Against all odds: 70 Years Long Journey of Interracial Couple

Back in the 1940s, when the whole world started to face the chaos of the word war. Jake and Mary’s love started to bloom. But the love story didn’t take a simple and easy road.

This  British girl, Mary who was studying typing and shorthand at a school met Jake, a soldier from Trinidad who was in the American Air Force training in the UK. Jake and his friends contacted Mary and her friend for a chat, and Mary and her friend were very surprised by how fluent the boys can speak English very well. They hit it off, and Mary was impressed when Jake quoted Shakespeare, something she enjoyed

Because Mary and Jake had a lovely time on the first day they planned on a picnic a few weeks later. But their happiness was short-lived. while they were enjoying the time together women recognized Mary and told her father about their picnic. Her father was furious and forbade her from seeing Jake anymore.

Even though the father stood as a huge obstacle, the couple never gave up. After Jake moved to Trinidad they started to send each other love letters sharing their day to day life. A few years later Jake returned to the UK as he wanted to follow a higher paying career.

In 1948 as Mary turned 19 Jake proposed to her. And she said yes. Since Mary was about to marry a black person Mary’s father kicked her out of the house, disapproving of her decision. Mary left the father’s house with nothing but a small bag. They got married without any support from Mary’s family

The first few years of married life were difficult for Mary. She was very surprised how the British society ostracized the couple. As people started to point at the couple and stare at them, Mary and Jake started to feel very uncomfortable.

The couple planned to live in Birmingham and had trouble finding a place to live because landlords didn’t want Jake, as a tenant. Jake also couldn’t find a job because people didn’t think it was safe for him to work in offices with white women. Without any money or friends, the couple was broke.

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To make everything worse after being pregnant for 8 months Mary gave birth to a still born. The heartbroken couple never tried to have another baby afterward.

But things started to get better gradually. Mary got a teaching job and ended up as a deputy head teacher and Jake started to work in a factory, then went on working in a post office.

Without the support of their families, the couple started to make friends on their own. But it wasn’t as easy as they thought because many people discriminated against them and treated them unfairly just because they belonged to different races.

Mary’s father passed away when Mary turned 30. Even though they reconciled, her father never approved of her decision to marry Jake.

Mary and Jake celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary a little while ago. Jake feels lucky to have met and married Mary, but it makes him sad that people didn’t accept them back then. Jake tells young black people today that they’re fortunate because things were really tough when he first came to the UK. He remembers being treated badly every day, like when a man on a bus touched him and made a rude comment. Jake couldn’t even work in an office because people thought it wasn’t safe for a black man to be around white women.

Mary and Jake celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary a little while ago. Jake feels lucky to have met and married Mary, but it makes him sad that people didn’t accept them back then. Jake tells young black people today that they’re fortunate because things were really tough when he first came to the UK. He remembers being treated badly every day, like when a man on a bus touched him and said he was trying to take the dirt off his neck. Jake couldn’t even work in an office because people thought it wasn’t safe for a black man to be around white women .

Even though they have faced lots of discrimination and obstacles Jake and Mary stayed together through the thick and thin. Jake takes care of the cooking except only when guests who follow a kosher diet join for supper. Mary is suffering from mild Alzheimer’s disease which causes her to memory loss. Jake is always there to remind her to take her medicines. They stick together and take care of each other no matter what.