The Rhinelander case (1925) was news across America, it was on the front pages of the New York Times for a month: Leonard “Kip” Rhinelander, son of one of the richest men in New York, took Alice Jones to court for tricking him into marrying her by passing for white.
Her love letters were read in court and she was made to show her breasts to the judge and jury (in private), but she won: from her breasts Rhinelander would have known she was black. And while Jones looked white, acted white and lived white, her father was clearly part black, which made her black too by the One Drop Rule. So either way Rhinelander had to know.
She won, but the Rhinelanders got her to agree to give up all rights to the Rhinelander name and fortune in exchange for a nice sum of money. But, as she was the last of them to die, she put “Rhinelander” on her gravestone all the same.
Mixed marriages were not against the law in New York. But if Jones had presented herself as a white woman then Rhinelander was not marrying who he though he was, making the marriage no good.
Alice Jones became the first black person ever to marry into New York high society. The Rhinelanders were not just rich, they had been rich longer than even the Vanderbilts. Jones herself was a servant, the daughter of a taxi driver.
It is clear that Rhinelander was in love with her, but his father was against it and threatened to cut him off from the family and its fortune.
Both sides in the trial agreed Jones was black. The question was not that, but whether Rhinelander knew it at the time of marriage.
Yet the case would never have gone to trial unless Jones stood right on the colour line between black and white: she was white – yet not white.
Both sides in the case took advantage of this by using stereotypes to persuade the jury of white men:
- Rhinelander’s lawyers wanted the jury to think of Jones as a black woman: black women were (and still are) seen as loose, as using sex to get their way with men: the Jezebel stereotype.
- Jones’s lawyers, on the other hand, were able to get the jury to see her mainly as a white woman and apply the pure white woman stereotype. This kept her off the stand and made Rhinelander look like someone who was taking advantage of her – instead of the other way round. It worked.
The NAACP had this to say:
If Rhinelander had used this girl as concubine or prostitute, white America would have raised no word of protest; white periodicals would have printed no headlines; white ministers would have said no single word. It is when he legally and decently marries the girl that Hell breaks loose and literally tears the pair apart. Magnificent Nordic mentality!
Blackface entertainer Al Jolson was at the trial to watch and give testimony.
See also:
Abagond 
Gloryus said:
I dont agree that she was a black person. She is MORE white looking than black if you ask me. I dont fool myself into adopting the idea of the ‘one drop rule’. That is just pure bogus to me. A person who is clearly 1/4 black and 3/4 white, is MORE white than black, however, she is neither.
My reply:
She did look white, but she was black by the One Drop Rule. However bogus it may be, that rule gets applied to you in America whether you like it or not. It is not something to believe in or sign up for. It may be weakening, but it still matters quite a bit.
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While I agree with Gloryus that she’s a white woman with a quarter Black ancestry but I also agree with Abagond that she was subjected to the rigorous one-drop rule which also makes her a Black woman with 3/4 White ancestry.
Although the rule is weakened a little, but the media and society reminds multiracials and white multiracials with black ancestry that they are black regardless.
Steph
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Wow keep stories like this coming I am so happy to learn my history. My children are black biracial.And they define themselves as mixed. It is important for us to define ourselves as opposed to having somone else do this for us.
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If you even have any suggestions for posts, please let me know!
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“…her breasts Rhinelander would have known she was black.”
OK, this stumped me. Would someone like to explain this? Do black american women have three nipples or what…?
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I’m not for sure but I believe pure white women’s nipples are pink but mixed or black women’s nipples are brown.
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That is my understanding too – though I would think Sicilian women, at least, have brown nipples too. Not that I would know….
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That makes no sense whatsoever.
By the way, what makes nipples pink in the first place?
(Yes, I am aware this is a serious blog and this kind of talk is way too much… private, but if someone’s trying to prove some “scientific” fact, it always get my attention).
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Oh, and just to make things clear: that was a rhetorical question.
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Thaddeus:
John Brunner in “Stand on Zanzibar” (set in 2010!!!) got the nipple colour wrong on one of his female characters. I think she was from India.
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Well, yeah, black women have brown nipples, but so do plenty of white women.
