See, e.g., Sunseri v. Cassagne, 185 So. I, 4-5 (La. 1938). The case involved a suit by Sunseri to annul his marriage to Cassagne on the grounds that she had a trace of "negro blood." He contended that his wife's great-great-grandmother was a "full-blooded negress," and Cassagne herself asserted that she was Indian. See id. at 2. It was not disputed that all of Cassagne's paternal ancestors from her father to her great-great-grandfather were white men. See id. Moreover, Cassagne had been regarded as white in the community, as she and her mother had been christened in a white church, had attended white schools, were registered as white voters, were accepted as white in public facilities, and had exclusively associated with whites. See id. at 4-5. Nevertheless, because certificates and official records designated Cassagne and some of her relatives as "colored," the court concluded that she was not white and that thus there were sufficient grounds to annul the marriage. See Sunseri v. Cassagne, 196 So. 7, 10 (La. 1940);
-Whiteness As Property by Cheryl I. Harris
Harvard Law Review Volume 106, June 1993, Number 8, pg.1739-1740
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