Martha Tucker is 94 years old today. She has four children, eleven grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson. As a teenager, she always dreamed of wearing a classic white dress on her wedding day, according to the Washington Post. But when she got married in 1952, she was denied access to the bridal shop because of the color of her skin.
As a black woman living in Birmingham, Alabama, she was not allowed to try on a dress. Her dream dress: an embroidered white dress with lace overlay and long sleeves. As she explained to the Washington Post, she didn't even think about buying a wedding dress at the time "because I knew I couldn't go to the store." For many years it was her dream to wear a wedding dress. A dream that should come true.Interview
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In 1952 there were no black-owned bridal shops in the city. In the Washington Post, Martha Tucker recalls that white-owned retail stores didn't allow black people to try on clothes: "If you wanted to buy something, you had to buy used stuff in the basement."
Tucker and her husband were married in a simple ceremony in their pastor's living room. Not having had a traditional wedding — or even a dress at all — still saddens Martha Tucker. "I always felt like I should have had the opportunity to wear [a wedding dress] if I wanted to," she says.
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The saving idea, the Martha Tuckers dream came true from her granddaughter Angela Strozier. While the two were watching a movie together, Tucker turned to the 46-year-old and said, "I've always wanted to wear a wedding dress. I've wanted to do that since I got married." Until that moment, the granddaughter had never been aware that her grandmother had never had the opportunity to put on a wedding dress just because of the color of her skin.
Strozier booked an appointment at a bridal shop to try on Martha Tucker's dream dress. She invited some family members to the appointment. "I just wanted to do this for her," Strozier told the Washington Post. "I wanted her to understand that a postponed dream doesn't have to be a denied dream."
The dream comes true
Before the appointment, Angela Strozier went to lunch with her 94-year-old grandmother and let her do the make-up. Then it finally happened: Although the bridal stylist at the bridal shop knew that Tucker would not buy a dress but only try it on, she showed the old lady everything just as thoroughly as she did with any other bride. She told the Washington Post that she was honored to have the opportunity to help make that dream come true.
Tucker then enthusiastically pointed to a mannequin: "That dress has my name on it." A moment later, Tucker came out of the dressing room. She wore a white lace dress, trimmed with sequins, with a V-neckline, sheer sleeves and a belt of sparkling crystals. "My dream had come true," Tucker rejoiced, almost 70 years after their marriage.
Emotional fitting
As Tucker stared at herself in disbelief in the mirror, family, staff and other brides who were there for their own appointments gathered around her. "She came out and the tears started," the granddaughter recalled. But no one was more excited than Tucker, who tried on a second dress and garter to feel like a real bride.
"I wish I wore this dress when I got married," Tucker said. Her husband died in 1975. "I wish he could have seen me in it." Still, she decided: Better late than never. "I've always said before I leave this world I want to put on a wedding dress," Tucker said. "And I'm glad I did."
