mulatto
Biracial, historically speaking
Mulatto is a dated and now offensive term for a person of mixed white and Black ancestry.
It was once used in official classifications, particularly in slave societies and colonial administrations: A Virginia planter in 1780 might record a mulatto child in his ledger.
The word carries the ugly history of racial categorization and is avoided in contemporary speech.
Some people of mixed heritage have reclaimed it, but for most contexts it reads as archaic at best, racist at worst.
Having two racial ancestries
- self-perceptionHow one views oneself
- belongingState of fitting in
- mixed-raceOf multiple ancestries
- self-identityOne's sense of oneself
self-discovery · roots · in-betweenness · colorism · passing · code-switching · racial ambiguity · otherness
Having two racial ancestries
- octoroonOne-eighth Black person
- half-casteDated term, dual ancestry
- coloredHaving pigment applied
- castaColonial racial taxonomy
Cross-racial intimate relations
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- slaveryOwnership of people
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- emancipationRelease from legal bondage
colonialism · one-drop rule · passing · freedman · abolitionism · reconstruction · Jim Crow · racial purity
Mixed-origin quality
- racializationAssigning people racial identities
- syncretismFusion of different beliefs
- marginalizationRelegation to powerless periphery
- stigmatizationMarking as disgraceful
social construct · colorism · racial hierarchy · othering · assimilation · creolization · border crossing · double consciousness
Family line of descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- genealogyStudy of family descent
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
- descentDownward slope or lineage
mixed ancestry · roots · kinship · family history · forebears · progenitors · inheritance · interracial marriage
biracial
Having two racial ancestries
- self-perceptionHow one views oneself
- belongingState of fitting in
- mixed-raceOf multiple ancestries
self-identity · self-discovery · roots · in-betweenness · colorism · passing · code-switching · racial ambiguity · otherness · self-definition
biracial
Having two racial ancestries
- octoroonOne-eighth Black person
- half-casteDated term, dual ancestry
- coloredHaving pigment applied
casta · blood quantum · one-drop rule · mixed-blood · marabou
miscegenation
Cross-racial intimate relations
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- slaveryOwnership of people
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
emancipation · colonialism · one-drop rule · passing · freedman · abolitionism · reconstruction · Jim Crow · racial purity · casta
hybridity
Mixed-origin quality
- racializationAssigning people racial identities
- syncretismFusion of different beliefs
- marginalizationRelegation to powerless periphery
stigmatization · social construct · colorism · racial hierarchy · othering · assimilation · creolization · border crossing · double consciousness · liminality
ancestry
Family line of descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- genealogyStudy of family descent
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
descent · mixed ancestry · roots · kinship · family history · forebears · progenitors · inheritance · interracial marriage · intermarriage
- BrazilRio, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Amazon River
- peoplesAmericans, British, Chinese, French, Germans
- Spanish Colonialencomienda, hacienda, conquistador, viceroy, viceroyalty
- EthnicitiesAsian, African, European, Arab, Chinese
- Caribbean identityAfro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, Creole, mixed race, multiracial
- demographicspopulation density, population growth, age distribution, population, gender ratio
mulattopurebred
Of single breed ancestry
full-blooded · unmixed · thoroughbred · pure-blooded · pure