Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America

Ariela J. Gross

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Is race something we know when we see it? In 1857, Alexina Morrison, a slave in Louisiana, ran away from her master and surrendered herself to the parish jail for protection. Blue-eyed and blond, Morrison successfully convinced white society that she was one of them. When she sued for her freedom, witnesses assured the jury that she was white, and that they would have known if she had a drop of African blood. Morrison's court trial--and many others over the last 150 years--involved high stakes: freedom, property, and civil rights. And they all turned on the question of racial identity.

Over the past two centuries, individuals and groups have fought to establish their whiteness in order to lay claim to full citizenship in local courtrooms, administrative and legislative hearings, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Like Morrison's case, these trials have often turned less on legal definitions of race as percentages of blood or ancestry than on the way people presented themselves to society and demonstrated their moral and civic character.

Unearthing the legal history of racial identity, Ariela Gross's book examines the paradoxical and often circular relationship of race and the perceived capacity for citizenship in American society. This book reminds us that the imaginary connection between racial identity and fitness for citizenship remains potent today and continues to impede racial justice and equality.

Language: English

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Release: October 01, 2008

ISBN: 067403130X

ISBN 13: 9780674031302

What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America

Ariela J. Gross

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Is race something we know when we see it? In 1857, Alexina Morrison, a slave in Louisiana, ran away from her master and surrendered herself to the parish jail for protection. Blue-eyed and blond, Morrison successfully convinced white society that she was one of them. When she sued for her freedom, witnesses assured the jury that she was white, and that they would have known if she had a drop of African blood. Morrison's court trial--and many others over the last 150 years--involved high stakes: freedom, property, and civil rights. And they all turned on the question of racial identity.

Over the past two centuries, individuals and groups have fought to establish their whiteness in order to lay claim to full citizenship in local courtrooms, administrative and legislative hearings, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Like Morrison's case, these trials have often turned less on legal definitions of race as percentages of blood or ancestry than on the way people presented themselves to society and demonstrated their moral and civic character.

Unearthing the legal history of racial identity, Ariela Gross's book examines the paradoxical and often circular relationship of race and the perceived capacity for citizenship in American society. This book reminds us that the imaginary connection between racial identity and fitness for citizenship remains potent today and continues to impede racial justice and equality.

Language: English

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Release: October 01, 2008

ISBN: 067403130X

ISBN 13: 9780674031302

More books from Ariela J. Gross

Becoming Free, Becoming Black: Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana

4.3/5 ( ratings)

American Stories: A History of the United States, Volume 1

3.5/5 ( ratings)

American Stories: A History of the United States

Slavery & the Law

3.8/5 ( ratings)

The American Story: Volume 1 (Penguin Academics Series) (4th Edition)

4.1/5 ( ratings)

Double Character: Slavery and Mastery in the Antebellum Southern Courtroom

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Voices of America Past and Present, Volume 2

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The American Story: Volume 2 (Penguin Academics Series) (4th Edition)

2.6/5 ( ratings)

American Stories: A History of the United States, Volume 1

American Stories: A History of the United States, Volume 1 [with MyHistoryLab & eText Access Code]

American Stories: A History of the United States, Volume 1

American Stories: A History of the United States, Vol 1

American Stories, Volume 1 [with Revel Code]

American Stories: A History of the United States, Volume 1

The American Story, Combined Volume [with eText + MyHistoryab Access Codes]

Revel for American Stories, Volume 1 -- Access Card

America Past and Present, Volume 1 (to 1877) Value Package (Includes Myhistorylab with E-Book Student Access Code for Amer Hist - Longman (1-Sem for Vol. I & II))

New Mylab History Without Pearson Etext -- Standalone Access Card -- For America: Past and Present

Revel for American Stories, Volume 2 -- Access Card

American Stories: A History of the United States, Volume 2 [with MyHistoryLab Access Code]

Rate this book!

Write a review?