The Advantages and Disadvantages of Blended Ancestry

Abstract

The sixth chapter examines how Mulattoes and other people of mixed ancestry sought to access freedom within the British empire of North America and the Caribbean. While the overwhelming majority of mixed-heritage people languished under some form of bondage, when considering those of African ancestry, Mulattoes had comparative advantages when seeking to gain and maintain liberty. Both qualitative evidence and quantitative data show that Mulattoes benefitted from light-skinned privilege and other connections to European whiteness. Mulattoes made up the majority of free people of color in regions such as the Chesapeake and Caribbean, as well as in other regions. Mulatto numbers in Jamaica, Maryland, and Virginia are examined in this chapter and compared with other French and Spanish colonies. While Mulatto privilege generally existed in the colonial period, this must always be juxtaposed with the disadvantages that mixed ancestry and hypodescent brought in the everyday lives of slaves and free people of color. Compared to those European colonists, mixed-heritage people had to fight to maintain freedom in colonial societies as are commonly seen in runaway slave advertisements, which are also explored up through 1775 in this chapter.