>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 _________________________________________________________________ Puzzles, trivia teasers, word scrambles and more. Play for your chance to win! http://club.live.com/home.aspx?icid=CLUB_hotmailtextlink