1924 – Kip Rhinelander and Alice Jones
In 1924, Kip Rhinelander, a white young man from a wealthy New York-based family married Alice Jones who was a light-skinned mixed race African American. Even though very happy together, their marriage was cut short through various court cases. Due to pressure from society and his family, Kip was forced to sue Alice for hiding her black ancestry and deceiving him that she was white. According to his lawyer, Kip could no longer endure the pressures and social embarrassment due to being associated with a black person. To prove that she was innocent, Alice stripped in front of the Jury to show that she was black and never hid her race from Kip.
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The Jury ruled in favour of Alice who received alimony from Kip for 65 years. After the scandal, Kip and Alice remained in close contact with rumours of a continuing affair. The fact that Alice won the case however led to a new wave of confident civil rights activists who believed that Blacks could be treated fairly if they persisted. Many interracial couples began to see each other without getting married, and this helped them prevent scandals and court cases despite facing social discrimination
