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Post by lesserknownpea on Dec 21, 2014 12:42:38 GMT
We have a lot of biracial family members in our extended family circle.
One day, a couple nieces and I were watching a Jane Austen film and someone used the term mulatto. We had the subtitles on for one niece who is deaf, and so one of the biracial nieces saw how the word was spelled, and noticed the similarity to the word "mule".
We paused the movie and looked up the origin, and learned that early slave owners felt that blacks were less than human, and the offspring of a white and a black was a hybrid, a mule.
They even believed such a person would be unable to procreate !
so after learning this, the biracial family members no longer use this term, and educate others when the opportunity arises.
Do do you use this word? Do you feel it's just old fashioned? Or like our family, do you feel disgusted that anyone could ever refer to other humans with the term mule?
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Dani-Mani
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Post by Dani-Mani on Dec 21, 2014 13:00:07 GMT
I am biracial. I would not be pleased if someone called me mulatto.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 13:05:00 GMT
Dani-Mani I didn't know you were bi-racial! From the way you described yourself you identified as an African American woman (we would say Black here as we aren't Americans). Neat!!!  |
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Dani-Mani
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Post by Dani-Mani on Dec 21, 2014 13:06:13 GMT
I identify as black. Always have, always will.
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Dani-Mani
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Post by Dani-Mani on Dec 21, 2014 13:07:00 GMT
And I don't use the term AA because my lineage did not come from Africa.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 13:10:32 GMT
I apologize then. That is why we say Black here.
When you are a mom of a mixed race child, I find it exciting to meet a child who is of mixed parents.
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Post by lesserknownpea on Dec 21, 2014 13:18:07 GMT
Elannah, you'd be thrilled then in this family. We have every shade from very dark to super white, with Mexican and Japanese branches, also. You can imagine the beautiful children, I love family get togethers.
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Post by nepean on Dec 21, 2014 13:32:34 GMT
I must have been living under a rock, I have never heard that term. I can't think of any reason why it would ever be necessary to use that term and now I know the term I would be quite disturbed to hear someone say that word. Why do people think it is ok to make themselves feel superior while putting others down  |
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Post by anxiousmom on Dec 21, 2014 13:36:59 GMT
I haven't heard that term in a long long time. It is a very outdated term, and I would consider it racist. When I did hear it, it was only used by the really old folks who grew up with the word and who never really considered the implications (similar to the term colored.)
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Post by cyndijane on Dec 21, 2014 13:37:24 GMT
^^^^ This.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 13:38:24 GMT
I am sure I would love to be in a room full of mixed raced kids and their parents. We always have tons to talk about. I remember innocently saying how beautiful mixed race children then adults are without thinking who I was saying it to (a friend of the family and I forgot her dad was Chinese) and she said that was a really sweet thing to say and I truly mean it but she really appreciated at  |
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Post by wandawoman on Dec 21, 2014 13:44:32 GMT
I don't use the word, but heard someone use it a few days ago. I was surprised.
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Post by lesserknownpea on Dec 21, 2014 13:45:31 GMT
Anxiousmom and cindijane, there were several family members who used that term. They did not find it racist, just a way of describing themselves. Or at least they used to.
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rickmer
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Post by rickmer on Dec 21, 2014 14:16:21 GMT
i do not use that word and recently heard a friend say it.... we talked about the meaning of it and she was mortified. she said she would not be using it any longer.
very common here and not really noticed.... the largest "visible minority" at my kids' public school would be children of white/asian parents.
my daughter is in high school and they refer to kids as "half black" or "half asian".... which is how the kids also identify themselves. alternatively they say "mixed".....as in of mixed parentage.
i asked her if she knew the term mulatto and she gave me a blank stare and said "no, why would i? i speak french not spanish".
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melissa
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Post by melissa on Dec 21, 2014 14:30:02 GMT
It's a very outdated term.
However, I beg to differ on the origins of the term. It does not come from slave owners in America. It dates back far further than that and has nothing to do with mules! There is one theory out there on that origin of the word, but it is not an accurate one. That theory of the origin of the word dates back to racialists who also proposed that those of mixed racial backgrounds would be infertile as well.
The word either goes back to Arabic or Spanish/Portugese... both long before there were slaves in the US.
