One of the more perplexing wedding photos in Melrose history was shot at 15 Howard Street on September 9, 1926. It was the wedding of Helen Knight, who lived in this house with her mother Cora, and Woodford Harris, who lived at 418 Lebanon Street. To show their belief in “international brotherhood,” they compiled a kind of human menagerie to serve as their wedding party, including “a Hebrew,” “a Spanish,” “a Japanese,” and “a Negress.”
The Black woman in this photo was Willie Kethleen Hunter, and she is most likely the person with the same name found in the U.S. Census living at Marshall, Texas in 1930. The connection between Marshall and Melrose is probably the officiant of this wedding, the Rev. Frederick D. Emerich, who was a leader in the American Missionary Association, a largely Congregational group that had been conducting missions to the American South since Reconstruction. One of their longstanding missions was at Marshall. Helen Knight was the daughter of a Congregational clergyman; did she meet Willie Hunter when she was on mission? It’s possible.
What is undeniable is the racial hierarchy at play in her wedding theme. Helen and her Melrose friends were labeled as “American”; Willie Hunter, despite being from America, was “a negro.” Helen was well-meaning, and was trying to celebrate diversity. Nonetheless, she asserted her own white, Protestant background as the true “American” identity.
The marriage of Helen and Woodford resulted in the birth of a daughter about a year after this photo was taken. She is now 93 and lives in Virginia.
#blackhistorymonth #melrosema
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