Property rites : the Rhinelander trial, passing, and the protection of whiteness / Elizabeth M. Smith-Pryor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith-Pryor, Elizabeth M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trials (Divorce)--New York (State)--Westchester County.

Trials (Divorce).

Marriage--Annulment--New York (State)--Westchester County.

Marriage.

Interracial marriage--New York (State)--Westchester County.

Interracial marriage.

Scandals--New York (State)--Westchester County.

Scandals.

Rhinelander, Leonard Kip--Trials, litigation, etc.

Rhinelander, Leonard Kip.

Jones, Alice Beatrice--Trials, litigation, etc.

Jones, Alice Beatrice.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (408 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1925 Leonard Rhinelander, the youngest son of a wealthy New York society family, sued to end his marriage to Alice Jones, a former domestic servant and the daughter of a ""colored"" cabman. After being married only one month, Rhinelander pressed for the dissolution of his marriage on the grounds that his wife had lied to him about her racial background. The subsequent marital annulment trial became a massive public spectacle, not only in New York but across the nation--despite the fact that the state had never outlawed interracial marriage. Elizabeth Smith-Pryor makes extensive use

Contents:

Curious acts

"All mixed up" in New York

The trial begins

Passing and the "seemingly absurd question" of race

Defending the citadel of whiteness from the "awful stain"

The trial continues : degeneracy, modern love, and "filthy letters"

"Poor little cupid" and the marriage contract

Blind love and the visibility of race

The trial ends.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [341]-372) and index.

ISBN:

979-88-908777-1-0

979-88-9313-161-1

1-4696-0590-2

0-8078-9417-6

OCLC:

435526792