This reminds me of another sci-fi novel which puzzled me: “Earth Shall Abide”, where the last man on Earth discovers that his mate, the last woman on Earth is “really” black by looking at trhe color of her fingernail crescents or some such shite…
This stuff sounds to me like racist old wives’ tales…
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Wtf. who cares about nipple coloration or even for that matter why should one person care how another identifies themself(the key word is self their own identity)I’m multiracial man that looks white(with a quarter black and a sixteenth red ancestry)What’s that make me,honestly it makes me human.Almost no one is “pure” through soo much history wars slaveries and intermixing.I think if so called pure white and pure blacks went to their perspective ancestral coutries they’d be shocked to find out that to Africans and Europeans we are americans.Sure we have our issues and turmoils but every country does,instead of focusing on our differances we should focus on our similarities.
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@ Blair
Did you even read the article? The nipple discussion came up because we could not undestand why the judge had her to expose her breast to prove that her husband knew she was black.
I could care less how someone self identifies themself. In her case I guess the judge, her white husband, and his white father cared enough to take her to court.
I think if so called pure white and pure blacks went to their perspective ancestral coutries they’d be shocked to find out that to Africans and Europeans we are americans.
Speak for yourself! I am pure black and proud. They may not except you. Many Africans accept me with open arms because they know I am one of them.
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So now we have the “one drop” rule AND the “brown nipple” rule to determine race? LOL – that’s just hilarious.
Hate to break it to everyone, but I believe most Americans are of mixed heritage simply because of all the secret sex going on between slaves and their masters AND mistresses.
I guess the Rhinelanders thought they could erase the whole incident in the courts, but what happened happened. Hoo boy…white people are funny.
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Many Africans accept me with open arms because they know I am one of them.
And many don’t, though they may well recognize you as related.
I have yet to meet an African who thinks that Black Americans understand Africa simply because some of their ancestors came from there two centuries ago. And I know many, many Africans.
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Interesting observation Thad… Many Angolans go to Brazil and would identify more closely with the Afro Brazilian population than in the U.S.
Brazil is by far way more in touch with their African roots.
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With regard to the aforesaid,
I am not quite sure what you are trying to get at??
Or is it to suggest that Blacks cannot be united on race,
just as Europeans have set up their own geo-political unity, which is based on ‘race’??
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Ethnically/culturally speaking in “general terms”, I’m only trying to say that Brazil is more in touch with their African heritage than the U.S.
As for Blacks being united on race, I think it is stronger in the U.S. than Brazil. (bit of an irony there.)
As for Europeans being united or setting up their own “geo-political” unity. Let me just say that while travelling Europe during the Bush presidency, I sometimes informed people I was Canadian (upon speaking English); otherwise, I WAS BRAZILIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
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Cheers ColorofLuv
That question was NOT directed at you. We were both writing our responses at the same time.
It is a direct question to Thad…Especially as he appears to be against the idea of racial connections between the continent and the diaspora
Just to say the issue of who has more ‘African retention’ in their culture, from an ‘African centred’ perspective is a ‘dangerous’ one, since it can be used ‘divisively’.
There are lot of ‘African retentions’ in Black-America but in a paradoxical way just like some ‘Whites’ think they have no culture – when in fact they do. It is just waiting to be ‘tapped’ into
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gotchya J, thanks for the clarification…
don’t want to derail, but concerning the African diaspora and culture in the “New World”, have you ever been to Brazil?
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@ everybody on this post
As for nipples being brown… I guess that really proves that I am Black. The only problem now is that I guess Black people wont accept me unless I show them my nipples. (JUST BEING SARCASTIC people…)
Nipples? Really? I’m with Thad on this one…. I’ve never heard of such nonsense. But it doesn’t surprise me, look at OUR country’s history, “one drop”, White vs. Black dichotomy playing out in 2010: White vs. Black…. I guess the slave masters of yesteryear are still enjoying the segregated mindset they created…………..
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Thad,
I have yet to meet an African who thinks that Black Americans understand Africa simply because some of their ancestors came from there two centuries ago. And I know many, many Africans.
I have yet to meet a black American (or any American, really) offline that understands Africa or African countries. Many pseudo-intellectuals make reference to it, but that they nearly always mention “Africa (i.e. ‘this piece of African art’, or ‘in Africa they…’)” — as a monolith, shows that their understanding of African countries is very limited. Any African country is interchangeable with the next, or better yet Africa is a country (‘I’ve been to England, France, and Africa’).
Is this off-topic?… I think it is. I’ll stop there.
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Unfortunately not – but would love too!!
And while still keeping the topic sort of on-side.
