SHE WAS KICKED OUT BY HER FAMILY FOR MARRYING A BLACK MAN – NOW THEY ARE CELEBRATING 70 YEARS TOGETHER

Last year, Jake and Mary Jacobs celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary, marking a significant milestone in their journey together. Their enduring love story has triumphed over numerous challenges.

Mary, a white woman, and Jake, a black man, met in 1940s Britain, a time when interracial relationships were rare and often frowned upon. Despite living in a city, Jake was one of the few black men around.

It would have been easy for Mary to walk away, but she was deeply in love and determined to be with Jake, even after her father warned her against it.

“When I told my father I was going to marry Jake, he said, ‘If you marry that man, you will never set foot in this house again.’”

The couple met when Jake came over from Trinidad during the war. They attended the same technical college, where Mary was taking typing and shorthand lessons, and Jake was training with the Air Force.

Mary, who lived in Lancashire, and Jake began chatting, and she was impressed by his knowledge of Shakespeare. Jake and his friend invited Mary and her friend for a picnic, where they were seen by a lady who reported Mary to her father. Shocked, her father banned her from seeing Jake.

When Jake returned to Trinidad, they continued to write to each other. A few years later, he came back to the U.K. for better job opportunities and surprised Mary with a marriage proposal. She was 19 and accepted, but her family disapproved and threw her out.

“I left with only one small suitcase to my name. No family came to our registry office wedding in 1948.”

Mary said that while her father was horrified at the idea of her marrying a black man, she didn’t realize the rest of society felt the same way.