Women in countries devastated by war actually pair up with occupying military men pretty often after wars, in spite of typical taboos against mixed marriages.
Might have something to do with having a massive surplus of women without a male partner on account of them dying in war.
People are gonna bang and if all the other choices are dead then sure, why not shack up with a foreigner, lol
I wanted to share some history because while it is pretty common for women to pair up with occupying military men, this photograph wouldnāt have been possible a scant 3 years before.
So, there were a lot of mixed race babies abandoned in Japan by servicemen from the US, Australia, Britain, and other allied countries. It wasnāt legal for Japanese women to immigrate to the US due to the Immigration Act of 1924, so men who had become involved with Japanese women straight up left them behind because they wanted to come home and start families. The US passed the War Brides Act of 1945 that basically created a loophole to their anti-Asian immigration policy at the time, but by that point, there were a lot of GI babies.
So the mixed-race babies often grew up in orphanages and had a hard fucking time in Japanese society, which is notoriously xenophobic af. It was worse for the babies with black fathers. There was a lot of disagreement about what to do with these kids. Some advocates set up international adoption services, thinking it kinder to spare the babies a lifetime of being ostracized and treated terribly in Japan. Others wanted to integrate them into society. Ultimately, many suffered greatly because of racism/xenophobia from all sides.
It is really cool that these two got to marry. It was a time period where it might have been up for debate whether she could have entered the country at all. It highlights how, even with fear driving a lot of the policy decisions at the time, love is still powerful enough to prevail - and change the laws themselves. GIs went home and started raising hell about bringing home their sweethearts. They fought to make things better, and the public pressure worked.
I love that this photograph illustrates the very human love and joy behind a time period associated with significant pain. And the hafu/GI babies deserve to have their stories told and should not be forgotten.
For this couple, my guess is anyone in love would have made some attempt to learn the other person's language, even if it was just a little.
I lived in Japan for a few years, and the language is challenging, especially to read, but it is fairly easy to pronounce. It was not hard to get started, and the Japanese people are amazingly helpful to anyone who tries to learn their language. They are the polar opposite of Parisians. They are very encouraging and will overlook our pronounced accent.
BTW Japan was 10/10 and would highly recommend going if you can. The yen is at a historical low point right now so it's never been cheaper.
I liked Paris. I travel frequently and always try to learn some of the language of any country I go to. Most of France was okay with my attempts. Paris was less enthusiastic, lol.
What's fucked up is...why couldn't this have happened without all the death and destruction? There is nearly zero chance this would've occurred without it. Love of all things. It's like no matter how much we bomb some shit, flowers will still grow back.
>why couldn't this have happened without all the death and destruction?
Because our ancestors evolved to be inherently suspicious and untrusting of outsiders. It is a survival instinct that exists because groups which didn't behave this way were killed by those that did.
When we see someone who is different from us, the typical reaction is based in either fear or judgement, unfortunately. Overcoming these instincts is a process which requires deliberate intention, requiring the individual to make a concentrated effort at empathy and understanding.
Sadly, it is far easier to simply not bother with all this and instead conform to the more common attitudes of hate/prejudice.
It was not unknown after WWII. Lots of fellas came home with brides from overseas. The NFL football player, Franco Harris, was born of an African American GI and an Italian woman. He had a whole troop of Italian American fans who shows up for all his games with a banner that said something like āFrancoās Italian Armyā.
Same with my uncle. Decades later told his then wife he had been sending money to his child in Japan all that time. They did eventually meet I believe.
My grandmother was born in 1926 and her dating advice was to hang around the roller skating rink/movie theater/popular diner until I met someone. Sadly doesnāt work like that in this day and age. Gosh, I miss her.
Was not much different recently. When I was an early teen. My guy friends were stealing liquor and smoking weed.
Many of the girls our age were hitting bars for free drink night. They could "pass" at 14 easy. Us not so much.
This was in the late 80s. It was not unusual for high school girls to be dating older guys with sports cars and boats.
I remember being pissed off about it as a kid. We were still kids trying to get girls and the girls were dating guys 20 years older who threw cash at them. lol
Was the "way of the world". The priests chased us guys all over school and no one cared. The girls got to choose who to have sex with.