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QueenoftheSloths
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Post by QueenoftheSloths on Dec 21, 2014 14:30:34 GMT
My manager at work just recently used this word, referring to the girlfriend of one of her grandsons. I had heard the term, because I read a lot, but I thought it was very outdated and was surprised that she used it.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Dec 21, 2014 14:32:55 GMT
No, we don't use that word. My husband is black and I am white. We use the term biracial, although, honestly we
Don't talk about race much. My brother and his wife just adopted a biracial baby and I mentioned to my kids that he was "mixed" and they looked at me like I was crazy. They had never heard that term. If they need to describe someone by skin color they use descriptors like darker, lighter, skin like mine, etc.
I'm not sure what I would talk about differently with parents of mixed race kids?
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tiffanytwisted
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Post by tiffanytwisted on Dec 21, 2014 14:35:55 GMT
Believe it or not, the first time I ever encountered the term was in my social studies textbook in grammar school. It was a vocabulary word.
I haven't heard it used much and have never used it myself.
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Post by hop2 on Dec 21, 2014 14:41:10 GMT
The only place I have ever heard/read that term is in historical period books or movies or discussion there of. I have never, never, ever heard that term outside of a humanities or literature class. ( except by a character performing )
I've never anyone refer to themselves or anyone else in real life as a mulatto.
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Post by Pahina722 on Dec 21, 2014 14:45:15 GMT
DS is mixed, so when obnoxious people ask him what race he is, his standard answer is "human." I teach African-American lit; my older AA students frequently use the term. The younger students, though, usually have no idea what it means. And the older ones aren't using it derogatively but as a simple descriptor to designate someone with one white and one black parent. (For example, one woman used it to describe her own children who have a white father.)
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Post by Tamhugh on Dec 21, 2014 14:47:19 GMT
I'm not sure what I would talk about differently with parents of mixed race kids? I think that if I had mixed race children it would be nice to talk to parents of others in the same situation, just like moms of boys like to talk to other moms of boys, moms of girls, etc. In some areas, mixed race children might have unique issues to deal with. My cousin's children are mixed race and I remember her talking to other moms about how to deal with simple things like her daughter's hair care needs. |
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Dani-Mani
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Post by Dani-Mani on Dec 21, 2014 14:56:32 GMT
I'm not sure what I would talk about differently with parents of mixed race kids? Hair is a big one. |
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grinningcat
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Post by grinningcat on Dec 21, 2014 15:03:09 GMT
I've never used the word. I have only seen it in Victorian/Edwardian era writings.
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iluvpink
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Post by iluvpink on Dec 21, 2014 15:03:27 GMT
I've never heard anyone use the term mulatto in real life. Only in older books, movies, etc.
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anniebygaslight
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Post by anniebygaslight on Dec 21, 2014 15:06:03 GMT
Not a word I have ever heard used in the UK. I'm just aware of it from reading.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Dec 21, 2014 15:11:49 GMT
I'm not sure what I would talk about differently with parents of mixed race kids? Hair is a big one. I could see that, especially with girls. I have four boys, though. I just thought it was strange how "exciting" and "neat" it was for a previous poster to talk to people who have mixed race kids. |
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Post by lesserknownpea on Dec 21, 2014 16:09:15 GMT
It's a very outdated term. However, I beg to differ on the origins of the term. It does not come from slave owners in America. It dates back far further than that and has nothing to do with mules! There is one theory out there on that origin of the word, but it is not an accurate one. That theory of the origin of the word dates back to racialists who also proposed that those of mixed racial backgrounds would be infertile as well. The word either goes back to Arabic or Spanish/Portugese... both long before there were slaves in the US. The info about muwallad was interesting. Thank you. The vast majority of the sites I have found still put the root word as mule. I'm sorry if I gave the impression I though the American slave owners coined the term. What I said was that "early slave owners believed" those things. I didn't specify what country or century. I think this sums it up well: "most linguists or lexographers agree that the word “mulatto” comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word for mule, which is written the same way but pronounced moolay. Now knowing what a mule is, a cross between and horse and a donkey, the comparison is quite ugly. Most academics that have studied the origin of the word are quite certain that word has its roots in Spain’s prominent role in the slave trade and their need to brand people based on the amount of white European blood running through their veins. " I think we agree mostly |
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Post by annabella on Dec 21, 2014 16:13:44 GMT
I'm bi-racial and have never heard anyone use that word.
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Post by melanell on Dec 21, 2014 16:13:52 GMT
I was under the impression that that term was no longer used by most individuals. The only time I even see it is on old census reports and other old paperwork that I look at for genealogical research purposes.
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Post by auntkelly on Dec 21, 2014 16:20:36 GMT
I haven't heard that term since I was a little girl, which was a long long time ago.
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