A Revelation Tore Apart Her Fairy-Tale Marriage, and Shocked the Nation
A Revelation Tore Apart Her Fairy-Tale Marriage, and Shocked the Nation
Rhinelander v. Rhinelander was one of the most scandalous trials of the Jazz Age. 100 years later, it reads as a tragedy about the country’s original sin.
Unlocked link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/magazine/rhinelander-trial-interracial-marriage.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9k8.cS-5.Td8dokNd6Ht5&smid=url-share
-snip-
The young man was not James Smith. He was Leonard Kip Rhinelander, often known as Kip, scion of one of New York’s oldest dynasties. The Rhinelanders arrived in America in 1686, began buying land and eventually became second only to the Astors as owners of New York City real estate. By the 1920s, their holdings were worth nearly $100 million, or $1.6 billion in today’s money. The Rhinelanders were known for guarding their bloodline as fiercely as their wealth.
The young woman was Alice Jones, the daughter of two former servants on an English estate who emigrated to America in 1891. She lived with her parents in a modest alley house in New Rochelle and worked as a housemaid and laundress.
The lawyer immediately separated Leonard and Alice. Soon Leonard’s father, Philip Rhinelander, determined to avert a potential mésalliance, sent him far away. But during what would become a two-year exile, Leonard and Alice exchanged more than 700 letters pledging their love and loyalty and secretly became engaged. Once Leonard turned 21, he hurried back to New Rochelle, and on Oct. 14, 1924, he and Alice married without his father’s knowledge and began living quietly and happily as Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Rhinelander. Their quiet happiness lasted one month — until Nov. 13, 1924, when an article appeared on the front page of New Rochelle’s local paper.
The headline read: “Rhinelanders’ Son Marries Daughter of a Colored Man.”
-snip-
?quality=75&auto=webp
= new reply since forum marked as read
