"Was She a Man or Was He a Woman": Ben Jane Jones and the Policing of Gender in Shreveport, Louisiana, c. 1877

This research reconstructs the never-before-examined story of Ben Jane Jones, a Black trans criminal in 19th century Louisiana, whose gender identity was contested in the regional press. Per newspaper records detailing their criminal exploits, local officials knew Jones as a “hermaphrodite” (“neither man nor woman”). In November 1877, Jones was sentenced to six months at the state penitentiary for petty theft. Jones entered the penitentiary’s books as a woman, but subsequent investigation by a prison doctor revealed they were a “full-fledged man.” The sensational discovery was reported in the regional press, prompting recriminations toward penitentiary officials. More significant were the problems posed for the city of Shreveport. A regional newspaper, the Ouachita Chronicle, even weaponized Shreveport authorities’ failure to see through Jones’ gender deception to cast doubt on Shreveport’s status as a city. In the Shreveport Daily Times, the city effectively responded by doubling down on its initial classification of Jones as a “hermaphrodite.” Why did Jones attract such attention in the regional press, and why did their gender pose problems for the city of Shreveport? This paper argues that this regional coverage reflected Shreveport’s attempts to exercise and regain control over Jones’ body, which became an allegory for white anxieties surrounding the city’s ability to police its deviant and Black populations.

No secondary academic literature could be identified that mentioned or in any way dealt with Jones’ story. This research challenges and expands on secondary analyses of gender and race in the nineteenth century. It complicates the dominant conceptualization that gender transformed from a social/physical to medical/legal concept during this time. In this case, these frameworks were very much contested and were indeed variously deployed by different actors to advantageously project control over deviants. With a constitutive focus on the regional press, this research contributes to scholarly understandings of how certain problematic bodies and identities are rendered public spectacles by analyzing how Jones’ criminality was constructed by depictions of their race and deceptive gender. With an eye to the broader context of Redemption, it argues that Jones’ story gained prominence, at least in part, because it functioned as an allegory of the city’s failure to control a Black deviant––a site of significant anxiety for white Shreveporters.

This research draws on scarce-yet-informative archival sources. Numerous publications (including The Shreveport Daily Times, Times-Picayune, Thibodeaux Sentinel, and Ouachita Telegraph) included stories on Jones; some contained surprising information about their life (presumably as a sex worker) prior to incarceration. Similarly, penitentiary records include tantalizing details, including that Jones’ birthplace was Canada West (now Ontario).

Jones’ story may be seen as a synecdoche for race, gender, and criminality in post-Reconstruction Louisiana. By examining a unique case study of a Black trans outlaw in the nineteenth century postbellum South, this research has the potential to expand historical understandings of the construction of these identities when still in their nascency.

Alongside text, the poster will display newspaper clippings and penitentiary records, annotated for important details, and historical maps of Shreveport with relevant places labeled.