Are terms like mulatto and quadroon racist?

DCal430

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2011
6,020
9
81
Honestly I don't know, I always assumed these were just terms of facts not racist or anything, but i was wondering do some blacks find them offensives. s

FYI:

Mulatto: is someone who is about half black and half white

Quadroon: is someone who 1/4 black and 3/4 white
 

Soundmanred

Lifer
Oct 26, 2006
10,780
6
81
I wonder how many quadroons die unexpectedly each year? I estimate it to be in the hundreds of millions.
 

MaxPayne63

Senior member
Dec 19, 2011
682
0
0
I believe that tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of people find them racist.

edit: son of a bitch; beaten by one minute.
 
Last edited:
Feb 25, 2011
16,984
1,616
126
I've heard mixed-race people use "mulatto" unironically in reference to themselves, and when I asked they said it wasn't a slur.

However, I tend to assume that any term used by a colonial power or occupying force prior to the first Geneva Convention is automatically racist and stuck with "mixed race."

It's bad enough sorting through all the more modern racial slurs, former slurs, soon-to-be-universally-regarded-as-slurs, etc. Might as well leave more archaic terminology in the past.
 

Colt45

Lifer
Apr 18, 2001
19,720
1
0
I thought mulatto was kinda standard, with mestizo, metis, etc.

'biracial' is the worst ever. I'd be offended if someone called me that.
 
Feb 25, 2011
16,984
1,616
126
It's missing 'Halfrican'.

It's also missing "Canadian."

I learned it from waitstaff. It's code for African American. They use it to tell each other about expected tips, etc.

No, seriously.

More widely used and/or useful in the south, where there aren't as many actual Canadians, though.
 

darkxshade

Lifer
Mar 31, 2001
13,749
6
81
Honestly I don't know, I always assumed these were just terms of facts not racist or anything, but i was wondering do some blacks find them offensives. s

FYI:

Mulatto: is someone who is about half black and half white

Quadroon: is someone who 1/4 black and 3/4 white


I would estimate half of the black population to take offense to Mulatto and a quarter of the black population would take offense to Quadroon.
 

nehalem256

Lifer
Apr 13, 2012
15,669
8
0
Honestly I don't know, I always assumed these were just terms of facts not racist or anything, but i was wondering do some blacks find them offensives. s

FYI:

Mulatto: is someone who is about half black and half white

Quadroon: is someone who 1/4 black and 3/4 white

Wouldn't it be mulatoos and quadroons that find the terms offensive? :sneaky:
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,113
9,548
126
Wigger goes back waaay farther than I thought.

(US) used in 19th-century United States to refer to the Irish. Sometimes used today in reference to white people in a manner similar to white trash or redneck. Also refers to white youth that imitate urban black youth by means of clothing style, mannerisms, and slang speech. The 'w' at the start of wigger refers to the white person and the 'igger' refers to ******, which is a racial slur for black people.[189] Also used by radical Québécois in self-reference, as in the seminal 1968 book White ******s of America.
 

DCal430

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2011
6,020
9
81
Here are pictures of well known Quadroons:

carlysimon.jpg


Wentworth-Miller-wentworth-miller-24969210-1200-885.jpg


Mariah_Carey_4_by_David_Shankbone.jpg