Ralph Kerwineo

Biography

Ralph Kerwineo (April 1876 – 1932) was an American who became notable after a 1914 incident in which Mamie White, the woman who had lived as Kerwineo's wife for over ten years, revealed to the local police Kerwineo's "true sex" (female). It was supposedly in retaliation to a legal marriage of Kerwineo and twenty-one-year-old Dorothy Kleinowski, and resulted in a police arrest and trial for disorderly conduct. The Milwaukee press followed the case with keen interest, however this local coverage did not pathologize Kerwineo, but preferred to describe a story of an upstanding citizen who donned male dress to support female partners.

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