Paul is correct that the term mulatto implies a person of mixed race. But he 
used the example of the census to show how many mixed race individuals there 
were based on the term mulatto.  I contend that you can not view the use of 
that term to truly indicate a mixed race when parentage often can not be 
proven.

On the 1850 census for example, there are numerous children of the same 
black parents being classified as both mulatto and black.  This indicates to 
me that the census taker obviously saw they were 'negro' individuals, but 
used the terms black and mulatto to designate skin tone.  It would be 
difficult to argue that two parents classified as black produced mulatto 
children (using the strict meaning of the term mulatto) and also black 
children.

So we agree yet disagree.

Pat Duncan
[log in to unmask]


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harbury, Katharine (LVA)" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 1:21 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] inter-racial sex acceptable?


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