When Georgia-bred Ellen Axson married Woodrow Wilson in 1885—she was then 25, he was 28—she shared her husband’s view that “marriage between white people and negroes” was “disgusting.” Years later, as First Lady, she disapproved of white and Black federal employees sharing lunch tables, opposed women voting, and deemed suffragists “female cranks.” Though their daughters supported suffrage, she demurred. This photograph was taken in 1912, shortly before she entered the White House.
Source photograph: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Date: 1912
When Georgia-bred Ellen Axson married Woodrow Wilson in 1885—she was then 25, he was 28—she shared her husband’s view that “marriage between white people and negroes” was “disgusting.” Years later, as First Lady, she disapproved of white and Black federal employees sharing lunch tables, opposed women voting, and deemed suffragists “female cranks.” Though their daughters supported suffrage, she demurred. This photograph was taken in 1912, shortly before she entered the White House.
Source photograph: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Date: 1912