El. knyga: Invisible Blackness: A Louisiana Family in the Age of Racial Passing

"Invisible Blackness explores the complex lives of mixed-race Creoles who shared the same language, religion, blood, and culture as their white cousins but never the same status. This book will examine the ways these children, born of enslaved women and white enslavers, chose to reinvent themselves and forge their own identities within the increasingly strict racial order of antebellum and post-war Louisiana. A vast array of records collected over fifteen years of research, including sacramental, vital, and notarial records, bills of sale, successions, wills, and military pension files, sheds light on how this liminal group defined itself and ultimately how its members shaped their own identities. The book centers the life of Alice Thomasson Grice, her children, and friends of mixed racial heritage. Their individual lives form the center of the narrative, and stories of their family, friends, and community radiate from their experiences. Alice's story is unique, as her father considered her formerly enslaved mother to be his wife, and she and her siblings were raised as free people. Charles Grice, a white steamboat captain, married Alice and legitimized their children, and the family chose to identify as white. Invisible Blackness considers the reasons why Alice, her children, and her friends Marguerite Grossinger and Georgina Gaal chose to cross the color line during the era historian Joel Williamson deemed "the age of passing," roughly spanning the years between 1880 and 1925. Best estimates indicate that the Grices were among 110,000 people with African ancestry living as white all across the United States, with rate of between 2500 to 2750 people passing over per year. In Louisiana, with its high population of mixed-race individuals, it is probable that between 100 and 500 people of color "became white" every year from 1875 to the 1890s. For the Grices, who appeared white, passing afforded the only means of social, economic, and political advancement available to them. Complexion, education, finances, and family all influenced the decision to identify as white. Ultimately, children like Alice Thomasson Grice had a choice. They could redefine and create their own identities because of the diversity of their background. Their lives underscore that raceis a social construct and yet also a very significant aspect of an individual's reality. Beyond these broad pressing historical questions lie issues of love and family and the universal quest for belonging that transcend time, place, and race"--

Invisible Blackness explores the complex lives of Creoles of mixed race born in Louisiana to enslaved women and the white men who enslaved them. Individuals such as Alice Thomasson Grice forged their own identities—and often reinvented themselves—within the increasingly strict racial order of antebellum and postbellum Louisiana.

Alice Thomasson Grice occupied an unusual position among mixed-race Creoles of her era, as her white father recognized her formerly enslaved mother as his wife and raised Alice and her siblings as free people. After Alice married a white steamboat captain, Charles Grice, she and her children chose to identify as white. Invisible Blackness explores why Alice, her children, and friends in similar positions elected to cross the color line during the so-called “great age of passing” that spanned from 1880 to 1925.

While it’s impossible to quantify the number of people who crossed the color line at any given time, evidence suggests that the rate of passing corresponded closely with the severity of anti-Black oppression and discrimination. By the 1890s, when the Supreme Court upheld Jim Crow laws and lynchings were on the rise, Black people who could pass had a strong motivation to do so. For the Grices, passing afforded the only means of social, economic, and political advancement available to them.

Drawing on a vast array of primary sources, ranging from sacramental records and bills of sale to wills and military pension files, Invisible Blackness sheds light on how this liminal group of individuals defined themselves and shaped their identities. The lives of the Grices and people like them underscore that race is both a social construct and a significant lived reality. Beyond these broad, pressing historical questions lie issues of love, family, and the universal quest for belonging that transcend time, place, and race.