Eugene and Eulalie

Melissa Daggett is a former professor of history at San Jacinto College and the author of Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: The Life and Times of Henry Louis Rey.

"Melissa Daggett's deeply researched and beautifully written Eugene and Eulalie is a stunningly original book. With a firm grasp of Louisiana's complex past and a keen eye for detail, the author explores the intricate life of an extraordinary free woman of color in antebellum New Orleans. Along the way, the reader will gain fresh insight into Louisiana's storied history of interracial relationships." - Mark Charles Roudane, author of The New Orleans Tribune: An Introduction to America's First Black Daily Newspaper "Melissa Daggett recounts the captivating story of an interracial couple, Eugene Macarty and Eulalie Mandeville, with aplomb. Using a wide range of documents, she reveals the intricacies of family life within a unique Creole society during a time of shifting racial, class, and gender allegiances and legalities. This page-turner is rich and illuminating. Daggett knows how to make history come alive." - Miki Pfeffer, editor of A New Orleans Author in Mark Twain's Court: Letters from Grace King's New England Sojourns "Building on an impressive array of multilingual sources, Melissa Daggett adds an extraordinary new chapter to the city's history. Her riveting study centers on a biracial couple, the offspring of prestigious Creole families. In the 1790s, they entered into a fifty-year, marriage-like relationship. After Eugene Macarty died, Eulalie Mandeville defended her property from challenges of Macarty's white relatives. Daggett brings fascinating details drawn from the legal proceedings to illuminate the political and social landscapes of antebellum New Orleans." - Caryn Cosse Bell, author of Creole New Orleans in the Revolutionary Atlantic, 1775-1877