Well if you ever wanted to marry your cousin whom happened to be really cute, well you could in 1932 in Alabama because it was not illegal to marry your cousin. Any incestuous marriages back then were normal and nobody had complaints about it, so it just happened until it happened enough that everybody in town looked alike. That's wonderful isn't it? Men got to choose the women who they married and women were sent off to marry early as fifteen.
What should've happened is that she would've been at the grocery store shopping for her household skipping around in her yellow, beautiful dress and a young handsome boy would've said excuse me and started the beginning of a long lasting marriage. But no that's not how it worked back then , before the gorgeous female could've even stepped out her car to go into the store, she would already be getting married, Shameful. It's enough women in 1934 didn't even right's, but's worse it that they couldn't even marry the ones they love.
This is what i picture it as.
In 1846 Governor George N. Briggs to believe it or not wanted to study "idiot's" in the state of Massachusetts and found out that cousin marriages are responsible for death, blindness, and idiocy. Just by this one study, it led to thirteen states banning cousin marriage in the 1880's, shocking right?
Yes first cousin marriage is still allowed today all over the world even it in the United States, but it is highly not accepted for most families. You don't usually see it happen more often because there are dating websites, like E harmony, Farmer's only.com et cetera. But remember, there's always that accidental grocery store love.
Breya, that's a great fact about how cousin marriages came to be banned! The problem way back when was that it was a little more difficult to meet a heterogenous population of people. You may get out of town, and you may not. So that's where the intermarriage comes in. Legal or not, I don't think Scout is in danger of marrying HER cousin Francis; they seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. Just curious - who do you think would be responsible for making those matches? Biologically, we seek someone a little different (though with some similarities). Why wouldn't they want to marry outside the family? Surely there must be some non-ugly non-cousin available. Would the parents arrange the marriages? The groom? The bride? "Accidental grocery store love" is an awesome thought - may it happen for you!
ReplyDeleteBreya, that's a great fact about how cousin marriages came to be banned! The problem way back when was that it was a little more difficult to meet a heterogenous population of people. You may get out of town, and you may not. So that's where the intermarriage comes in. Legal or not, I don't think Scout is in danger of marrying HER cousin Francis; they seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. Just curious - who do you think would be responsible for making those matches? Biologically, we seek someone a little different (though with some similarities). Why wouldn't they want to marry outside the family? Surely there must be some non-ugly non-cousin available. Would the parents arrange the marriages? The groom? The bride? "Accidental grocery store love" is an awesome thought - may it happen for you!
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