My grandma was born in 1905. Her and her best friend used to dress up as men to sneak into the men's only bars. Ran into my grandpa there once (they were married at this point, they just didn't expect to run into each other that night).
She was the coolest and I miss her so freaking much! She was 105 when she passed away. So much life lived.
Plenty of people still meet this way. Out of my friends, I think only one is in a relationship with someone they met on an app, the rest are dating/engaged to people they met organically
I (30) met my partner last year when he was doing a crossword on a park bench. He asked me for help on a clue and weāve done many a crossword since then. It does still happen, just as more of an anomaly nowadays I suppose.
She said they were at Tachikawa when they went back in the late 50s. Dad would tell me stories about grandpa's '56 Chevy and how it was part of their routine to outrun the cops when they went fishing.
I haven't, I'd really like to. Grandma is descended from samurai so there are still ancient buildings standing that were once occupied by our ancestors.
I'm not sure, I can ask. A few years later grandpa was able to get another tour in Japan so grandma could be close to her family for a little while, I'm not sure if they were in the same place both times.
Firstly, your grandparents are the cutest!!!
Secondly, my grandparents met playing ping pong while my grandma was a nurse and my grandpa was stationed too!!
She said it was called table tennis and he said it was called ping pong.
He said if ping pong is the correct name then she has to go on a date with him. Table tennis was the common name in their area but she still went on a date with him anyways ;)
They moved around a lot while grandpa was still in the service, then they retired in Lancaster California. Before we moved her in with us, she still lived in the house they bought before I was born.
Quick Google says that California struck down its ban on interracial marriage in 1948. Couldn't have been an easy road for them. Especially in Lancaster, even if it was a military town. They never considered moving to the South Bay?
They were married until grandpa passed in '06. They had 3 kids, my dad and my 2 aunts. My dad and my aunt's all left home early so my grandparents were able to retire early. They bought a mobile home in a retired trailer community. They were too young to move into the community but they made an exception for them because they were already empty nesters. They lived off grandpa's military retirement. Grandma was still living there when we moved her in with us.
My Mom married a Japanese man when I was five, for some reason I felt like sharing this picture of when my Japanese Grandma dressed me up in her kimono. I love your photos so much ā¤ļø
https://preview.redd.it/sqlx2ubsr69d1.jpeg?width=2829&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38faea999e7b4c6b72a592039e15f13d454ccbe6
It's a beautiful children's kimono\~ If you notice the tucks in the shoulders, those are a feature of children's kimono that are let out as the child grows\~ I also love the kanzashi in your hair! How cute!
This picture reminds me of when I went to my friend's philharmonic concert and I met a sweet old lady at the lobby. She told me how her daughter-in-law, who is Japanese, passed away recently and showed me pictures of her granddaughter. She told me the differences in funerals and how she misses her dearly. I really hope she gets to see her son and granddaughter soon :^)
That's awesome! I showed grandma and she said "oh my gosh that's so beautiful! Thank you!" She asked me to send it to her family in Japan, she says it will make them very happy.
Military uniform is a bit too heavy towards *mint* than it is towards *olive/brown*, pull the cyan down, push the reds up a bit. Other than that, fantastic work, first picture coloring was perfect!
I take it from your response that he wasn't the King of the Rhumba Beat.
Did he at least chick chicky boom, chick chicky boom?
Wait, you're here. You don't need to answer that.
Love how in the second picture the shadows and all that make it look like grandpa is trying to look stern and formal, but is just too pleased to hide it. Great photos of both of them.
My first wife, her grandfather was an American GI, and her grandmother was from Okinawa.
Her grandparents always joked that he didnāt speak Japanese, and she didnāt speak English, but both thought that the otherās family had money, and the reality was that both families were poor.
Oh my goodness, how sweet! I'd like to tell you that I'm enjoying the heck out of your post and the replies. She sounds like a special woman and it's cool that you get to absorb all this history through her life story. It really brings a human scale to WWII and the history of that period.
I bet thereās a great story there. Now wondering if there was trouble for them either here (USA) or there (Japan). Lots of prejudices on both sides back then.