There are aspects of African retention/culture which no longer exist in Africa but can be still be found in the ‘New World’.
And if you wish to broaden the issue out even further, with the process of globalisation etc. How much of ‘African culture’ and values actually reside on the continent??
But this is a different topic and issue for another time perhaps.
Nice one!!
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@Thad
And many don’t, though they may well recognize you as related.
Africans themselves have mistaken me for being African born. I have been approached by several native born Africans (men and women) who have adressed me speaking to me in their native language because they thought I was from their country. I do not look like a watered down black person my features are very African.
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Interesting observation Thad… Many Angolans go to Brazil and would identify more closely with the Afro Brazilian population than in the U.S.
My black Brazilian wife worked quite closely for a number of years with a group of Mozambiquean students. Their constant complaint was that while white Brazilians were racist, african-descended Brazilians were presumptuous.
I’ve heard this same complaint from my Angolan and Cabo Verdean students. Yes, they are happy you want to associate with Africa. No, you do not know anything about Africa and are not its “natural” ally simply because you have African ancestors.
Or is it to suggest that Blacks cannot be united on race,
just as Europeans have set up their own geo-political unity, which is based on ‘race’??
Give it a rest, J. There is not now and never has been “Eurooean geo-political unity”. In case you’ve missed the point of the 20th century, Europeans will quite happily tear each others’ throats out at a drop of a hat.
Oh, I forgot: you probably think World Wars I, II and the Cold War were made up whole cloth by “eurocentric scholars” seeking to bamboozle the Black man. 😀
I’m only trying to say that Brazil is more in touch with their African heritage than the U.S.
I very much doubt that, unless we are to define “afro Disney” as “African heritage”.
As for Blacks being united on race, I think it is stronger in the U.S. than Brazil. (bit of an irony there.)
I very much doubt that, too, unless we define Afro-American thoughts on race as the only possible “correct” thoughts on race for a black person to have.
Especially as he appears to be against the idea of racial connections between the continent and the diaspora.
I’m against any pseudo-fascist political project that believes that ethnic or racial identity is somehow a solid basis for the construction of modern polities. Black or white: makes no diff to me on this point. Fascist thinking is fascist thinking.
The only problem now is that I guess Black people wont accept me unless I show them my nipples. (JUST BEING SARCASTIC people…)
TITS OR GET THE F#$% OUT, COLOR! 😀
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Africans themselves have mistaken me for being African born. I have been approached by several native born Africans (men and women) who have adressed me speaking to me in their native language because they thought I was from their country. I do not look like a watered down black person my features are very African.
Sure. And once it was clear that you DIDN’T speak their language and WEREN’T from around there, I very much doubt that they continued to believe that you were one of them.
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“Africans themselves have mistaken me for being African born. I have been approached by several native born Africans (men and women) who have adressed me speaking to me in their native language because they thought I was from their country.”
Just out of curiousity, what region do they mistake you from? If I remember your avatar correctly, you resembled Lark Vorhees, so I’m guess they think that you are from East.
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leaveumthinking, you look like a black American woman to me. But then, most black American women look indistinguishable from W. African women.
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But then, most black American women look indistinguishable from W. African women.
Lands sakes!
Is that a “They all look alike to me” argument I spy on the horizon there? 😀
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^Lol, not at all. I’m right there with you against the “all X people look alike” line of thinking. There is great diversity of appearance within W. Africa, just as there is within black America, but the commonalities exist within the variety.
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Not sure Thad – think how many traditional African roots are in Salvador.
I understand what you’re saying about “Disney themes”, but seriously, Salvador, Bahia is still steeped in African roots. (I’m not saying it is Africa, I’m just saying it has more African roots & culture as a major metropolitan area than any comparably sized city in the U.S.)
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Islandgirl,
I’m mostly mistaken for Ethiopian so I take it some Ethiopians and AA look alike. But from my understanding the slaves were mostly taken from West African. My mother said she too is often mistaken for being Ethiopian. We look alike except she is Natasha’s color. But keep in mind that there are light skinned blacks who are unmixed and African born.
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I very much doubt that they continued to believe that you were one of them.
Well thats a shame because genetic wise I am one of them. Its not my fault the white man forced my family out of Africa and into slavery separting us from our people.
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leaveum,
But from my understanding the slaves were mostly taken from West African.
Yes, the vast majority. The remainder mainly from Central Africa.
