Dreams do come true, although sometimes it takes way too long for something like that to happen. When 94-year-old Martha Mae Ophelia Moon Tucker got married back in 1952, she didn’t wear a wedding gown because the racial segregation laws practiced at the time didn’t allow her to enter a bridal boutique.
Instead, with the help of the woman she worked for at the time, Martha was only able to buy a navy-blue dress that would later come to be known as a “Carmen Jones” dress. Saying “I do” to her now late husband Lehman Tucker Sr. was all that was important, but still, not being allowed to wear a wedding dress was something that stayed with Martha more than 70 years.
Last year, however, all thanks to her granddaughter Angela, that all changed and Martha was finally able to try a real wedding gown on.
Martha Mae Ophelia Moon Tucker, who was married in 1952, always wanted to wear a wedding dress. But at the time Black women weren’t allowed in bridal shops.
Now 94, her dream is coming true. https://t.co/hwaA5v9T9B pic.twitter.com/qlJ84ejemX
— ABC News (@ABC) July 10, 2021
Speaking to Insider, Angela said how she and her grandma were watching “Coming to America” when Martha leaned on Angela’s shoulder and said: “I’ve always wanted to try on a wedding dress. I didn’t have one when I married.”
Seeing the devastation in her dear grandma’s eyes, Angela decided to surprise her by taking her to a wedding-dress fitting at David’s Bridal boutique in Hoover Alabama. Martha had no idea her wish of many years would finally turn into a reality. Angela even hired a makeup artist who gave sweet Martha a beautiful makeover.
“She’s always made sacrifices to give from her heart,” Angela said. “So to return a gift from my heart to her was priceless.”
Martha said she couldn’t believe how far things got from the time she got married. Racism is slowly, but surely, becoming part of the past.
What’s most, she loves all the attention she’s getting. Angela even joked, saying of her granny: “Now she’s saying, ‘Do you think Oprah may call me?’ I said, ‘I don’t think so Grandma.’”