Finkelman is correct.  The meaning of the term, mulatto, differed in the
17th- and 18th- centuries, if I recall correctly.  In the 17th-century,
this included white and Indian, and Indian and black as well as white
and black ancestry.  In Maryland for example, colonial entries often
describe mulatto children born to white women servants.  The definition
became more narrowly defined in the 18th-century, and varied from region
to region.

*****************
mulatto always implied the person was of mixed racial ancestry.  

Paul Finkelman
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
     and Public Policy