Mulatto

From Oklahoma

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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.Template:Fact 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.

The etymology of the term is derived from the Spanish and Portuguese word mulato (lit. "young mule"), which itself is derived from mulo (mule). <ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=mulatto&sourceid=Mozilla-search</ref> It was once a generic designation name for any hybrid. This is believed to be the reason it is considered offensive by some English-speakersTemplate:Fact where it is not so considered by Spanish-speakers or Portuguese-speakers.<ref>Vania Penha-Lopes. "What Next? On Race and Assimilation in the United States and Brazil." Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 26, No. 6 (Jul., 1996), pp. 809-826</ref> The former might prefer terms like "biracial" or "mixed" instead.

[edit] Etymology

[edit] Muwallad versus mulo/mula

Template:Unreferenced The term mulato is documented in the data bank of the Real Academia Española (Royal Academy of Spain) 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 &ellip; 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, rais