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50books_poc2.20 Earl Lewis and Heidi Ardizzone, Love on Trial: An American Scandal in Black and White (2001)
In 1924 Alice Jones, a former domestic and the daughter of a cab-driver (among other things), married Leonard Rhinelander. She became the first coloured woman to be listed in the Social Register as a member of one of New York's wealthiest families.
Once the news became public, a scandal of race, class and sex broke out, and there was an annulment trial.
Earl Lewis and Heidi Ardizzone explore the trial. Interestingly, the trial transcript has disappeared so they 'read' the case through contemporary newspaper reportings. This means they are subject to the same omissions that original readers experienced. For instance, Alice and Leonard wrote letters to each other discussing their pre-marital sex, including something which was too dreadful to name in the 1920s. (One tabloid mentioned the part of the legal code which prohibited it, so either oral or anal sex).
Lewis and Ardizzone have no access at all to Alice's original words. Her testimony remains a blank - a state she continued in after they separated. The legal arrangement gave her a lifetime annuity in return for never using the Rhinelander name or speaking on the matter. She remains a cypher, at the centre of the trial, but never speaking.
It's a fascinating read.
In 1924 Alice Jones, a former domestic and the daughter of a cab-driver (among other things), married Leonard Rhinelander. She became the first coloured woman to be listed in the Social Register as a member of one of New York's wealthiest families.
Once the news became public, a scandal of race, class and sex broke out, and there was an annulment trial.
Earl Lewis and Heidi Ardizzone explore the trial. Interestingly, the trial transcript has disappeared so they 'read' the case through contemporary newspaper reportings. This means they are subject to the same omissions that original readers experienced. For instance, Alice and Leonard wrote letters to each other discussing their pre-marital sex, including something which was too dreadful to name in the 1920s. (One tabloid mentioned the part of the legal code which prohibited it, so either oral or anal sex).
Lewis and Ardizzone have no access at all to Alice's original words. Her testimony remains a blank - a state she continued in after they separated. The legal arrangement gave her a lifetime annuity in return for never using the Rhinelander name or speaking on the matter. She remains a cypher, at the centre of the trial, but never speaking.
It's a fascinating read.
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