“The gold industry brought real change to the Piedmont. In 1837 Congress authorized building branches of the U.S. Mint in Charlotte, North Carolina; Dahlonega, Georgia; and New Orleans Louisiana. The Charlotte Mint operated from 1838 through 1861. The total worth of the gold coins struck at the mint amounted to $5 million. Many of the mining engineers who worked in the Piedmont’s mining industry came from overseas. Some arrived from Latin America, where gold and silver had been mined for centuries. Others came from well-known mining areas in Europe. Cornish miners, English investors, German mining engineers, Italian workers—they all came to North Carolina to try their fortune. One observer claimed that over 13 languages were spoken on Charlotte’s streets in the 1830s!
Different than popular opinion, the colonial south was a host of several migration movements long before the 1900’s. Many of the mining engineers that arrived from Latin America and eventually settled in North Carolina would intermarry with so-called Black Americans. Another portion of these early Mexican and Latin American migrants would form mysterious Native American tribes with dubious origins. As these South American and Mexican migrants settled into their new surroundings, thousands began to form relationships with local communities, particularly their African American allies. The shared experiences of labor and life in mining camps created bonds that transcended cultural barriers. Intermarriage between these groups became common, leading to a blending of cultures and traditions.
One of the reasons why this is not widely known today is largely due to “paper genocide.” In U.S. Census records during the 1800s and prior, participants in the census had only three ways to identify themselves, namely, white, black, and mulatto. In terms of the latter form of identification cited, a mulatto on very rare occasion meant someone who was the progeny of a European and a so-called Negro. During the colonial era, the term mulatto was utilized to describe people who were not of European or Negro descent.
Origin of the Term Mulatto
Before we proceed further in our discussion, it is important that we define the term mulatto and the sense of how it was used during the colonial era. Many of the Mexicans and Latin Americans that migrated to North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and other regions of the South were identified as mulattos in US Census reports, which eventually led to them becoming identified as black or negro. The Afro-Latin Reader: History and Culture in the United States, edited by Miriam Jimenez Roman and Juan Flores makes the following observation on page 31 of the said text states on page 28:In 1774, a royal official asserted that the Hispano population of northern Mexico was of Negro, Indian, and European ancestry and were so intermixed as to make it difficult for anyone to trace their ancestry…..
In general, as the status of a person improved, his race changed. He might begin life as Negro, pure or otherwise, and end life as a mulatto or Eurafrican, mestizo or Eurindian, or even as Espanol. Race, therefore, was not definite by the late eighteenth century and many people were of such a mixed character that they were simply de color quebrado, that is to say, “all mixed up.” Finally, ethnic designations came to be of little value in determining actual ancestry, since, for example, the child of a Spaniard and a mestizo usually was called a Spaniard and the child of a mulatto and an Indian was often called a mulatto. Thus, many persons classified as Espanol in the census records were not pure-bloods and many mulattos were actually part Indian. “
The fluidity of race held in Mexico during the late 1700s was very much akin to the worldview of Americans living in the South. In its earliest usage, the term mulatto referred to someone of Moorish heritage and that of another peoplehood. In some ways the term may have been an insult or derogatory spin on Moorish heritage. In an article written by Jack D. Forbes for The Journal of Ethnic Studies entitled, Mulattoes and People of Color In Anglo-North America: Implications For Black-Indian Relations, states:
“The various dictionaries of N. Bailey (1728-61) define ‘Mulatto’ as ‘one born of parents, of whome one is a Moor, and the other of another Nation. He also states that a ‘Moor’ is ‘a Native of Mauritania in Africa, a Blackmoor.’
Forbes observation is similar to what appears in a Wikipedia article under the topic Mulatto:
“The English term and spelling mulatto is derived from the Spanish and Portuguese mulato. It was a common term in the Southeastern United States during the era of slavery. Some sources suggest that it may derive from the Portuguese word mula (from the Latin mūlus), meaning ‘mule‘, the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey. The Real Academia Española traces its origin to mulo in the sense of hybridity; originally used to refer to any mixed race person. The term is now generally considered outdated and offensive in non-Spanish and non-Portuguese speaking countries, and was considered offensive even in the 19th century.
