re: #201 The Ghost of a Flea

By modern categories of race, yes.
By the archaic school of categories I’m describing, no.

In the case of Dumas fils, his family clout and money meant that other social markers buttressed him against being fully labelled black, so it was never more than an issue of teasing as a child and jibes as an adult. Other folks in a similar position with no backing? Labelled black under the law and had rights/priveledges subsequently taken.

Hence the aforementioned trickiness.

Yes, but remember, Dumas (es) were in France —things have always been different in France. In some ways, much fairer.