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The marriage of 22-year-old '''Charlie Johns''' and nine-year-old '''Eunice Winstead''' was a [[child marriage]] that took place in the state of [[Tennessee]], United States, in January 1937.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=L. Syrett |first=Nicholas |url=https://academic.oup.com/north-carolina-scholarship-online/book/30602/chapter-abstract/258694785?redirectedFrom=fulltext |title=American Child Bride: A History of Minors and Marriage in the United States |date=2016-10-03 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4696-2953-7 |language=en |chapter=Chapter Eight. Marriage Comes Early in the Mountains: The Persistence of Child Marriage in the Rural South |doi=10.5149/northcarolina/9781469629537.003.0009}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /> The event received national attention after [[Life (magazine)|''Life'' magazine]] published an article about the union the following month.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Tsui |first=Anjali |title=Married Young: The Fight Over Child Marriage in America |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/married-young-the-fight-over-child-marriage-in-america/ |access-date=2024-07-09|publisher=[[PBS]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
The marriage of 22-year-old '''Charlie Johns''' and nine-year-old '''Eunice Winstead''' was a [[child marriage]] that took place in the state of [[Tennessee]], United States, in January 1937.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=L. Syrett |first=Nicholas |url=https://academic.oup.com/north-carolina-scholarship-online/book/30602/chapter-abstract/258694785?redirectedFrom=fulltext |title=American Child Bride: A History of Minors and Marriage in the United States |date=2016-10-03 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4696-2953-7 |language=en |chapter=Chapter Eight. Marriage Comes Early in the Mountains: The Persistence of Child Marriage in the Rural South |doi=10.5149/northcarolina/9781469629537.003.0009}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /> The event received national attention after [[Life (magazine)|''Life'' magazine]] published an article about the union the following month.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Tsui |first=Anjali |title=Married Young: The Fight Over Child Marriage in America |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/married-young-the-fight-over-child-marriage-in-america/ |access-date=2024-07-09|publisher=[[PBS]] |language=en-US}}</ref>


In response to Johns and Winstead's marriage, the state of Tennessee introduced a law setting the minimum [[Marriage age in the United States|age of marriage]] at sixteen years. Other states, including [[Minnesota]], [[Rhode Island]], and Washington D.C., introduced similar laws.<ref name=":1" /> Both parties remained married after the Tennessee law was passed,<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Fox |first=Lauren |date=2019 |title=Child Marriage in the United States |url=https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1983&context=student_scholarship |journal=Law School Student Scholarship |via=Seton Hall University repository.}}</ref> and the marriage lasted until Johns' death in 1997.<ref name=":4" /> Johns and Winstead had nine children.
In response to Johns and Winstead's marriage, the state of Tennessee introduced a law setting the minimum [[Marriage age in the United States|age of marriage]] at sixteen years. Other states, including [[Minnesota]], [[Rhode Island]], and Washington D.C., introduced similar laws.<ref name=":1" /> The couple remained married after the Tennessee law was passed,<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Fox |first=Lauren |date=2019 |title=Child Marriage in the United States |url=https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1983&context=student_scholarship |journal=Law School Student Scholarship |via=Seton Hall University repository.}}</ref> and the marriage lasted until Johns' death in 1997.<ref name=":4" /> Johns and Winstead had nine children.


== Background ==
== Background ==

Revision as of 14:31, 9 July 2024

Charlie and Eunice Johns

The marriage of 22-year-old Charlie Johns and nine-year-old Eunice Winstead was a child marriage that took place in the state of Tennessee, United States, in January 1937.[1][2][3] The event received national attention after Life magazine published an article about the union the following month.[4]

In response to Johns and Winstead's marriage, the state of Tennessee introduced a law setting the minimum age of marriage at sixteen years. Other states, including Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Washington D.C., introduced similar laws.[4] The couple remained married after the Tennessee law was passed,[5] and the marriage lasted until Johns' death in 1997.[2] Johns and Winstead had nine children.

Background

On January 19, 1937, 22-year-old tobacco farmer Charlie Johns married his 9-year-old neighbor, Eunice Winstead.[1][6] The couple was joined by Baptist preacher Walter Lamb in Sneedville, Hancock County.[1][2][4]

Johns falsified Winstead's age in order to obtain their marriage license.[7][1] At the time of their marriage, the state of Tennessee had no minimum age for marriage.[8][4] Winstead's mother had married at the age of sixteen, and her sister Ina married at thirteen.[1] Though the mothers of Johns and Winstead initially believed that Eunice was too young to marry, they ultimately decided to approve the matrimony.[9] She dropped out of school in 1937,[10] and, as of 1938, the couple still lived with Johns' parents.[11]

In December 1942, at the age of fifteen, Winstead gave birth to the couple's first child.[2][7] They subsequently had eight more children, and remained married until Johns' death in 1997. Winstead died in 2006.[2][7]

Reactions

Johns and Winstead's marriage was widely covered by American newspapers and magazines.[4] The union was reported by The Times and Life magazines, along with The New York Times. It also inspired the 1938 film Child Bride.[3]

A 1937 piece published by Life about the case displayed a picture of Winstead and Johns at their home in Sneedville.[4] In a news article published that year, The Knoxville Journal reported that "The Winstead family seems complacent over the future of the 9-year-old bride because Charlie, the bridegroom, owns 50 acres of mountain land, several mules and he's a good farmer".[1][2] Another article in Newsweek portrayed Winstead sitting on Johns' knees.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f L. Syrett, Nicholas (2016-10-03). "Chapter Eight. Marriage Comes Early in the Mountains: The Persistence of Child Marriage in the Rural South". American Child Bride: A History of Minors and Marriage in the United States. University of North Carolina Press. doi:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469629537.003.0009. ISBN 978-1-4696-2953-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f Carey, Bill (2023-10-09). "The creepy stories behind Tennessee's marriage laws". Tullahoma News. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  3. ^ a b Syrett, Nicholas L. (2014). "Imagining Rural Sexuality in the Depression Era: Child Brides, Exploitation Film, and the Winstead-Johns Marriage". American Studies Association. Archived from the original on 2017-09-19. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Tsui, Anjali. "Married Young: The Fight Over Child Marriage in America". PBS. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  5. ^ Fox, Lauren (2019). "Child Marriage in the United States". Law School Student Scholarship – via Seton Hall University repository.
  6. ^ Nivès, R. (March 1937). Enlèvement de Mineure ou Mariage Légal (in French). Police Magazine.
  7. ^ a b c Pylant, James (2020-09-28). "A Child Bride in Tennessee". Genealogy Magazine. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  8. ^ Mensah, Ebenezer (2023-09-11). "Unearthing a Forgotten Chapter: The Marriage of Eunice Winstead Johns and Charlie Johns in 1937 Tennessee". BNN. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  9. ^ E. John, Mary (2021). Child Marriage in an International Frame. Taylor & Francis. p. 75. ISBN 9781000373448.
  10. ^ "Private Lives". LIFE. Vol. 3, no. 8. Time Inc. 23 August 1937. p. 65. ISSN 0024-3019. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  11. ^ Child Bride Asks to be Let Alone (January 1938). Daily Illini.
  12. ^ Robertson, Stephen (2006). Crimes Against Children: Sexual Violence and Legal Culture in New York City, 1880-1960. University of North Carolina Press. p. 191. ISBN 9780807876480.
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