Jumping the Fence

In nineteenth-century New Orleans, legislator Jean Benjamin Esnard and his family struggled to conceal their mixed-race ancestry in the hostile post–Civil War South. Their secret unraveled when son Adrien was born darker and labeled 'colored.' As pressure mounts, the family must separate to survive—sending Adrien to Belgium and eventually a mission in the Congo. Author Maureen Gilmer weaves documented records, court testimony, and imagined scenes into an extraordinary true story of early civil rights, family secrets, and the price of freedom.

• A twenty-year genealogical detective story: one photo of a mysterious priest unravels 150 years of hidden family secrets.
• True story of a family that risked prison and lynching to 'jump the fence' and pass as white in Jim Crow New Orleans.
• From the French Quarter to the heart of the Belgian Congo—one man's extraordinary journey after being labeled 'colored.'
• A rare, intimate look at New Orleans' free-people-of-color community through actual court testimony and archival records.

“The love of white women for their colored husbands made every day of their life an act of civil and social disobedience.”

Perfect for a reader interested in New Orleans Creole history, racial passing, and family genealogy who enjoys narrative nonfiction rooted in real archival research.