Search Results - Mitford, Jessica, 1917-1996

Jessica Mitford

Jessica Lucy "Decca" Treuhaft (''née'' Freeman-Mitford, later Romilly; 11 September 1917 – 23 July 1996) was an English author and activist, one of the Mitford sisters: six girls born to David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale and his wife Sydney Bowles (1880–1963), namely Nancy (1904–1973), Pamela (1907–1994), Diana (1910–2003), Unity (1914–1948), Jessica, and Deborah (1920–2014). The sisters had one brother Tom who was killed in action in 1945.

Jessica married her second cousin Esmond Romilly, emigrating to the United States in 1939. Romilly was reported missing in action in 1941, and in 1943 Jessica married American civil rights lawyer Robert Treuhaft, with whom she worked closely in the Civil Rights Congress. She took American citizenship in 1944. The couple joined the Communist Party USA, and both refused to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Her 1960 memoir ''Hons and Rebels'' and her 1963 book of social commentary ''The American Way of Death'' both became classics. Provided by Wikipedia