Name Edward Mazique | ||
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Edward Craig Mazique (1911-1987) was a well known pioneer in the medical community especially among African Americans. He is considered a pioneer in African-American civil rights. He had a very public divorce to his wife Jewell Mazique that was settled in 1965.
Family and divorce
Mazique was married to Jewell Mazique in 1937, separated in 1961, and divorced in 1965. They had two sons, Edward and Jeffrey. Jeffrey was the first black child to attend kindergarten at the Sidwell Friends School in 1956. As a direct result, Senator James Eastland, an anti-integrationist from Mississippi withdrew his son from the school.
Jewell preferred to be involved with social causes more than having a social life. Despite this view the Mazique's social life was frequently reported in magazines during the 1950s. Jewell decided that her marriage to Edward could not continue. Edward started divorce proceedings on the grounds of desertion. His wife hired a number of lawyers before she decided that she could do a better job herself. The divorce was very public and at one point Jewell's friends appeared with placards outside the Park Sheraton Hotel in Washington in support of her divorce case. The location was chosen as Marguerite Belafonte had a fashion show there and she was seeing Edward Mazique. One placard read "Let not justice be ration to Jewell R. Mazique in the Domestic Relations Court". Jewell's friend wrote to the newspapers and they formed a committee to support her. The case was settled in Edward's favour and it was noted that Jewell had argued her own case despite the court's advice. She argued, unsuccessfully, that she had worked to put her husbands through medical school and that the court had ignored their expensive home. Jewell appealed the case and particularly the finances arguing that the court was biased toward men. She lost the appeal in 1965. Both of their son's went on to be physicians.