By Major W. Cox
Most news has been bad news recently, and there is no need to recount it all here. However if one looks beyond the headlines, past the bombing and burning, the murder and mayhem, the hate speech of radio, and the hollow promises of politicians, one can find the type of story that inspires dreams and uplifts the human spirit.
Cinderella is an uplifting folk story. A popular version of this tale of uncertain origin first appeared in 1697 in "Charles Perrault's Histories," or "Tales of Past Times." The story is about an unhappy young woman who is magically transported to a ball, where she meets a prince who falls in love with her. They live happily ever after.
The story of Cinderella is reflected in the story of Iris Stallworth Lessa. A Tuskegee, Alabama native, Iris turned 21 years old on March 20, 1995. She is a graduate of Robert E. Lee High School and John Patterson Technical College. She worked as a clerk at a Montgomery supermarket until a local businessman shopping for the family groceries observed her at work. The owner of Affordable Eyewear appreciated the way Iris smiled and treated customers. Hobson Cox wanted her to work with customers at his business and offered Iris a job. She accepted and began working. Thus, the fairy tale begins.
Enter Anthony (Tony) Lessa, an old friend of Hobson's. Tony visited Hobson at his shop and observed Iris. The Montgomery businessman offered to take Iris out on a date. She refused. He insisted. She refused again, but set out a condition...Marriage. This is the way young people used to handle "matters of the heart." There are those among us who wish more young people would do as Iris did, and insist that dating be the path to marriage.
This is a remarkable story for the 1990s when it seems fewer and fewer people are getting married. This man who never married, began calling his friends for advice on buying a wedding ring. None of his friends were sure what to think or for that matter what to tell him. It's like Mr. Lessa was caught up in a whirlwind or some other rapidly moving mythical force. Maybe an arrow from Cupid's bow struck this activist businessman. Or was it just a case of acute Spring Fever?
Literally, within days, Tony and Iris took their wedding vows in Bullock County, a location held dear in the hearts of present and former residents, including this writer. There, Probate Clerk Johnny Williamison officiated the historic wedding ceremony (This may be the first time for a white man to marry a black woman at the Bullock County Courthouse). Prior to 1964, marriages between black and white people were illegal throughout the South.
Bullock County, Alabama has a long established tradition of breaking down the barriers against miscegenation. In 1866, when the State of Alabama created Bullock County, the Civil War was over. Some historians suspect that in the territories sculpted from Macon, Pike, Barbour and Montgomery Counties to establish Bullock County, miscegenation was a major, although stealth, political consideration in its creation. Those holding that view of history point to the success of Senator Benjamin F. Royal from Union Springs who served nine years in the Alabama senate during reconstruction. Born during slavery, Senator Royal's father was white and his mother, a slave. (Senator George Clay, elected in 1994, was the second descendent of a slave to hold the seat.)
Tony and Iris' marriage comes at a time when Wedowee is back in the news. Wedowee is the small East Alabama city where the High School principal, Hulond Humphries, threatened to cancel the school's 1994 prom in order to prevent students of different races from dating. Rovonda Bowen, a 16 year old student whose father is white and mother is black, challenged the policy. The principal responded to her challenge by calling her parents marriage a "mistake." Humphries' comment brought on a rash of lawsuits, several demonstrations, and a student boycott, plus motivated an arsonist to destroy the school in a fire.
Just when it seems as if the entire country is awash in hate, violence and bigotry, somebody comes along and sees it differently. In the case of Iris and Tony Lessa, they did not see being of a different race as a barrier separating them. What they saw was a bridge to their love across a barrier most of us refuse to look beyond.
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Originally Published: 7 June 1995, Montgomery Advertiser
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