#isaac sutton

Donna Burkett and Manonia Evans in their Wiscoin home for Jet Magazine November 1971, photographer by Isaac Sutton and story by James M. Stephen Jr.

In October 1971, Donna Burkett and Manonia Evans, two Black American women, walked into the office of the Milwaukee County clerk to apply for a marriage license. The application was refused, they then filed lawsuit against the Eastern District of Wisconsin in the U.S District Court stating that they were refused due process and equal protection of law under the U.S constitution. The ended getting married in a ceremony on Christmas Day 1971. The wedding had 250 people attend. “ Burkett wore a black Edwardian tuxedo and Evans, a white floor-length gown with lace sleeves, a flowered scalloped cap, and an extended train.”

Aretha Franklin receives valuable music advice from her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, in this undated photo. 

Eartha Kitt, 1959

Isaac Sutton