Detroit News, March 25, 1931. Strikes me that the deathbed statement of an atheist should carry more and not less legal weight. The guy was sticking to his godless guns while staring eternity in the face, no?
Note that the “Negro” appended to Laura Wright’s name is intended to contextualize the whole scene. Had Wilbur not also been black, he would have identified as white. It was journalism’s equivalent to the “one drop” principle.
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6 Comments
They don’t identify Wilber as black, they identify Laura as black. Wilber’s race is unidentified, though I suppose it’s assumed as mixed-race couples were uncommon and probably still illegal in some states.
A mixed-race couple would definitely have been identified as such, was my point. But get this: Alabama only revoked its anti-miscegenation law in 1998: http://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/al/main03.htm
As I recall, the vote to revoke the miscegenation law only passed by 60/40.
That boggles the mind.
That’s beyond appalling.
In our time this seems very absurd, but it proves how underdeveloped society was in the 30´s. Thank evolution for progress.
And progress for evolution.