IncorrigibleWilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 2006 M01 1 - 172 páginas On a May morning in 1939, eighteen-year-old Velma Demerson and her lover were having breakfast when two police officers arrived to take her away. Her crime was loving a Chinese man, a “crime” that was compounded by her pregnancy and subsequent mixed-race child. Sentenced to a home for wayward girls, Demerson was then transferred (along with forty-six other girls) to Torontos Mercer Reformatory for Females. The girls were locked in their cells for twelve hours a day and required to work in the on-site laundry and factory. They also endured suspect medical examinations. When Demerson was finally released after ten months’ incarceration weeks of solitary confinement, abusive medical treatments, and the state’s apprehension of her child, her marriage to her lover resulted in the loss of her citizenship status. This is the story of how Demerson, and so many other girls, were treated as criminals or mentally defective individuals, even though their worst crime might have been only their choice of lover. Incorrigible is a survivor’s narrative. In a period that saw the rise of psychiatry, legislation against interracial marriage, and a populist movement that believed in eradicating disease and sin by improving the purity of Anglo-Saxon stock, Velma Demerson, like many young women, found herself confronted by powerful social forces. This is a history of some of those who fell through the cracks of the criminal code, told in a powerful first-person voice. |
Dentro del libro
Resultados 1-5 de 21
... Mercer Reformatory for Females. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The names of government and institutional officials are as stated. Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission ...
... Mercer Reformatory for Females as a dark formidable fortress pencilled black against the white sky. The enormous structure with its jutting turrets appears to stretch an entire city block. It casts a shadow over the grassy exterior ...
... Mercer girl and so have no personal expectations. I hear a voice and open my eyes. “You're not allowed to lie on ... reformatory. Victoria looks like an alabaster doll with her pale skin, fair hair, and light blue eyes. We concur that we ...
... Mercer girls. None appears to be pregnant. I must be the only pregnant girl on the ward. Who can Italk to, even ... reformatory. A matron standing at the entrance watches the women leave 8 INCORRIGIBLE.
... Mercer. “My aunt came to visit me—she said she went to a lawyer to try to get me out. The judge sentenced me to the Belmont Home, not to the Mercer Reformatory! And how about the others who were left behind? Are they still at the ...
Contenido
CHAPTER 12 | 111 |
CHAPTER 13 | 121 |
CHAPTER 14 | 127 |
CHAPTER 15 | 135 |
CHAPTER 16 | 141 |
CHAPTER 17 | 149 |
CHAPTER 18 | 159 |
AFTERWORD | 165 |