| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 193 words from this article are provided below; about 350 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Notorious Woman: The Celebrated Case of Myra Clark Gaines. By Elizabeth Urban Alexander. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001. xvi, 301 pp. $34.95, ISBN 0-8071-2698-5.)

How many law students in universities across the United States could identify the longest continuous litigation (1834–1891) in the history of the U.S. courts as a lawsuit begun in 1834 by a woman who could file suit only in her husband's name? For over fifty years, Myra Clark Whitney Gaines fought for recognition as the legitimate child and legal heir of her father, Daniel Clark, who had died in 1813 when she was just nine years old. Clark, an Irish emigrant to Spanish New Orleans, inherited his uncle's commercial fortune, rose to the position of vice-consul, and became the first territorial representative from Louisiana to Congress. Gaines filed more than 80 suits in United States courts in Louisiana and more than 200 in the courts of Confederate-controlled New Orleans, and her case appeared 17 times before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake was a fortune worth an estimated $35 million in 1861, comprising New Orleans commercial real estate, plantations, slaves, stocks, and rents.

. . .

There are about 350 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.