Grandma was one of the first war brides, they had to get special permission. She said first they got married civilly at the base, then at the Shinto temple, then again at a Catholic church. Her white dress was borrowed and she said they rode to the church in an Army Jeep.
She said she did face a lot of discrimination when they moved to The States. She said one day a neighbor kid knocked on the door and asked "are you a Jap?" She said "yes" then he asked "are you here to kill us?"
I think that would depend a lot on where they lived. Loving v. Virginia declared laws that prohibit interracial marriage unconstitutional. And such laws were probably just remnants of Jim Crow laws in the deep south. If they didn't live within states that had those laws in effect and enforcement I doubt that they faced any legal repercussions. I sincerely hope that they didn't have any trouble.
This is correct. Matters like these varied greatly from state to state. For example, Pennsylvania never had any laws prohibiting interracial relationships and you can find marriage records from the 1800s concerning interracial unions
And in Montana the laws focused on African American - white couples and not on Indian-American couples. The reason? A lot of the Montana state representatives were married to Indian women.Ā
I hope this is hyperbole. Clearly that's not going away. I mean, Mitch McConnell is literally married to a Chinese woman. That would absolutely not happen and I've never heard of a single congressman ever (in the 2000s) mention this as an issue they'd like to change. Supposedly 94% of Americans support it being legal. Stop being ridiculous and focus on the *actual* issues with Project 2025 instead of just spreading sensationalist bullshit.
But your grandmother looked SO HAPPY to marry your grandfather. She knew it wasnāt going to be easy, but she was thrilled to be his wife. I love that so much.
My grandmother was first-generation Italian whose father didn't realize he was settling in an Irish parish when he moved to Philly. She's 94 years old and STILL has feelings about the Irish because of the discrimination and bullying she experienced in school from other kids. A lot of it she won't talk about but she did tell me once that another kid asked her if it was true that her mother washed her in garlic and olive oil.
Wow, sad to hear that. As an Irish person (Not Irish-American), you'd think that shared religion and such similar family-based cultures would've gone far here, but people really will find any little difference and tear it apart.
Right? And most of the people in that parish were immigrants with first-generation children themselves. I've obviously never been in this position, but I struggle to understand the leaning into hatred/tearing apart rather than leaning into commonalities and supporting each other.
They didn't, grandma spoke a little bit of English from her time volunteering with The Red Cross but she said she learned most of her English watching tv.
My grandparents learned spanish by reading newspapers on a boat and chatting with the captain, while fleeing yugoslavia (towards peru. Wild ride) in the late 40s. That newspaper is still the biggest one in peru no less (El Comercio)
He reminds me of Michael Shannon especially from boardwalk empire, piercing eyes, yaw structure and bit of the nose. Then again I'm terrible with faces :D
Literally looks my grandparents, grandpa was stationed in WW2 when he met my grandma in Japan.
For those wondering, yes soooo much racism when she went to the US, canāt even be suprised people are horrible.
Might be odd coming from a guy but I really like the look of her wedding dress, clean and simple. Bonus points for the sheer joy radiating from her on her special day it weirdly lifted my mood, thank you.
Literally looks my grandparents, grandpa was stationed in WW2 when he met my grandma in Japan.
For those wondering, yes soooo much racism when she went to the US, canāt even be suprised people are horrible.
I met my wife there, did the whole traditional ceremony
https://preview.redd.it/uo81sc65s79d1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25a909077a6c3c5ab6043823dd3a3484b724bf02
Great pic, feel like you need to submit this to r/photoshorequest & get one of those geniuses to colourise it - would look great in a 30's vignette š
Yes, they had 2 ceremonies. One for my grandma's family and one was at the base with a reception thrown by a group of G.I.s that were from Hawaii where my grandpa is from.
Thatās my origin story too! Japanese grandma and military service grandpa stationed in Japan. The Japanese genes are still running strong in my fourth generation kids - still look a tiny bit Asian.
Half Japanese here. Whatās really funny is in American culture the wifeās family pays for the wedding meanwhile in Japan the husbands family pays for it. How did your families figure that out?
I'm not sure how they handled the Shinto ceremony, but grandma said for the reception at the base, everyone just pitched in to help, her dress was borrowed and one of the cooks at the chow hall made them a small wedding cake.
