{"id":51396,"date":"2017-02-05T19:38:59","date_gmt":"2017-02-05T19:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=51396"},"modified":"2017-02-06T15:09:15","modified_gmt":"2017-02-06T15:09:15","slug":"a-family-that-pushed-racial-boundaries-through-generations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=51396","title":{"rendered":"A Family That Pushed Racial Boundaries Through Generations"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Family That Pushed Racial Boundaries Through Generations<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a>
\n2017-01-27<\/p>\n

Caitlin Dickerson<\/strong><\/a>, National Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\nFrom left: Blake, Jared, Bryan and Deborah Treadwell, photographed in Eastham, Mass<\/a>.
\nCredit Erik Jacobs for The New York Times<\/em> <\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

When Lizzie Connor kissed her husband goodbye and hopped on a train at Grand Central Depot<\/a>, The New York Times<\/em> took note. An article<\/a> written about the couple in 1885 was not a wedding announcement, but a news story that noted a serious peculiarity at the time.<\/p>\n

Ms. Connor was white; her husband, Titus Poole, was black. And we believe that the article, headlined \u201cMarried to a Negro<\/a>,\u201d was one of the newspaper\u2019s earliest mentions of an interracial couple. Four generations later, the couple\u2019s descendants have drawn the attention, and sometimes scorn, of outsiders because of several boundary-defying unions that followed. Today, they have roots that are black, white and Native American.<\/p>\n

It appears the writer of the article did not interview the Pooles, but instead retraced their steps across southern New York State<\/a> over several days, stringing together a dispatch that reads like a gossip column, with bits of information, like Mr. Poole\u2019s \u201chandsome suit of broadcloth, with white vest, white necktie, and buff kid gloves,\u201d from those who had observed the couple. The article also misspelled Mr. Poole\u2019s surname and misreported the couple\u2019s ages.<\/p>\n

Even more rare than their interracial relationship was the Pooles\u2019 adoption of a white baby girl, named Lillian. \u201cSimply unheard-of,\u201d is how E. Wayne Carp<\/a>, an emeritus history professor at Pacific Lutheran University, recently described the adoption, which he called a \u201cone-in-a-million case,\u201d because of the \u201craging racism against mix-race married couples\u201d at the time…<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

…Bryan Treadwell, the Pooles\u2019 great-grandson, now 68, says he identifies racially as \u201cother.\u201d He hadn\u2019t known until The Times tracked him down last year that his great-grandparents were an interracial couple, but he did know that Lillian Poole, his white grandmother (and the Pooles\u2019 adopted daughter), defied racial mores by marrying Harold Treadwell Sr., who was part black and part Native American. They gave birth to Mr. Treadwell\u2019s father, Harold Marvin Treadwell Jr., in 1925…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Family That Pushed Racial Boundaries Through Generations The New York Times 2017-01-27 Caitlin Dickerson, National Reporter From left: Blake, Jared, Bryan and Deborah Treadwell, photographed in Eastham, Mass. Credit Erik Jacobs for The New York Times When Lizzie Connor kissed her husband goodbye and hopped on a train at Grand Central Depot, The New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,414,459,8,20],"tags":[26132,26130,26131,26138,26126,2640,2327,26133],"class_list":["post-51396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-family","category-history","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-bryan-treadwell","tag-caitlin-dickerson","tag-deborah-treadwell","tag-e-wayne-carp","tag-lizzie-connor","tag-new-york-times","tag-the-new-york-times","tag-titus-poole"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51396"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51406,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51396\/revisions\/51406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}