned to adjust to each other's ways.

"I don't think everybody should get married interracially," said Janie Picht.  "If you can't adjust to things, if you have a path like this and that's the only way you know how to live- you have no business doing that. Each nationality has something that's you can call it-idiosyncrasies- so you know you have to learn to adjust. If you can't adjust, then you have no business doing it because you won't get along."

The ban on interracial marriages was ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1967.