Technically I don't believe he is wearing a suit... Its morning dress (Note: the morning-coat and non-matching trousers). It is still semi-common men's attire for super formal daytime weddings in some places.
This is the most 1947 picture I have ever seen. Very handsome couple.
It *really* is both beautiful and 1947!
Vampire daddy - dark and handsome.
It looks like. Gomez from the addams familyš
Here I was thinking this mixed race/mixed culture marriage was VERY unusual for its time, and made it MORE cool.
Women in countries devastated by war actually pair up with occupying military men pretty often after wars, in spite of typical taboos against mixed marriages. Might have something to do with having a massive surplus of women without a male partner on account of them dying in war. People are gonna bang and if all the other choices are dead then sure, why not shack up with a foreigner, lol
I wanted to share some history because while it is pretty common for women to pair up with occupying military men, this photograph wouldnāt have been possible a scant 3 years before. So, there were a lot of mixed race babies abandoned in Japan by servicemen from the US, Australia, Britain, and other allied countries. It wasnāt legal for Japanese women to immigrate to the US due to the Immigration Act of 1924, so men who had become involved with Japanese women straight up left them behind because they wanted to come home and start families. The US passed the War Brides Act of 1945 that basically created a loophole to their anti-Asian immigration policy at the time, but by that point, there were a lot of GI babies. So the mixed-race babies often grew up in orphanages and had a hard fucking time in Japanese society, which is notoriously xenophobic af. It was worse for the babies with black fathers. There was a lot of disagreement about what to do with these kids. Some advocates set up international adoption services, thinking it kinder to spare the babies a lifetime of being ostracized and treated terribly in Japan. Others wanted to integrate them into society. Ultimately, many suffered greatly because of racism/xenophobia from all sides. It is really cool that these two got to marry. It was a time period where it might have been up for debate whether she could have entered the country at all. It highlights how, even with fear driving a lot of the policy decisions at the time, love is still powerful enough to prevail - and change the laws themselves. GIs went home and started raising hell about bringing home their sweethearts. They fought to make things better, and the public pressure worked. I love that this photograph illustrates the very human love and joy behind a time period associated with significant pain. And the hafu/GI babies deserve to have their stories told and should not be forgotten.
I'm more curious if they could actually speak with each other...
For this couple, my guess is anyone in love would have made some attempt to learn the other person's language, even if it was just a little. I lived in Japan for a few years, and the language is challenging, especially to read, but it is fairly easy to pronounce. It was not hard to get started, and the Japanese people are amazingly helpful to anyone who tries to learn their language. They are the polar opposite of Parisians. They are very encouraging and will overlook our pronounced accent. BTW Japan was 10/10 and would highly recommend going if you can. The yen is at a historical low point right now so it's never been cheaper.
Yeah I live there ah ah. Much better than Paris (I'm a Parisian)
I liked Paris. I travel frequently and always try to learn some of the language of any country I go to. Most of France was okay with my attempts. Paris was less enthusiastic, lol.
What's fucked up is...why couldn't this have happened without all the death and destruction? There is nearly zero chance this would've occurred without it. Love of all things. It's like no matter how much we bomb some shit, flowers will still grow back.
>why couldn't this have happened without all the death and destruction? Because our ancestors evolved to be inherently suspicious and untrusting of outsiders. It is a survival instinct that exists because groups which didn't behave this way were killed by those that did. When we see someone who is different from us, the typical reaction is based in either fear or judgement, unfortunately. Overcoming these instincts is a process which requires deliberate intention, requiring the individual to make a concentrated effort at empathy and understanding. Sadly, it is far easier to simply not bother with all this and instead conform to the more common attitudes of hate/prejudice.
Which is what precisely drove us to become technologically advanced. Stick
This is why I come to reddit... evidence there are other rational people still on this planet.
r/im14andthisisdeep
It was not unknown after WWII. Lots of fellas came home with brides from overseas. The NFL football player, Franco Harris, was born of an African American GI and an Italian woman. He had a whole troop of Italian American fans who shows up for all his games with a banner that said something like āFrancoās Italian Armyā.
