Property Rites: The Rhinelander Trial, Passing, and the Protection of Whiteness

by Elizabeth M. Smith-Pryor

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807859397
• ISBN13: 9780807859391
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"