70 years ago, in 1954, she was kicked out because she loved a black man. Now, see how things have changed for them.
Jake and Mary Jacobs marked 70 years of a joyful marriage last year, but the journey wasn’t simple. In the 1940s in Britain, Mary, a White woman, and Jake, a Black man, lived in the same city. Jake was one of the few black men around. Even though Mary’s father told her to leave, she stayed because she was in love with Jake and was determined to be with him. “When I told my dad I was going to marry Jake, he said, ‘If you marry him, you won’t come back home.'” Mary and Jake met at a technical college where Mary was learning typing and shorthand, and Jake was training in the Air Force. They crossed paths when Jake moved from Trinidad during the war. Jake started talking to Mary, who lived in Lancashire. She liked that he understood Shakespeare. Later, Jake and his friend invited Mary and her friend to a picnic. Unfortunately, a woman on a bike saw them and told Mary’s father. He was shocked to see his daughter with black guys and forbade her from visiting him again. Jake and...