A quick look at the background of Caroline Treadway sheds some interesting light on the question of race, ethnicity, and height in relationships. She was born in Harlem and was a National Park Ranger when she was twenty years old. At the age of thirty-one, she was dating an African American tour guide while she was on assignment in Africa. Within two months of being back in the United States, the relationship fizzled. When she returned to her home in New York, her mother had died and she felt lost, lonely, and suspicious that something was not right.
It wasn’t until she traveled to England that Treadway began to think about what might have been. She visited Britain, which seemed to have more nationalities than Africa and that seemed to correlate with their working schedules, places of residence, and other characteristics. While in England, Treadway began thinking about her own identity and wondered if her height would be a problem in either marrying an Englishman or living with one. She wrote to a friend, “My own race is not national. I don’t believe in racial relationships–I only wish to be a member of my people.”
Two years later, Treadway married a British man, but the marriage ended in divorce. In her mind, perhaps the experience of being rejected for a man because of her height brought on feelings of inadequacy and self-consciousness. If so, it is interesting to speculate how much self-pity and emotional energy Treadway spent trying to win the man of her dreams.