Louie’s father strongly opposed the marriage because Pearl was Black, and the couple received hateful attention during the early years of their relationship.
But Pearl wasn’t interested in letting other people define their marriage.
She famously put it simply:
“There’s only one race. The human race.”
And then they went on living their lives.
Pearl and Louie built a family together, adopting their son Tony in the mid-1950s and later adopting their daughter, Dee Dee. They also worked together professionally, with Louie serving as Pearl’s musical director.
What began as a four-day whirlwind romance became one of Hollywood and jazz’s most enduring marriages.
They stayed together for nearly 38 years, until Pearl’s death in 1990.
Four days to fall in love.
Nearly four decades to prove everyone who doubted them wrong.
