Mulatto

Mulatto is a term commonly used to refer to a person who is born from one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of any "mixed" ancestry.

The term is not commonly used any more but is generally considered archaic because of its association with slavery, colonial and racial oppression; accepted modern terms include "mixed" and "biracial".

Mulattos may also include admixture of Native Americans, or indigenous groups of South America, and African Americans according to Henings Statutes of Virginia 1705, which reads as follows: "And for clearing all manner of doubts which hereafter may happen to arise upon the construction of this act, or any other act, who shall be accounted a mulatto, Be it enacted and declared, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That the child of an Indigenous and the child, grand child, or great grand child, of a negro shall be deemed, accounted, held and taken to be a mulatto."

In colonial Latin America, mulato could also denote an individual of mixed African and Native American ancestry.  However, today those who are mixtures of indigenous peoples of the Americas and Black Africans are called Zambos while those who are mixtures of African American and Native American are called Black Indians and sometimes are solely classified or identify as African American.

To further complicate matters, in early American history the term mulatto is also seen regarding Native American and European mixed offspring, and certain tribes of Indians of the Inocoplo family referred to themselves as mulatto as well.

Studies carried out by the geneticist Sergio Pena conclude the average white Brazilian is 80% European, 10% Amerindian, and 10% African/black. Another study, carried out by the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, concludes the average white Brazilian is (>70%) European. Mulattoes represent a significant part of the population of various Latin American and Caribbean countries: Dominican Republic (73%) (all mixed race people), Brazil (49.6% mulattoes, mestizos/mamelucos and blacks), Belize (25%), Cuba (24.86%),Colombia (25%), Haiti (15-20%).

The term mulatto (mulato in Portuguese) does not carry a racist connotation and is used along with other terms like moreno, light-moreno and dark-moreno. These focus more on the skin color than on the ethnicity, although they can refer to hair color alone - e.g. "light-moreno" would be "caucasian brunette". Such terms are also used for other multiracial people in Brazil, and they are the popular terms for the pardo skin color used on the 2000 official census.

Creole woman of color with black servant, New Orleans, 1867

During the European colonization of the Americas, the rape of African slave women was not held to be a crime under Colonial Law. Under chattel slavery, white slave masters often raped their female subjects, producing varying degrees of mulatto offspring. Depending on the offspring's phenotype, they would continue living as slaves (as their mothers), specifically in the Southern United States, mulattoes inherited slave status if their mothers were slaves. Some offspring were afforded the life of passing for white. This practice continued throughout the course of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, involving many generations, producing posterity with varying degrees of sub-Saharan and European genetic ancestry and a very broad range of phenotypes. For example, present-day descendants of these offspring can appear solely sub-Saharan in lineage, including having extremely afro-textured hair, or possess purely Nordic physical traits. This type of legacy has produced the debatable sub-Saharan/Caucasian admixture that exists among Americans today, as well as in populations in other parts of the world.

As for free mulattoes, in Spanish- and French-influenced areas of the South prior to the Civil War. Some white slave owners, who continued the legacy of slave rape, were also of mixed ancestry. This posterity, enduring changing social and political climates in American history, often interbred and intermarried among other populations, such as Native Americans; and some resulting from miscegenation, such as Black Indians (see Melungeon). These circumstances further contributed to the modern day genetic melting pot in America.

Contemporary Era

Further information: Multiracial American

Mulatto existed as an official census category until 1930. Although it is sometimes used to describe individuals of mixed European and African descent, it originally referred to anyone with mixed ethnicities; in fact, in the United States, "mulatto" was also used as a term for those who were African American and Native American ancestry during the early census years. 

Porschla Coleman

(aka Porschla Kidd)

Jasmine Sanders 

Ethnicity : Black Father  / German Mother

Hair color : Dark blonde

Eye color : Blue

Place of Birth : Germany

Sabina Karlsson

Nationality : Swedish

Hair color : Red / brown

Eye color : Brown

Ethnicity : Swedish / AfricanHeight

Michelle Carvalho

Nationality : Brazilian

Hair color : Light brown

Eye color : Green