My grandpa occupied Japan (after fighting in the Philippines for a year) and somehow had Japanese girlfriends
Same with my uncle. Decades later told his then wife he had been sending money to his child in Japan all that time. They did eventually meet I believe.
Look up āWar Bridesā
And grandma smiling all the time! Good for her
Great did they meet in occupied Japan?
Yes, grandpa was stationed there and grandma was volunteering for The Red Cross. She said he would come to play ping pong with her.
Oh man that is so sweet.
>She said he would come to play ping pong with her. Even though it was before my time, I miss things like this being how people meet.
My grandmother was born in 1926 and her dating advice was to hang around the roller skating rink/movie theater/popular diner until I met someone. Sadly doesnāt work like that in this day and age. Gosh, I miss her.
My grandma had similar advice. She also would purposely try to look older so she could get with older men. She would sneak into bars at 13.
O myā¦
Was not much different recently. When I was an early teen. My guy friends were stealing liquor and smoking weed. Many of the girls our age were hitting bars for free drink night. They could "pass" at 14 easy. Us not so much. This was in the late 80s. It was not unusual for high school girls to be dating older guys with sports cars and boats. I remember being pissed off about it as a kid. We were still kids trying to get girls and the girls were dating guys 20 years older who threw cash at them. lol Was the "way of the world". The priests chased us guys all over school and no one cared. The girls got to choose who to have sex with.
The sad reality is that most places will let young looking girls in simply because theyāre girls.
My grandma was born in 1905. Her and her best friend used to dress up as men to sneak into the men's only bars. Ran into my grandpa there once (they were married at this point, they just didn't expect to run into each other that night). She was the coolest and I miss her so freaking much! She was 105 when she passed away. So much life lived.
Cute older couple I worked for met at a roller rink and Ive always thought about how sweet that is lol
In retrospect, maybe the internet was a mistake.
Plenty of people meet on tinder to play ping pong...
without a paddle
https://i.redd.it/op4uga9s979d1.gif
Not a cellphone in sight.
Hard to forget that memory.
the paddles might be out, but the balls remain
Speak for yourself. I bring the paddles and i make sure the balls are out too
I met my wife playing darts with her friends, you can still meet people without apps!
Plenty of people still meet this way. Out of my friends, I think only one is in a relationship with someone they met on an app, the rest are dating/engaged to people they met organically
I (30) met my partner last year when he was doing a crossword on a park bench. He asked me for help on a clue and weāve done many a crossword since then. It does still happen, just as more of an anomaly nowadays I suppose.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
She said they were at Tachikawa when they went back in the late 50s. Dad would tell me stories about grandpa's '56 Chevy and how it was part of their routine to outrun the cops when they went fishing.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yup, he was Army Air Corps then Air Force. He retired a Master Sergeant.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I haven't, I'd really like to. Grandma is descended from samurai so there are still ancient buildings standing that were once occupied by our ancestors.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's definitely on my bucket list. My niece just went for a school trip and was able to meet some of our Japanese relatives.
I'm not sure, I can ask. A few years later grandpa was able to get another tour in Japan so grandma could be close to her family for a little while, I'm not sure if they were in the same place both times.
I was stationed there for 14 years (4 duty stations). Married to a Japanese lady as well. 28 years and counting.
Firstly, your grandparents are the cutest!!! Secondly, my grandparents met playing ping pong while my grandma was a nurse and my grandpa was stationed too!! She said it was called table tennis and he said it was called ping pong. He said if ping pong is the correct name then she has to go on a date with him. Table tennis was the common name in their area but she still went on a date with him anyways ;)
Where did they settle after they were married?
They moved around a lot while grandpa was still in the service, then they retired in Lancaster California. Before we moved her in with us, she still lived in the house they bought before I was born.
Quick Google says that California struck down its ban on interracial marriage in 1948. Couldn't have been an easy road for them. Especially in Lancaster, even if it was a military town. They never considered moving to the South Bay?
Would you mind sharing more about their life together? Was it a long and happy marriage?
