''Morrison v. White'' was a

freedom suit Freedom suits were lawsuits in the Thirteen Colonies and the United States filed by enslaved people against slaveholders to assert claims to freedom, often based on descent from a free maternal ancestor, or time held as a resident in a free sta ...

first filed in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

's Third District Court in October 1857 by 15-year-old Jane (or Alexina) Morrison, a runaway slave, against her purchaser,

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

slave trader James White. Morrison, who had "a fair complexion, blue eyes, and flaxen hair", claimed to be white. In 1857, Morrison was sold by J. G. Haliburton or J. A. Halliburton of Arkansas to longtime New Orleans slave trader James White. She soon ran away and, in October of that year, petitioned the Third District Court in

Jefferson Parish Jefferson Parish () is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 440,781. Its parish seat is Gretna, its largest community is Metairie, and its largest incorporated city is Kenner. Jefferson Parish i ...

(where White resided) to be declared legally free. She claimed she was born to white parents and that her first name was Alexina, not Jane. Further, she asked for $10,000 in damages. She also asked to be placed under the protection of William Dennison, the parish's jailer, and that she be kept in jail to avoid being seized by White. She remained in jail for all but 19 months over the next five years, giving birth to a girl while incarcerated. The case went to trial three times. White provided depositions asserting that a Moses Morrison of

Matagorda County, Texas Matagorda County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 36,255. Its county seat is Bay City, not to be confused with the larger Baytown in Harris and Chambers Counties. Matagorda County i ...

, had purchased her, her siblings, and their mother in 1848 for four or five years before giving her to his nephew in Arkansas. The nephew then allegedly gave her to a slave trader to sell in New Orleans. The defense also produced a bill of sale, which did not constitute legal proof in Louisiana as it was not notarized. The 1850 census listed a seven-year-old female

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

slave residing in Matagorda County with her family. The plaintiff's lawyers were unable to provide any corroborating evidence of their own but asserted Morrison was white because she looked and behaved like a white woman. The first trial ended in a

mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...

. The jury in the second, held in May 1859 in the Fifth District Court, voted unanimously in Morrison's favor. The third trial was held in New Orleans. That jury, unable to reach a unanimous decision, was permitted, with Morrison's consent, to reach a majority verdict (10–2 for her) in January 1862. White's lawyers appealed again, but a fourth trial never took place (the U.S. Army regained control of New Orleans in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

), and with the eventual U.S. victory came the end of

slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865 ...

. Nothing is known about the later life of Morrison or her daughter Mary.

References

{{Improve categories, date=June 2023 1862 in United States case law Freedom suits in the United States 1857 in Louisiana 1859 in Louisiana 1862 in Louisiana