Abstract
In 1855, the New York State census listed Manhattan resident George DeGrasse as a laborer. The listing belied the long distinguished career DeGrasse had forged as an activist for black rights in early-nineteenth-century New York. This community of color shaped the city’s streets and spaces to reflect their social justice ideals. The census taker also listed DeGrasse as “mulatto,” though he was born in Calcutta, India around 1780. What does this narrative reveal about racial fluidity in the early republic? And in what ways did New York act as a space for disrupting dominant narratives of race and citizenship?
Be it remembered, that GEORGE DEGRASSE, of the City of New York, servant, who hath resided within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States for the term of five years, and within this State of New York for the term of one year at least, appeared in the Court of Common Pleas, called the Mayor’s Court […] the said GEORGE DEGRASSE was thereupon, pursuant to the laws of the United States in such case made and provided, admitted by the said Court to be, and he is accordingly to be, considered a citizen of the United States.
Per Curiam T. Woodman, Clerk.
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Kanakamedala, P. (2017). “Considered a Citizen of the United States”: George DeGrasse, a South Asian in Early (African) America. In: Arora, A., Kaur, R. (eds) India in the American Imaginary, 1780s–1880s. The New Urban Atlantic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62334-4_8
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