I ran across a fairly new study on that I should post. It isn’t without its flaws but sheds more light on the black American-West African connection.
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About 75% of slaves came to America from West Africa. Most of the rest came from further down the coast (Congo, Angola, etc).
West Africa:
23.7%: Senegal, Gambia
11.5%: Sierra Leone
5.6%: Liberia, Ivory Coast
14.1%: Ghana
19.9%: Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon
The rest of Africa:
23.0%: Angola, Congo
2.2%: Mozambique
That comes from this post:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/some-numbers-on-black-americans/
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@ Abagond
I agree but why are some blacks mistaken for being Ethiopian. Did some East Africans migrate to West or is it that some East and West Africans look similair.
The pic of this little girl look like one of my neices.
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some east africans did migrate west ofcourse, they moved throughout africa like everyone else. also africans have a very diverse look.
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also africans have a very diverse look.
I agree
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“But keep in mind that there are light skinned blacks who are unmixed and African born.”
Oh, yes. I am well aware of that. Most of the ones I’ve encountered have been from the East, but I’m sure that they are lighter in all regions.
I thought that you might say Eithopian.
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With regard to
“Oh, I forgot: you probably think World Wars I, II and the Cold War were made up whole cloth by “eurocentric scholars” seeking to bamboozle the Black man”
Not quite I think it was a war between the European White brotherhood over the spoils of the rest of the world (peoples of color).
However, because nearly ‘all people of color were colonised by the ‘brotherhood’. People of Colour involved got involved fighting, in what many back then referred to as the ‘White man’s war’ but not for their own freedom and liberation, and/or their own respective countries
I hope this has clarified your own erroneous position.
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With regard to :
About 75% of slaves came to America from West Africa. Most of the rest came from further down the coast (Congo, Angola, etc).
Just being pedantic again he he he…
The problem that I have with this analysis is that it presumes people’s from other parts of the continent did not migrate to West Africa.
What I like to say is at the point of capture West Africa is the point of departure, but an individual could have migrated there from anywhere on the continent.
Unless we are going to presume that there was no movement for individuals, or groups of people, on the continent…
…if you follow the line of reasoning.
In fact before the transatlantic slavery this is what you see. So for instance the Yorubas did not originate in Nigeria, but rather they came from the ‘Middle East’
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Islandgirl,
Have you ever been mistaken for being from the East too?
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Yes. The same situation as you. I asked my Somalian friend why some AA are mistaken for East and he said that it is in the complexion and structure and eyes.
That little girl that you posted is gorgeous.
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Hmmm… I don’t think black Americans look anything like Ethiopians, on average. There might be some that do, but it’s not a trend I’ve noticed. Ethiopians like the Oromo, Somali, etc, have very distinct looks.
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Natasha you’ve never seen a AA little girl who resembles the little Ethiopian girl on that pic? I have seen a few that do including my neice. I’m not saying that a many do but I have seen some.
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Man, they must’ve pitched a fit when they found out one of their own married a bw.
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@Color
Not sure Thad – think how many traditional African roots are in Salvador.
Name one.
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In Recife, the capital of Pernambuco, there’s a great museum called “O Museu Do Homen Nordestino” (the museum of the Northeastern Man).
Everything is in Português, and it’s hard to find, but it goes into the history and cultures of the peoples who settled this region of Brasil. You can clearly see influences of the Nago, Jeje and Yoruba peoples of Nigeria. The museum gets into the various gods of these peoples; their names, their domains, how they were dressed, etc.
Maracatú, a form of African drumming (I think it originated in the Congo, but am not sure), is also a staple of the culture of Pernambuco.
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.
.
Alice Jones was NOT “black”.
.
Her LINEAGE was of Multiracial ancestry (that did, in fact
include part-Black) — BUT — Alice, herself was NOT Black.
.
The U.S. Supreme Court finally BANNED any legal attempts
at application of the racist, ‘black-lineage’-mocking
‘One-Drop Rule’ (in 1967 via the ‘Loving; case):
.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4162
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4160
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4157
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/3331
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1399
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/2511
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1402
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1003
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/3998
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4065
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/3999
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1400
.
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@Peanut
I just watched this movie called “pinkie” today, it was about this quadroon black woman who passes as white, she was portrayed by a white actress…but it reminded me of this post.
Sounds a little like the film ‘Imitation of Life’. I am guessing this movie doesnt have a happy ending…
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