>From: "Harbury, Katharine (LVA)" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history         
>      <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: inter-racial sex acceptable?
>Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:58:29 -0400
>
>I was focusing on the definition of the term, and  not on the 1850
>census record. Yes, census enumerators did vary in their descriptions of
>family members, and wrote accordingly. Descriptions even varied from
>census to census. Thank you for your response.
So true. One of my ancestors was designated Mulatto on a personal property 
tax list in 1783, and two years later (1785), he is designated as white.

Anita
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pat Duncan
>Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 3:41 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: inter-racial sex acceptable?
>
>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

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