Born: 1774, United States
Died: 1848
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Eulalie Mandeville de Marigny, Cécée Macarty
Eulalie de Mandéville was born into slavery in New Orleans, the daughter of an enslaved woman named Marie-Jeanne and her enslaver. Freed as a child by her paternal grandparents, she was raised by them in wealth and her father later arranged her union with Eugene Macarty, a white Creole man from a prominent family. While interracial marriage was illegal, the local custom of plaçage was a form of common law marriage between couples of different races. Eugene and Eulalie went on to have five children and build successful businesses – such as a dairy and retail companies – with funds Eulalie inherited from her grandparents (including a plantation and the people enslaved there).
After her husband’s 1845 death, his family tried to challenge her right to her inheritance, on the basis that plaçage was not legally binding. On June 26, 1847, after a nine-month trial, the judge ruled that the family had no right to her fortune, as it came from the shared effort and common work of both spouses, not solely his. While Eulalie died the following year, it was an important ruling not only for her children’s futures but also for other free women of color in plaçage relationships with white men.