An Interracial Wedding Sparks Public Outrage
Helen Gladys Emery leaves her California home to marry a Japanese man in Tacoma, facing mobs and hostile crowds along the way.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
After ten years of happy social life in Corte Madera, California, Helen Gladys Emery and her mother have broken up their home and are traveling to Tacoma, where Miss Emery intends to wed Gushiro Aoki, formerly a dishwasher at the Emery home. Their departure was attended by nearly every person in town; although the couple was shunned by neighbors, hundreds jeered and hooted at them at the railroad station. Miss Emery and her mother were nearly mobbed, targeted by rice and decayed flowers, and required a bodyguard of newspaper reporters to reach the train. Despite the intense public hostility and coarse jests from fellow passengers, the women continue their journey north. Tacoma Mayor Linck stated he would not tolerate mob interference in Tacoma, even while expressing his own personal opposition to the marriage, noting that the couple has the right to follow their own path.
“There will be no demonstration against the Japanese and the Emery girl if they come to Tacoma to be married, for the police will not permit it.”
This 1909 report captures the violent social climate surrounding interracial relationships in the early 20th century. While the newspaper frames the event through the lens of a public spectacle, the Mayor’s stance against mob violence, despite his personal prejudices, reflects the complicated civic atmosphere of Tacoma during an era of deep racial exclusion.
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