Race, Blood, and What the Alligator Knows: A Review of What Blood Won't Tell

Abstract:     
When we speak of race we often speak in hermetically-sealed categories: black, white, Native American, Asian, and so forth. Yet, as Ariela Gross demonstrates in her latest book, What Blood Won't Tell, the real excitement is at the margins — that area of law and space occupied by people who do not fit neatly into one category or another. For it is here that the difficult questions are posed — about race, about status, about property, and about citizenship. This Review Essay follows What Blood Won’t Tell to these places, and in the process it explores both how the meaning of race has changed throughout our history and how ordinary people have been active agents in its formulation. The Essay also digs deeper into some areas raised by Gross, and contemplates possible subjects for future inquiries.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 16

Keywords: race, identity, legal history, slavery

Accepted Paper Series