April 11, 1936
The students were from prominent black families in Washington D.C., and the successful annulment of the marriages in July also made news. The Baltimore Afro-American’s headline read “Society Couples Cut Knot,” while the Defender’s read “Freedom of ‘Bet’ Brides Is Assured.” The students were suspended from Howard University for one year because they violated a rule that prohibited students from marrying while they were in school. The society page in the Baltimore Afro-American noted that one of the students, William Grayer Williams, Jr., was married two years later to Dorothy Simmons in a more formal ceremony at St. Mary Rectory in Indian Head, Maryland.