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Subject:
Re: Mulattoes
From:
Anita Wills <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 21 Dec 2003 04:51:23 GMT
Content-Type:
text/plain
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Michael,
Mulattoes were considered colored, and whites were precluded from marrying any Person of Color. Henings Statutes at large codified the laws of Virginia, for the Virginia Legislature. The laws dealing with racial classification, and regulating contact between whites, and people of color, are extensive. I included some of the laws in the Appendix of Notes and Documents.

The designation of Indian was eliminated by the Virginia Assembly in 1704. After that law was passed, Natives became either white, or black. Eventually they were lumped in with the offspring of white/black unions, and given the label of Mulatto. The phrase, Free Persons of Color, or "fpc", was used in the Fredericksburg Free Negro Registry, to describe any non white person. Sometimes they described the individuals as very light with straight hair, or dark with kinky hair, and broad nose. The descriptions would probably mean that one person was Indian, and the other African.

Not only did Virginia describe persons as Mulatto, but so did Pennsylvania. I have found that several of my ancestors were listed as Mulatto in Pennsylvania census, prior to the 1900's. After the 1900's they were listed as "Colored".


Anita Wills


Notes & Documents OF Free Persons Of Color: Four Hundred Years Of an American Families History; http://www.lulu.com/leboudin, $19.95 + sh


-- "Michael M. Foreman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Was Mulatto recognized as a a defined race in Colonial Virginia and after
the state proclaimed independence?

Did Virginia law preclude marriage between Mulattoes and Caucasians?

Did Virginia law preclude marriage between Mulattoes and Negroes?

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