What Does a White Woman Look Like? Racing and Erasing in Law

In Sunseri v. Cassagne (1940), the Louisiana Supreme court considered an appeal from a trial court order granting the request of Cyril Sunseri, a white man, that his marriage be annulled because, he maintained, his wife was legally negro. Verna Cassagne sought a divorce and alimony because, she insisted, she was white. The court was thus faced with adjudicating Verna Cassagne's racial identity.