Jack D. Forbes suggests it originated in the Arabic term muwallad, which means ‘a person of mixed ancestry’. Muwallad literally means ‘born, begotten, produced, generated; brought up’, with the implication of being born of Arab and non-Arab parents. Muwallad is derived from the root word WaLaD (Arabic: ولد, direct Arabic transliteration: waw, lam, dal) and colloquial Arabic pronunciation can vary greatly. Walad means ‘descendant, offspring, scion; child; son; boy; young animal, young one
In al-Andalus, muwallad referred to the offspring from parents of Arab Muslim origin and non-Arab Muslim people who adopted the Islamic religion and manners. Specifically, the term was historically applied to the descendants of Arab or Berber Muslims and indigenous Christian Iberians who, after several generations of living among a Muslim majority, adopted their culture and religion.”
The offensiveness of the term mulatto can be seen in its original meaning before it was applied to people. In an online article written by Bettye Kearse entitled Mulattoes and Other Mixed-Race Americans, we read:
“Interestingly, the etymology of “mulatto” is usually believed to have been derived in the 16th century from the Spanish and Portuguese term mulato, which comes from the Latin m?lus, meaning mule, the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey. Some scholars believe that the word originated centuries earlier with the Arabic term muwallad, referring to individuals born and reared in a community but considered to be and treated as outsiders.”
Remaining within context of our discussion, the term mulatto was also applied to Native Americans. Published by the Native American Guardian’s Association published an article entitled Mulatto and the American Indian, which states:
“The word Mulatto is such a word. The definition in today’s world describes it as a person of White and Black heritage. Although this is true to a point, it is historically false in that it is an oversimplification. From the earliest U.S. Census, the term Mulatto or Free People of Color was used to describe individuals of mixed race, which included mixed-blood American Indians who were subject to tax laws and the U.S. Government.
Colonial and Antebellum eras
Historically in the American South, the term Mulatto was also applied to persons with mixed Native American and African American ancestry. [54] For example, a 1705 Virginia statute reads as follows: “And for clearing all manner of doubts which hereafter may happen to arise upon the construction of this act, or any other act, who shall be accounted a Mulatto, Be it enacted and declared, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That the child of an Indian and the child, grandchild, or great-grandchild, of a negro shall be deemed, accounted, held and taken to be a Mulatto.”
This classification continued into the twentieth century, but it has become a weapon for Progressives in their agenda-driven pursuit in recent years. One of the hardest-hit communities by this new destructive agenda is that of the American Indian.
The first contact between the American Indians and other races resulted in mixed-blood children. Many of these children grew up in limbo and without a voice but knew their ancestry. By the time of the creation of the United States, this mixed-blood demographic numbered in the thousands. For those that stayed with their Tribes, they were absorbed into the general tribal population and needed no special category or classification and were not counted on the U.S. census because the Tribes were considered Sovereign Nations. However, this was not true for those living within the non-Indian communities.”
Examples of Mexicans listed As Black and Mulatto in the Early South
Now that we have discussed the racial dynamics of the colonial era and the origin the word mulatto, through whom many Mexicans that migrated to the South used as a form of identification, let us now take a look at a few examples. Born in 1953, Albert L. Hayes was a man of Mexican descent that migrated to Shiloh, Marengo, Alabama from South Carolina. Here is a picture of him and his wife Margaret Bennett below:
The Mexican heritage in the couple’s features is very prominent. Coincidentally , we find in a census report from 1900, he is listed as black,. And then in 1020 as Mulatto. (See below)
Albert Hayes’ children would be identified as “black” in future census reports and this is a clear case of how many African Americans have Mexican ancestry. Amazingly, we find that the so-called African-American is the sum of three warring powers thst battled European settlers. First, they are the descendant of Moors. They are descendants of “Wild Indians” or Native Americans that refused to agree to any treaty and due to such were reclassified as negroes. They are also descendants of the Aztec Empire vi their Mexican ancestry. Unfortunately, ancestry buffs won’t find such results from a common DNA test, but should utilize CRI Genetics testing for ancestry results in this regard.
Readers should keep in mind that knowledge of the North Carolina gold rush, though commonly known during the early-1900s, is rare knowledge today. It is for this reason that information about the migration of Latin Americans to the southeastern states is equally not known. The author estimates that over 65 percent of the African American population descend from the Ltin American population based on cnsus reports and other records, like birth and death certificates and etc. We will continue ths discussion in the near future. Peace!
