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By Terri Schlichenmeyer, February 2018 Issue. You’re not in any hurry. The ring’s on your finger, the engagement was just announced, and you both feel like you’ve got plenty of time. Now’s your chance to enjoy the process of getting married. Here’s your opportunity to plan the future. But Wedlocked: The Perils of Marriage Equality by Katherine Franke asks the question: why marry at all? When President George Washington died, his will stipulated that his slaves be given their freedom when his wife, Martha, who inherited them, would die. This, Franke says, accidentally “put a price on” Martha’s head but moreover, it was an acknowledgment on Washington’s part that shows one complexity of slavery: marriage between the Washington slaves meant that freeing his without freeing hers could break up families. This issue, and others before and after the Civil War, illustrates how “many of the experiences of African Americans held out a message to the same-sex marriage movement today.” Wedlocked: The Perils of Marriage Equality by Katherine Franke. New York University Press, 2015 | $26. Throughout American history, Franke says, the “rules” of marriage for non-white or same-sex individuals hid a double-edged sword of enhanced rights and enforced matrimonial laws complicated [...]
