She was 9. He was 22
The child marriage that made America pay attention — 1937
She told her parents she was going out to buy a doll.
But instead, she got married.
In 1937, in Hancock County, Tennessee, 9-year-old Eunice Winstead married 22-year-old Charlie Johns, a local tobacco farmer.
He paid a preacher one dollar to do the wedding.
He lied about her age to get a marriage license.
She was still in 4th grade.
At the time, this wasn’t against the law.
Tennessee had no rule about how young someone could be to get married.
When the news came out, people across the country were shocked.
Life magazine published pictures.
The public was outraged.
Because of this, Tennessee quickly passed a law saying you had to be at least 16 to marry.
Other states did the same.
But the new law didn’t cancel old marriages.
Eunice and Charlie stayed married.
They had nine children.
They were still together when Charlie died in 1997.
Eunice lived until 2003.
She was 75.
This isn’t something from ancient times.
This happened in America, in 1937.
And it took a 9-year-old girl to make the country finally say:
“Enough.”
Post a Comment