Mulattoes
"Mulattoes" refers to individuals of mixed white and black ancestry, a term historically used in the context of the United States. During the era of slavery, mulattoes often experienced greater privileges compared to other enslaved people, influenced by a societal hierarchy rooted in white supremacy. In census records from 1850 to 1920, the U.S. Census Bureau counted mulattoes separately from black individuals, driven by pseudoscientific beliefs about mixed-race people. This separation reflected broader societal views that considered lighter skin as an asset, leading to a complex relationship between mulattoes and both white and black communities.
The Civil Rights movement marked a significant shift, as African Americans began to celebrate black pride and reclaim their cultural identity. Over time, perceptions of mulattoes evolved, with many African Americans viewing them simply as individuals with lighter skin, particularly as discrimination based on skin tone continued to be an issue. The term "mulatto" has largely fallen out of common usage in the U.S., losing its legal and social implications, although it remains relevant in some Latin American contexts as a self-designation among individuals of African descent. Understanding the history of mulattoes provides insight into complex racial dynamics and the ongoing discussions surrounding identity and representation in society.
Mulattoes
Before the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, white supremacy was a prevalent concept in U.S. society. White supremacists held that whites were better than people of other races. Under slavery, mulattoes (people of mixed white and black ancestry) were often accorded greater privileges than other enslaved people. The U.S. Census Bureau counted blacks and mulattoes separately on censuses between 1850 and 1920, due to pseudoscientific research that suggested there were mental or physical handicaps in mixed-race individuals, who were increasingly seen as a threat to white society following emancipation.
Laws passed by white legislators usually discriminated equally against mulattoes and people of unmixed African ancestry. However, over time, white leaders were generally more willing to interact with mulattoes than with darker-skinned African Americans. Consequently, blacks and whites alike saw having light skin as an asset; most African American leaders were mulattoes.
This began to change, however, during the Civil Rights movement. African Americans began to exhibit an increased sense of positive self-worth—black pride—and to emphasize their African culture in their hairstyles, manner of dress, language, and artistic expression. Many African Americans thought that mulattoes should be discriminated against because their physical characteristics were not more obviously African.
In time, as white supremacy diminished in U.S. society, African Americans began to view mulattoes as simply African Americans with light skin. (More frequent media portrayals of African Americans with lighter skin have continued to perpetuate that feature as a beauty ideal, however.) Consequently, the word “mulatto” has lost both its legal and social significance and slipped from general usage in the United States. “Mulatto,” which also had a similar but distinct history in Latin America, is still used as a self-designation by some Latinos of African descent.
Bibliography
Alvaré, Bretton T. "Mulatto/a." Latino History and Culture: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo and David J. Leonard. Armonk: Routledge, 2014. 360–61. Print.
Brown, Kevin D. Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Postracial America. Ed. Kimberly Jade Norwood. New York: Routledge, 2014. Print.
Davis, F. James. "Who Is Black? One Nation's Definition." Frontline. WGBH Educational Foundation, 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.
Puente, Henry. "Racial Passing: Images of Mulattos, Mestizos, and Eurasians." Images That Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media. Ed. Paul Martin Lester and Susan Dente Ross. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2011. 121–32. Print.
Sheffer, Jolie A. "Mulattos, Mysticism, and Marriage: African American Identity and Psychic Integration." The Romance of Race: Incest, Miscegenation, and Multiculturalism in the United States, 1880-1930. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2012. Print.