Mulatto

For the record label, see Mulatta Records.

A mulatto (also mulato) is a person of mixed ancestry with an African and a European parent (half black and half white), the offspring of two mulatto parents, or a person with a mixture of African/European ancestry

In the past the term originally referred to the children of one European and one African parent, or the children of two mulatto parents. Then a myriad of other terms, both in Latin America and the United States, were in use to denote other individuals of African/European ancestry. This term can be considered offensive by some English speakers, who often prefer terms like "biracial" or "mixed race," instead. Due to the controversy over the offensiveness of the term, it is not often used today. Similar terms in other languages such as Spanish or Portuguese are not regarded as inherently offensive.

Etymology

Muwallad versus mulo/mula

The term is thought to be derived from the Spanish and Portuguese word mulato (lit. "young mule"), which itself is derived from mulo (mule). It was once a generic designation name for any hybrid. This is believed to be the reason it is considered offensive by some English-speakers where it is not so considered by Spanish-speakers or Portuguese-speakers. The term mulato is documented in the data bank of the Real Academia Española (Spanish Royal Academy) for the first time in 1549. It states "The term mulato is documented in our diachronic data bank in 1549, whereas muladí (from mullawadí) does not appear until … the XVIII century, according to Corominas". They further state mulo has two meanings in Spanish: The first meaning is "mule", from Latin mulus. There is no proof that the term was once a generic designation for any hybrid species, but this may relate to why it can be considered offensive by some English speakers, who often prefer terms like "biracial" or "mixed race," instead. The second meaning of mulo in Spanish according to the Real Academia Española is "a person characterized by strength and vigour".

Another etymology which can be found in some dictionaries and scholarly works traces the word's origins to the Arabic term muwallad, which means "a person of mixed ancestry". Muwallad literally means, "born, begotten, produced, generated; brought up, raised; born and raised among Arabs (but not of pure Arab blood). Muwallad is derived from the root word WaLaD (direct Arabic transliteration: waw, lam, dal). Walad means, "descendant, offspring, scion; child; son; boy; young animal, young one." Muwallad referred to the offspring of Arab men and foreign, non-Arab women. The term muwalladin is used in Arabic up to this day to describe the children between Arab fathers and foreign mothers. According to Julio Izquierdo Labrado as well as Leopoldo Eguilaz y Yanguas as well as some Arabian sources, muwallad is the etymological origin of mulato. In this context mulato would have been derived directly from muwallad rather than through muladí, a term which was applied to Spanish Christians who had converted to Islam during the Arab domination of Spain. Rather, the two words may share a common etymological muwallad base. An Arabic origin of mulatto would not be surprising given the importance of Arabic at a time when Latin was rejected in Spain in favour of Arabic (which also remains seventh in importance of languages that have contributed to the English vocabulary).

Demography

Latin America

Mulattos represent a significant portion of various countries in Latin America: Cuba (approx. 51%), Brazil (approx. 38%), Colombia, Venezuela, Panama (approx. 14%), Haiti (approx. 10%), Costa Rica (approx. 5%), Honduras, and Nicaragua.

The roughly 200,000 Africans brought to Mexico were for the most part absorbed by the mestizo populations of mixed European and Amerindian descent. The state of Guerrero once had a large population of African slaves. Other Mexican states inhabited by people with some African ancestry, along with other ancestries, include Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Yucatan.

People of mixed ancestry also constitute a significant portion of the population of Puerto Rico, a United States associated commonwealth territory. In one recent genetic study of 800 Puerto Ricans, 61% had mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from an Amerind female ancestor, 27% inherited mitochondrial DNA from a female African ancestor and 12% had mitochondrial DNA from a female European ancestor. Conversely, patrilineal input as indicated by the Y chromosome showed that 70% of Puerto Rican males in the sample have Y chromosome DNA from a male European ancestor, 20% inherited Y chromosome DNA from a male African ancestor and less than 10% inherited Y chromosome DNA from male Amerindian ancestor. As these tests measure only the DNA along the matrilineal line and patrilineal lines of inheritance, each test only measures the one individual out of thousands, perhaps millions of ancestors; they cannot tell exactly what percentage of Puerto Ricans have African ancestry.

In Haiti (formerly Saint-Domingue), mulattos represented a smaller proportion of the population than in many other Latin American countries. Today they constitute about 10% of the population. In the 18th century, they made up a class of their own, the gens de couleur. Often they were highly educated and wealthy. Many Haitian mulattos were also slaveholders and as such actively participated in the suppression of the black majority. However, some also actively fought for the abolition of slavery. Distinguished mulattos such as Nicolas Suard and others were prime examples of mulattoes who devoted their time, energy and financial means to this cause. Some were also members of the Les Amis des Noirs in Paris, an association that fought for the abolition of slavery. Nevertheless, many mulattos were slaughtered by African Haitians during the wars of independence in order to secure African political power over the island. Earlier some African volunteers had already aligned themselves with the French against the mulattos during the first and second mulatto rebellion. In Haiti, mulattos initially possessed legal equality with the unmixed French population. This provided them with many benefits, including inheritance. In the 18th century, however, Europeans fearful of slave revolts had restricted their rights, but they were successfully reclaimed in 1791.

Brazil

According to the IBGE census, Mulattos constitute 38.5% of the population.

Jamaica

Mulattos were treated as inferior by blacks in the past in Jamaica, though this has changed since the fame of Bob Marley, who suffered discrimination for this as a young man.

United States

In the United States, the term was in the beginning also used as a term for those of mixed white and Native American ancestry. Mulatto was an official census category until 1930. In the south of the country mulattos inherited slave status if the mother was a slave, although in French-influenced areas of the South prior to the Civil War (particularly New Orleans, Louisiana) a number of mulattos were also free and slave-owning.

See also

• Half-caste
• List of multiracial people
• Quadroon
• Sambo
• Cape Coloured

Footnotes

1. In the Dominican Republic, the mulatto population has also absorbed the small number of Taíno Amerindians once present in that country.
2. Based on a 1960 census that included colour categories such as white, Black, yellow, and mulatto. Since then, any racial components have been dropped from the Dominican census.

Sources

• Leopoldo Eguilaz y Yanguas (1886): Glosario de las palabras españolas (castellanas, catalanas, gallegas, mallorquinas, protugueses, valencianas y bascongadas), de orígen oriental (árabe, hebreo, malayo, persa y turco). Granada, La Lealtad, 1886.
• Yemen Reviews Hadhrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s-1960s. Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia, vol. 57. Leiden: Brill, 1997. x, 392 pp. ISBN 90-04 10771 1 LC# JV8750.5.H33 1997 Engseng Ho, an anthropologist, discusses the role of the muwallad in the region. The term muwallad, used primarily in reference to those of 'mixed blood,' is brilliantly analyzed through ethnographic and textual information.
• The British-Yemeni Society, Hadhrami migration in the 19th and 20th centuries
• Yemen Articles Interwiev: Hamid Al-Gadri
• Dictionary.com by the Lexico Publishing Group: mulatto Definition 1.
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary: mulatto Definition 2.
• Cambridge Dictionary of American English: mulatto Definition 3.

External links

• An article on the mulatto depictions in fiction
• Mulatto.org