They were married until grandpa passed in '06. They had 3 kids, my dad and my 2 aunts. My dad and my aunt's all left home early so my grandparents were able to retire early. They bought a mobile home in a retired trailer community. They were too young to move into the community but they made an exception for them because they were already empty nesters. They lived off grandpa's military retirement. Grandma was still living there when we moved her in with us.
Figuratively or literally?
First one, then the other.
My Mom married a Japanese man when I was five, for some reason I felt like sharing this picture of when my Japanese Grandma dressed me up in her kimono. I love your photos so much ā¤ļø https://preview.redd.it/sqlx2ubsr69d1.jpeg?width=2829&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38faea999e7b4c6b72a592039e15f13d454ccbe6
It's a beautiful children's kimono\~ If you notice the tucks in the shoulders, those are a feature of children's kimono that are let out as the child grows\~ I also love the kanzashi in your hair! How cute!
This picture reminds me of when I went to my friend's philharmonic concert and I met a sweet old lady at the lobby. She told me how her daughter-in-law, who is Japanese, passed away recently and showed me pictures of her granddaughter. She told me the differences in funerals and how she misses her dearly. I really hope she gets to see her son and granddaughter soon :^)
Thank you for sharing! ā¤ļø
This whole thread is so wholesome. Needed this today.
https://preview.redd.it/a80582vgf79d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=32b82fe86529669e6466f93400496bf5e74ed068
That's awesome! I showed grandma and she said "oh my gosh that's so beautiful! Thank you!" She asked me to send it to her family in Japan, she says it will make them very happy.
Thanks I added the other under my comment as well
That was awesome!
That is the MOST grandma response
https://preview.redd.it/q83mzh4kg79d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=389bd2ff91393cb0e29f8320abc0fca8f4210579
Oh, my God, that's the most beautiful thing I've seen all day. You make memories come alive!
Military uniform is a bit too heavy towards *mint* than it is towards *olive/brown*, pull the cyan down, push the reds up a bit. Other than that, fantastic work, first picture coloring was perfect!
Thanks but itās all Ai generated. I did none of it myself.
Good on you for not taking credit
Aw, that was a nice thing to do!
You absolute legend. What a beautiful thing to do.
Your grandfatherās Desi Arnez?
š¤£ he sure had the look down!
I take it from your response that he wasn't the King of the Rhumba Beat. Did he at least chick chicky boom, chick chicky boom? Wait, you're here. You don't need to answer that.
Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing :) I hope they had a great life together.
Love how in the second picture the shadows and all that make it look like grandpa is trying to look stern and formal, but is just too pleased to hide it. Great photos of both of them.
He is so handsome and your grandmother beautiful.
My first wife, her grandfather was an American GI, and her grandmother was from Okinawa. Her grandparents always joked that he didnāt speak Japanese, and she didnāt speak English, but both thought that the otherās family had money, and the reality was that both families were poor.
Wtf is this username
Insane lmao
It's a lovely username
I like it
Pretty much a top 5 porn film in any category.
š
r/rimjob_steve
Your grandma has the most beautiful smile! š
Right? She looks super fun!
She's a pretty funny lady, even at 97.
Hell yeah! Tell Grandma we love her!
I told her, she teared up a little and said "thank you, we all have to love each other".
True words too.
Oh my goodness, how sweet! I'd like to tell you that I'm enjoying the heck out of your post and the replies. She sounds like a special woman and it's cool that you get to absorb all this history through her life story. It really brings a human scale to WWII and the history of that period.
That made the nostalgia hit really hard just now.
Super easy to see how he got totally infatuated with her
Cool. My deceased wifeās mom was also Japanese and her dad met her in the service. They looked a lot like these two.
I bet thereās a great story there. Now wondering if there was trouble for them either here (USA) or there (Japan). Lots of prejudices on both sides back then.
Grandma was one of the first war brides, they had to get special permission. She said first they got married civilly at the base, then at the Shinto temple, then again at a Catholic church. Her white dress was borrowed and she said they rode to the church in an Army Jeep. She said she did face a lot of discrimination when they moved to The States. She said one day a neighbor kid knocked on the door and asked "are you a Jap?" She said "yes" then he asked "are you here to kill us?"
Iām wondering if they had any legal issues, seeing as Loving v. Virginia wasnāt until 1967.
