Is using "mulatto" offensive

Like Charmian, I was under the impression “mulatto” was a technical term, much like “octoroon” (Someone who is 1/8 th black.) I’m guessing the situations where someone would need to use “octoroon” are few to none.

I always thought the term “oreo” to describe someone half and half was sort of offensive, but I’ve heard a few people refer to themselves that way.

>> the word is Spanish for “mule”,

No it is not as any dictionary will show. The Spanish for mule is mula. Mulato is ethimologically connected to mula from the meaning “hibrid” but it is not and has never been AFAIK offensive in Spanish.

what ever happend to good ol’ “octaroon”?

There are many threads about this here on the dope which are very interesting.

It basically comes down to the fact that, at least here in the states, different areas use different names.

Where I grew up, we all used Hispanic. I use Hispanic to describe myself.

In the end, its not which term you use, Hispanic or Latino/a, but how you use it.

It is a word with a more specific meaning than, say, “mixed”, as it usually means someone with one black parent and one white parent (it is sometimes used for anyone of mixed black and white ancestry). Like “quadroon” and “octoroon” the term came into popularity in a time when knowing a person’s precise pedigree was important, and so has associations with slavery, prostitution, and the one-drop rule. “Quadroon” and “octoroon” have fallen into disuse largely because it is no longer of much social or legal signficance if a person has some small percentage of black ancestry – in the modern US most “octoroons” would just be considered white. I imagine that “mulatto” is still around because being biracial is still considered to be of some social significance. I’m sure most people who use the word don’t really mean offense, and many people may not in fact be offended by hearing it, but given the many negative associations it is best to avoid the word.

On a lighter note, another biracial friend of mine coined the term “Halfrican-American” to refer to herself and siblings. :slight_smile:

Any dictionary will not show that. I know, as I looked it up in Webster’s before making the post. It seems, however, that I would have been better served by visiting http://www.webster.com than in using the bound edition I had at hand, as the online version does give a more complete etymology.

I did not say it was offensive in Spanish. I do not speak Spanish at all and have no experience living in a predominantly Spanish-speaking culture, so I would not venture to say what is and is not offensive in that language. However, the connection to “mule” does offend some English speakers.

In my experience, “Oreo” is meant to be offensive. I’ve never heard it used as a neutral descriptor of one’s heritage (such as one might use “mulatto” in such a way), but rather as an indicator of a personality flaw. The term “oreo” is used to indicate a Black person who “acts White” (you know… Black on the outside, White on the inside…), and is generally meant as an insult (not to mention that the whole concept of “acting White” or “acting Black” can be insulting, but that’s another thread).

As for “mulatto”, I agree with Lamia; the word is derived from the word “mule”, and is, like monstro said, a “throwback term” from when Black/biracial people were not highly regarded. I, too, have bi-racial friends who consider the term offensive, and I can certainly understand why.

But then, I’m just a plain old Colored gal :wink: so I can’t speak from direct experience.

My mixed-race friends have referred to themselves as “mixed” or “biracial,” not mulatto. I’d be very hesitant to use the word myself. Better to play it safe and go with biracial. Even if you don’t mean mulatto in an offensive way, it’s quite likely that the person you’re describing could hear it in an offensive way.

Here in N.C., most folks use Latino, btw. Well, that’s not true. There’s a large subset of white and black folks that call all Latinos “Mexican” regardless of where they’re from.

Pat: “What do you call someone who’s half Scottish and half black?”
Mike: “A Macaroon!”

By the way, do people in England still call American Indians “Red Indians?” I know they still did quite recently.

Leadbelly used the term “yaller skin,” and he found the women too expensive for his tastes.

The only time I’ve heard American people say “mulatto” today was either as teasing among black people, or as a slur.

Some people (Cubans and Brazilians in particular) use ‘mulato’ or 'mulata; a lot, because in their culture there is a distinction made between a ‘full blood’ African, and one with mixed features; one that doesn’t seem to be made by most Americans today. Colin Powell is ‘black’, even if he part British in ancestry according to his own autobiography.

As for Hispanic, I think its fine when used as a cultural or linguistic category, but when people try to make it a ‘racial’ category and suggest that Sammy Sosa, Cesar Chávez, Alberto Fujimori, Rigoberta Menchu, and King Juan Carlos are members of the same ‘race’, I think its just a bit silly. I only get offended when I hear people say things like “she looks Hispanic but he looks white/black/Asian etc.”, or "Äll Hipsanic people are… (generalised comment).

I’ve used cafe’ au lait in the past and have as yet, never received static, but don’t go by me, I still use oriental

The following is a direct quote from my Chambers under mulatto:

I had a biracial friend in high school who referred to herself as ‘mocha.’

That’s for those who are an eighth black. Mulatto is half, octa is eighth.

what is 1/4th?

A tigerwood.

Quadroon. As a side note, “octoroon”, while technically meaning someone who is 1/8 black, was once used as a general term for anyone with only a small percentage of “black blood”. They might have more than 1/8, but often had much less.

I guess I’m the first actual “mulatto” to weigh in here. This is a very thick question, and one I have thought about a lot. Just to get the regional stuff out of the way, I grew up in the mid-west and east (Chicago and upstate NY) and now live in northern CA.

When someone asks me about my racial and cultural heritage I give it to 'em straight: My mom is black, my dad is white - and usually I add that he’s Jewish, as that is also of interest to people who are asking this question. If someone insists that I label myself I choose to say I’m mixed or bi-racial, though usually answering what my parents are fulfills whatever curiosity drove the person to ask about my background. When referring to what group I fall into, I’ll also often use “women of color” or “people of color” just because I like the broadness of the term. I know that there are some who find it offensive, both because of the “colored” connotation, and because white folks can rightly say, “What, and I have no color?”

If someone referred to me as mulatto I wouldn’t be offended exactly, because I know that the term is specific and clearly designates my mixed racial and cultural heritage. But I would think the person was not particularly sensitive to the nuances of the history of African Americans, and that they could use some educating. It would take me aback, but not anger me.

I have been called an oreo or zebra and been terribly offended and angry and upset, but this hasn’t happened since I was a child.

Part of the problem I have in discussing this issue is that there are so many different ways in which one can be black in the US, and that often it is a question of how one self-identifies. Usually when I answer that my mom is black that spurs a discussion about her heritage, with my answering that no, she’s not of only African decent, and that yes if we want to get technical about it, I have some French, some Inuit, and some Cuban (and we won’t even go into what that might mean!) as well from her. However she has and always will identify herself as black, because both her parents do, I suppose. Both my parents don’t identify as the same race, so that makes me have to think harder about what I will identify myself as.

This question is getting stickier for me still, because my first child with my whitest-man-on-the-planet husband (descended from a Mayflower passenger on one side fer cryin’ out loud) is due early August. What on earth she’ll identify herself as I haven’t any idea. I just I hope that I can help her to understand the complicated role race plays in how many of us see ourselves, and how others see us too, especially here in the US.

I’m happy to answer any questions at all, keeping in mind that I can’t even begin to pretend I speak for anyone but myself. But if anyone wants to ask anything, bring it on…

Twiddle

One could wish that she would never have to identify herself as anything other than a gorgeous human being.

Thanks for a very informative post, Twiddle