by Charles McAlpine | Nov 13, 2014 | Blog
I remember a visit to my grandmothers house when I was about 11 years old. My sister who was a couple of years older had her first boyfriend, and he was visiting with us. My mother introduced him to my grandmother, and then everyone rushed out of the kitchen to go play, except me. I stayed there lingering for a few minutes longer.., probably trying to figure out how to sneak one of her molasses cookies. My grandmother looked at my mother horrified and said “She can’t marry that boy, his family is Italian and Catholic.” I of course could not imagine how she would know this.., or even what it meant. I had not really heard of Catholic. Or if I had, I couldn’t remember what it meant. But even more than that, I remember saying “Are they getting married”? I couldn’t imagine that two 8th graders would be getting married. Where would they live? Would they have to leave school and go to work? Of course, my mothers was a little stunned and maybe amused by the reaction. She calmed my grandmother down by reminding her that they were years away from crossing that bridge. But this is how it use to be. Catholics married Catholics, Jewish married Jewish, Japanese married Japanese, Blacks married Blacks and WASP married WASP. There were not only cultural, racial and ethnic traditions and expectations around this; there had been laws! It was probably only five years before this that the Supreme Court overruled existing laws that prohibited interracial marriages. (Not that I was aware of this at the time… heck, I...
by Charles McAlpine | Nov 13, 2014 | Blog
I remember a visit to my grandmothers house when I was about 11 years old. My sister who was a couple of years older had her first boyfriend, and he was visiting with us. My mother introduced him to my grandmother, and then everyone rushed out of the kitchen to go play, except me. I stayed there lingering for a few minutes longer.., probably trying to figure out how to sneak one of her molasses cookies. My grandmother looked at my mother horrified and said “She can’t marry that boy, his family is Italian and Catholic.” I of course could not imagine how she would know this.., or even what it meant. I had not really heard of Catholic. Or if I had, I couldn’t remember what it meant. But even more than that, I remember saying “Are they getting married”? I couldn’t imagine that two 8th graders would be getting married. Where would they live? Would they have to leave school and go to work? Of course, my mothers was a little stunned and maybe amused by the reaction. She calmed my grandmother down by reminding her that they were years away from crossing that bridge. But this is how it use to be. Catholics married Catholics, Jewish married Jewish, Japanese married Japanese, Blacks married Blacks and WASP married WASP. There were not only cultural, racial and ethnic traditions and expectations around this; there had been laws! It was probably only five years before this that the Supreme Court overruled existing laws that prohibited interracial marriages. (Not that I was aware of this at the time… heck, I...