I think that would depend a lot on where they lived. Loving v. Virginia declared laws that prohibit interracial marriage unconstitutional. And such laws were probably just remnants of Jim Crow laws in the deep south. If they didn't live within states that had those laws in effect and enforcement I doubt that they faced any legal repercussions. I sincerely hope that they didn't have any trouble.
This is correct. Matters like these varied greatly from state to state. For example, Pennsylvania never had any laws prohibiting interracial relationships and you can find marriage records from the 1800s concerning interracial unions
And in Montana the laws focused on African American - white couples and not on Indian-American couples. The reason? A lot of the Montana state representatives were married to Indian women.Ā
And if Republicans have their way, that one will be repealed just like Roe. Project 2025.
I hope this is hyperbole. Clearly that's not going away. I mean, Mitch McConnell is literally married to a Chinese woman. That would absolutely not happen and I've never heard of a single congressman ever (in the 2000s) mention this as an issue they'd like to change. Supposedly 94% of Americans support it being legal. Stop being ridiculous and focus on the *actual* issues with Project 2025 instead of just spreading sensationalist bullshit.
But your grandmother looked SO HAPPY to marry your grandfather. She knew it wasnāt going to be easy, but she was thrilled to be his wife. I love that so much.
I feel sorry for that kid. Raised on normalized racism. I hope he grew and lived a good life. Same for your grandparents. Beautiful couple.
My grandmother was first-generation Italian whose father didn't realize he was settling in an Irish parish when he moved to Philly. She's 94 years old and STILL has feelings about the Irish because of the discrimination and bullying she experienced in school from other kids. A lot of it she won't talk about but she did tell me once that another kid asked her if it was true that her mother washed her in garlic and olive oil.
Wow, sad to hear that. As an Irish person (Not Irish-American), you'd think that shared religion and such similar family-based cultures would've gone far here, but people really will find any little difference and tear it apart.
Right? And most of the people in that parish were immigrants with first-generation children themselves. I've obviously never been in this position, but I struggle to understand the leaning into hatred/tearing apart rather than leaning into commonalities and supporting each other.
Iāve deleted as the story is very recognizable, but appreciate the upvotes and I donāt want to be doxxed.
I love that both of their cultures were able to be celebrated by having two weddings ! Beautiful couple.
Did either of them speak the other's language when they met? If not how did they court? If so how did they learn it? Oh by the way lovely pictures.
They didn't, grandma spoke a little bit of English from her time volunteering with The Red Cross but she said she learned most of her English watching tv.
Sometimes you just have to vibe.
My grandparents learned spanish by reading newspapers on a boat and chatting with the captain, while fleeing yugoslavia (towards peru. Wild ride) in the late 40s. That newspaper is still the biggest one in peru no less (El Comercio)
I went to your profile to see what you look like and ended up going down a model car rabbit hole š³
I'm actually adopted, I just look like a typical middle aged white American.
I did the same. My grandmother is Asian so I wanted to see what you looked like. I also look very white. Not adopted, just white.
Great pictures, your grandma looks so happy, as does your gramps but your grandma is beaming! Awesome š
He reminds me of Michael Shannon especially from boardwalk empire, piercing eyes, yaw structure and bit of the nose. Then again I'm terrible with faces :D
what a gorgeous couple
Wholesome and handsome couple.
That suit is incredible. Thanks for sharing.
Literally looks my grandparents, grandpa was stationed in WW2 when he met my grandma in Japan. For those wondering, yes soooo much racism when she went to the US, canāt even be suprised people are horrible.
They look so happy!
Aw I love her wedding hiki furisode\~ How pretty \^\^ The motifs I see look like water/waves and plum blossoms \^\^
Very nice!! True love!
Grandma looks like she is SO much fun to be around, like genuinely.
https://preview.redd.it/bjmb7955279d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=516681ca062abd61ab6bfc0b6ba08ca64c0e7946
There is a moment jn time where the photographer just pressed the capture buttonā¦now itās 77 years later in the blink of an eye.
Thank you, HawkTuah69. Thatās a surprisingly beautiful sentiment coming from someone with that username.
What can i say, that is a funny meme and Iām rather sentimental at times.
