Timeline for What's the difference between Country Born and Mulatto people in the 18th century New England?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| Aug 12, 2020 at 23:53 | history | edited | sempaiscuba | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added clarification in response to apparent confusion in comments
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| Aug 12, 2020 at 16:33 | comment | added | sempaiscuba | @nick012000 In general usage, the term "mulatto" meant simply "mixed race". It continued to be used in that sense on the US census right up to 1920. (For context, the terms “quadroon” and “octoroon” only appeared on the 1890 US census). It is more common to see descriptions along the lines of "A negro, between a black and a mulatto ..." in adverts for runaway slaves. Some examples are quoted in Runaway Slave Advertisements from Loyalist Newspapers of the Maritime Colonies by Sarah Elizabeth Chute. | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 16:23 | comment | added | sempaiscuba | @JohnBollinger It's not in the answer, because that is not what was asked in the question. They were indeed partitioned into those categories, but that was by 21st-century scholars, not by those who placed the advertisements in the 18th-century. However, by all means, read the linked paper if anything remains unclear to you. | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 16:16 | comment | added | John Bollinger | @sempaiscuba, the context and significance of the table are unclear from this answer. If it indeed simply records descriptive terms from runaway slave advertisements then it would be helpful to add that. However, I am inclined to think that there's more to it. The fact that the entries in every row add up to exactly 100% suggests that the advertisements surveyed were paritioned into these categories, so that for the purposes of the table, at least, the categories are indeed exclusive. That would affect how the table should be interpreted. | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 15:32 | comment | added | sempaiscuba | @StephanKolassa "Creole" didn't come to mean "mixed-race" until later. Originally it just meant "born in the colonies" (adopted from the French term). Consider, for example, the term "Creoles of colour" which was originally used to distinguish non-white "creoles" from white "creoles" in Louisiana. | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 15:20 | comment | added | sempaiscuba | @JohnBollinger They are not mutually exclusive. The table simply records the descriptive terms used by people when they advertised runaway slaves in Massachusetts in those decades. Why would you expect different people to be consistent in their use of those terms? | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 14:42 | comment | added | John Bollinger | I don't find this explanation very satisfying, inasmuch as it seems to indicate that the various categories are not all mutually exclusive. Is it really a coincidence that the entries in each and every row add up to exactly 100% ? | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 14:14 | comment | added | MAGolding | @Stephan Kolassa Possibly someone could fit two or more different categories at the same time. A country born slave might be either negro or mulatto, a negro might be either African or country born. But it looks like all the categories are exclusive and nobody is in two categories. | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 13:23 | comment | added | Stephan Kolassa | Hm. Actually, I find "Negro" not self-explanatory at all. If two "Africans" have a child born in the colonies, then it sounds like they would be "Country born". What is a "Negro"? (Incidentally, what's "Creole" about any of the categories, except for "Mulatto"?) | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 11:48 | comment | added | mishan | @nick012000 and if they had a white partner the resulting child would have been Octaroon. | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 11:45 | comment | added | nick012000 | More specifically, Mulatto means "half White, half black", at least in some instances. If a Mulatto had a child by a White person, the resulting child would have been a Quadroon. | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 1:44 | comment | added | Emerald Bay | That's the one! Thank you so much for clarifying this! I appreciate it! | |
| Aug 12, 2020 at 1:43 | vote | accept | Emerald Bay | ||
| Aug 12, 2020 at 1:38 | history | answered | sempaiscuba | CC BY-SA 4.0 |