Interracial couples faced a number of obstacles and opposition from society in 1945. The sight of Black men sitting with a white woman was deemed shocking and an occurrence that would result in couples being 'reported' to family members.
This is what happened when Albert Jacob, an RAF airman asked out a local girl on a sweet date for a picnic in the park. The tall hero who had moved to Warrington to work as an equipment assistant and who friends called 'Prince' or 'Jake' ended up being reported for the colour of his skin.
As reported by BirminghamLive, he was among those recruited from British colonies by the Royal Air Force in 1940 to help with the war effort. He then remained to help re-build post-war Britain.
It was in Warrington where Jake met his future wife Mary, a local typist. “It was like a bank holiday and [we] decided to have a party in the field. Somebody saw Mary, and went straight to her father."
Mary was promptly banned by her father from seeing Jake. Opposition from Mary's family was too much to bear and the couple separated.
However they remained in contact through letters and reunited two years later. Recalling Mary's father's reaction, Jake said: “Oh god, he went mad, and threatened her.
"He immediately told her straight, you know. Her mother was an angel, without a doubt, she had a heart of gold, very friendly, and things didn’t work out at first.
"But as life went on, we had a drink together, and we became great friends. When [Mary’s father] died, he left me some money!”
Jake, 23, and Mary, 18, married on April 27 1948 at Oldbury Register Office. No family was in attendance.
“No family came to the wedding, the only people that attended were a couple of friends I had worked with in Oldbury in the Black Country. The Black Country is fantastic, people take you home on the weekend" Jake recalled fondly.
The couple suffered for the first few years of their marriage, estranged from Mary's family and society for being interracial, as well as difficulties getting housing and even entry into restaurants. They first settled in Birmingham, where they experienced daily racial prejudice.
In 2011, Mary told George Alagiah for BBC2’s Mixed Britannia that she would regularly be harassed in the street and told that she should be ashamed of herself for being with Jake. Jake now cares for her as she has Alzheimer's, but she fills us in with details as Jake shares their story.
The couple's initial struggle was finding a house: “After getting married we decided to come to Birmingham. The sort of place you looked for accommodation was Bristol Road, Balsall Heath, because in those days, black people more or less stuck together…so you started looking around there.
“We went to a couple of white [areas], knocked on the door, Mary would go first and she would get the house. She would say, my husband is black.
"They would say, ‘definitely not’, and that went on and on.” At this point, Jake was a popular local runner, and eventually went on to represent Great Britain.
He had connections with the Jewish community in Birmingham after training them in running. And this became a lifeline, as a good Samaritan from the Jewish community helped them buy their first property on St Paul’s Road, Balsall Heath.
The couple moved from Balsall Heath to Sheldon, Coleshill and then Knowle, where they have lived for more than 50 years. But even then, attitudes stood in the way.
“Even buying this house, a black man couldn’t buy a house, Mary had to do all that" Jake said. The couple have made a huge impact on the community.
Mary worked as a secondary school teacher in Birmingham and had become deputy head by the time she retired. After working in factories across Birmingham, Jake became the manager of Acocks Green Post Office for more than 30 years.
Despite the pain the couple faced, Jake recalls how times have changed. He said: “I don’t think some of these people had seen a black man, and thought he was a human the same as they are, I think that was lacking, very badly, hence why we’ve got changes.”
Jake is a spritely 97, running the couple's pristine house and garden, lifting weights, and devoted to looking after Mary, 92. “When I go there to do my gardening, that path that should only take me half an hour takes me three hours!”
In 2013, Mary – then aged 83 – wrote a letter to her 21-year-old self, which was published in Life & Living magazine. She reassured her younger self that the verbal abuse she received in the street would eventually stop and she would build a strong support system.
She also said that Jake was a kind and thoughtful man, and they would have a long and happy marriage, working hard and growing old together.