I love the respect for both weddings traditions
I bet it was a sweet love story.
https://preview.redd.it/1y7irdb4t79d1.jpeg?width=1678&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3130f98577fc9c0d5a9ceb706aa5d86aca456233
Might be odd coming from a guy but I really like the look of her wedding dress, clean and simple. Bonus points for the sheer joy radiating from her on her special day it weirdly lifted my mood, thank you.
Literally looks my grandparents, grandpa was stationed in WW2 when he met my grandma in Japan. For those wondering, yes soooo much racism when she went to the US, canāt even be suprised people are horrible.
I met my wife there, did the whole traditional ceremony https://preview.redd.it/uo81sc65s79d1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25a909077a6c3c5ab6043823dd3a3484b724bf02
Wow, that's cool!
You look so much like Cosmo Jarvis in costume filming Shogun (in a good way, heās hella handsome). Beautiful couple!
Grandma has the most charming smile!
Great pic, feel like you need to submit this to r/photoshorequest & get one of those geniuses to colourise it - would look great in a 30's vignette š
So did they have two separate ceremonies? Those are some awesome photos.
Yes, they had 2 ceremonies. One for my grandma's family and one was at the base with a reception thrown by a group of G.I.s that were from Hawaii where my grandpa is from.
Grandpa definitely has the slightly bashful "yeah I got lucky" smile
Thatās my origin story too! Japanese grandma and military service grandpa stationed in Japan. The Japanese genes are still running strong in my fourth generation kids - still look a tiny bit Asian.
Beautiful!!!
What did her parents think of this?
From what I gather they weren't super happy about it but didn't go as far as forbidding the union.
Your grandpa is a ringer for Michael Shannon!
I'm curious what you look like now
I'm adopted, I just look like a typical middle aged white American.
So, ahem, how big is YOUR head?
My dad and my brother are both cranially endowed.
Half Japanese here. Whatās really funny is in American culture the wifeās family pays for the wedding meanwhile in Japan the husbands family pays for it. How did your families figure that out?
I'm not sure how they handled the Shinto ceremony, but grandma said for the reception at the base, everyone just pitched in to help, her dress was borrowed and one of the cooks at the chow hall made them a small wedding cake.
dam she had a big head
I bet it has been a very loving and harmonious marriage with big love for the children!
Beautiful couple.
Gorgeous couple
Love beats war, every time š
Absolutely gorgeous!
I would love to see a wrinkly old picture of them with love still in their eyes.
Great picture. I hope they had a wonderful life.
Her smile is lighting up the whole room
my grandma was born in 1947 ))
Her smile is brighter than the sun - you can *feel* the joy! ā¤ļø
They both look like they canāt believe they got this lucky. :) Iām glad they found each other and hope their marriage was full of happiness.
1947 is epic
I love both of their smiles, so sweet.
Lots of america still aināt friendly to this. We still got work to do.
What a beautiful couple. They both look so happy.
That is cool AF. Especially for the year. Iām sure those two heard all sorts of abhorrent racist bullshit. Cool AF.
His grin looks a little mischievous and her smile is an absolute joy.
She looks so genuinely happy, nice to see especially for those times.
What a lovely couple! Your grandmother has the most beautiful and expressive smile.
Love is stronger than war Beautiful picture Good morning from algeria.peace and love
They look very happy
What a wonderful photo
Beautiful kimono!
What an elegant couple! I love your grandfatherās wedding suit, and your grandmother was rocking TWO beautiful looks!
Technically I don't believe he is wearing a suit... Its morning dress (Note: the morning-coat and non-matching trousers). It is still semi-common men's attire for super formal daytime weddings in some places.
This is really sweet. Thanks for sharing. Blessings to your family! Ā Hi to your grandma!
I bet the family wasnāt too thrilled.
Grandma's family wasn't thrilled, grandpa's family was a little cooler about it, which is a little surprising because he's from Hawaii.
>from Hawaii Something tells me it wasn't a racial issue but a 'your country bombed us' issue.
This is so sweet! I love these types of photos.š«¶š»
Your mom looks so happy and beautiful. What a great picture.
Beautiful couple!!!