Nothing in the image immediately suggests that it would one day spark shock, debate, and disbelief among modern viewers.
Then you learn one detail.
Geneva was only 10 years old.
And suddenly, everything about the photograph changes.
A Different America
Today, most people find the image difficult to comprehend.
Not because of anything visible in the photograph itself.
But because of what it represents.
In the early decades of the twentieth century, laws regarding marriage looked very different from those we know today.
Practices that would now be considered unacceptable often existed openly, supported—or at least tolerated—by legal systems and social customs.
Many communities viewed marriage through a completely different lens than modern society.
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