Date(s): January 1, 1857 to January 1, 1863 Location: Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Tag(s): court case, New Orleans, Louisiana, race, Racism, Jefferson Parish, whiteness, appearance, free woman of color, enslaved woman, John White, Jane Morrison, Alexina Morrison, white slave, blue-eyed slave, mulatto In January of 1857, a slave trader purchased an “enslaved” woman named Jane Morrison who was “of fair complexion, blue eyes, and flaxen hair.” After her escape, the next time he’d see her was in a Jefferson Parish courtoom where Alexina Morrison had filed suit against him. The suit declared that Alexina –not Jane— was white, mistakenly identified and mistakenly enslaved. In her petition,...