The American Heritage Dictionary says this: mu·lat·to ( m<-l²t"½, -lä "t½, my <-) n. pl. mu·lat·tos or mu·lat·toes 1. A person having one white and one Black parent. 2. A person of mixed white and Black ancestry. [Spanish from Arabic muwallad person of mixed race from walada to engender, give birth] So the Spanish rood comes from Arabic, not Latin. Now, having said that, a West Virginia, or any other genealogy list is not the place for a discussion of this sort, in my way of thinking. I suggest you take it where obsessive compulsives all gather and have a good time. Russ Turner ----- Original Message ----- From: Jon Grimes <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, July 05, 1999 11:52 PM Subject: [WVA-L] The term 'mulatto' > I posted the query below on several genealogical mailing lists several days > ago, but neglected to post it on these lists. I am doing so now. In > retrospect, I might have worded the query more precisely to reflect my true > intent, but I will not change the wording and am posting it here exactly as > in the original posting on the other boards. > > I do this because the query has elicited a surprising number of > thought-provoking responses. > > For those of you who have seen the message and responses on other boards, > please forgive the duplicity. I'm assuming a new 'audience' for each list, > though I know that many of you (like myself) subscribe to more than one of > the lists. > > Those of you who want to call me a few nasty names may feel free to do so, > and then move on. :-) > > Thanks. > > > > Jon G. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- > > > Are any of you wise souls aware of any pejorative/derogatory connotation in > the usage of the terms mulatto (mulato) and mulatta (mulata) in the U.S or > anywhere in the Americas (North, Central, and South America)? > > The term originates in the Spanish and Portuguese (meaning 'of mixed > breed'), derived from mulo (mule), which derives from the Latin mulus. For > those that don't know, a mule is the offspring of a donkey and a horse, > i.e. a mixed breed. I feel that the association with the mule is merely > representative of the aspect of mixed-breeding, rather than an association > with the jackass/mule/donkey kind of thinking - in other words similar to a > 'mixed-breed' dog. > > My thinking is that the usage of the word has always been 'descriptive', > rather than pejorative, such as the usage of the term 'coloured' under > apartheid in South Africa, and the term 'colored' as was used here in the > States until recent decades. Descriptive, implying the mixture; there are > many other terms that we all could think of that are unquestionably > derogatory. > > I'm in a discussion with a person who insists that the term is derogatory > in origin and associates the term with the somewhat simplistic thinking > (from *my untrained perspective*) of 'the white slave masters raping our > grandmothers', when indeed the mixtures in the Americas, to my > understanding, evolved from not only that, but from many other sets of > circumstances, e.g. black slaves mating with white indentured servants, and > many situations too numerous to mention here. I read on one of these > genealogical forums in the last few weeks or so that the latter was indeed > more common than the former (I can't remember exactly where I read it, nor > the 'credentials' of the person making the statement, but I seem to recall > that it was a 'scholar' in this area). > > I *am not* a scholar in this area. I'd welcome input from all of you, most > especially from those of you in academia in this area or with > training/backgrounds in these issues. > > I may indeed be wrong. I do realize there are 'mixed camps' and > disagreement in areas such as this, but I'm more interested in the > scholarly/'real' aspects as opposed to the emotionally charged such as 'the > white slave master taking advantage of our grandmothers'. I'm interested in > scholarship and truth, and not in emotion. > > Thanks in advance to all of you for all replies. > > > Jon G. > > > Sorry about my excessive wordiness - it's an obsessive/compulsive thing!! > > > > ==== WVA Mailing List ==== > To keep free access to genealogical data, consider sending a donation to RootsWeb at http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html > Need Help with your WVA lines? Check out the WVAGENWEB Project: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvgenweb