![]() | What Blood Won''t Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America Subjects: Race discrimination -- Law and legislation -- United States; Minorities -- Legal status laws etc. -- United States; United States -- Race relations; 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. |
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