The one drop rule is absolutely central to this conversation. Whether or not she was dark-skinned was not why she had threats from the KKK, it’s the fact that her complexion and facial features suggest black ancestry that made her a target.
One sixteenth black was still legally black in many States, and Tennessee, where they lived, was the first place to codify this. You’re not wrong that her Sicilian heritage could have given her this complexion, but if her Black heritage was proven, as small as 1/16th might be, it would have made their marriage illegal under miscegenation laws. So he had a vested interest in keeping it quiet for both their sakes. He’s still progressive and brave for embarking on such a relationship, if indeed be did know of her heritage
The one drop rule is absolutely central to this conversation. Whether or not she was dark-skinned was not why she had threats from the KKK, it’s the fact that her complexion and facial features suggest black ancestry that made her a target.
One sixteenth black was still legally black in many States, and Tennessee, where they lived, was the first place to codify this. You’re not wrong that her Sicilian heritage could have given her this complexion, but if her Black heritage was proven, as small as 1/16th might be, it would have made their marriage illegal under miscegenation laws. So he had a vested interest in keeping it quiet for both their sakes. He’s still progressive and brave for embarking on such a relationship, if indeed be did know of her heritage