Literary notes about mulatto (AI summary)
Across a range of literary works from the 19th and early 20th centuries, the term “mulatto” is used both as a straightforward descriptor of mixed racial heritage and a marker laden with social implications. In some texts the word carries an overtly derogatory connotation, as seen in Frederick Douglass’s narrative where it harshly designates a character as a "long-legged mulatto devil" [1]. In other works, such as Stowe’s Uncle Tom's Cabin and writings by Du Bois, “mulatto” functions as a factual identifier while simultaneously exposing the complex social hierarchies and stigmas attached to mixed ancestry [2, 3, 4, 5]. Moreover, the term is also appropriated in sociological and cultural analyses to underscore the persistent marginalization of individuals of mixed race, as noted in the works of Burgess, Park, and others [6, 7, 8]. This multifaceted usage reflects the broader tensions of identity, race, and power embedded in the literature of the period.
- But for you, you long-legged mulatto devil!
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass - “The man is a very light mulatto; he has a brand in one of his hands.”
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - The boy was a handsome, bright-eyed mulatto, of just Henrique’s size, and his curling hair hung round a high, bold forehead.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - She had been married to a bright and talented young mulatto man, who was a slave on a neighboring estate, and bore the name of George Harris.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - First , he ought never to have been born, for he was the mulatto son of a white woman.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. Du Bois - The Mulatto in the United States.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - It is not too much to say that no Negro and no mulatto, in America at least, has ever been fully in the white man's world.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - The Mulatto as a Cultural Type.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park
