The Study of Racialism

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

40 Myths and a Mule: The building-block myths of the Black-White historical narrative of the United States.

This is a paper I am working on, detailing 40 historical myths which are taught to todays children via the stories about our country's racial past. I collected about 10 myths from Frank's list of historical myths, and added around 30 others. I am using Frank's definition for myth: "a counter-factual belief which is taught to young people in order to exemplify social standards which they are expected to follow in adulthood." Here I am using "narrative" to mean a story or collection of stories which transmit these myths. Concerning the title, if you dont get it, its a pun on "40 acres and a mule", the pun being that mule = mulatto, thus the title really reads: "40 lies and a mulatto".

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Myths about how slavery was practiced

Myth 1. Black slaves were acquired by European and Arab slave traders, by raiding the african coast and kidnapping villagers.

Myth 2. “Slavery” was life-long.

Myth 3. Slaves had no legal rights.

Myth 4. All slaves were Black.

Myths about the black “race”

Myth 5. The law classified a person as black, if they had any visible african ancestry.

Myth 6. Despite their appearance, most blacks are as mixed as mulattos.

Myth 7. Black genes are dominant over white genes.

Myth 8. Black parents commonly produce mixed-looking children

Myths about the white “race”

Myth 9. White folks have no African genetic admixture.

Myth 10. A person was white if they looked caucasian.

Myth 11. A person was white if they had mostly European ancestry.

Myth 12. European immigrants had the same intelligence as whites.

Myths about the mulatto “race”

Myth 13. Mulatto is a derogatory term meaning “mule”.

Myth 14. Americans viewed mulattos and blacks as the same race.

Myth 15. White admixture in Black-Identified Americans, comes from rape.

Myth 16. Mulattos have an intelligence intermediate to Whites and Blacks.

Myth 17. Racial admixture makes Mulattos more intelligent than Blacks.

Myths about the black community

Myth 18. Colorism was a problem within the black community since slavery..

Myth 19. The black community always saw itself as “African”.

Myth 20. White society forced Blacks to adopt the One-Drop-Rule.

Myth 21. The Black community opposed legalized segregation.

Myth 22. The civil rights movement was paid for and organized by blacks.

Myth 23. There were many great black novelists, inventors, polititians, scientists, actors, and scholars before the civil rights movement.

Myths about the mulatto community

Myth 24. Slave masters invented the word “mulatto” in order to control blacks by dividing them into light-skinned and dark-skinned groups.

Myth 25. Mulattos identified as black people.

Myth 26. Mulatto families did not breed themselves white.

Myth 27. “Passing” for white was a rare occurrence.

Myth 28. Before the civil rights movement, Mulattos supported segregation.

Myth 29. Mulattos resisted the civil rights movement?

Myths about the white community

Myth 30. All slave owners were White.

Myth 31. Before the Civil War, all White southerners were slave owners.

Myth 32. People who “Passed” for white cut off all contact with their family.

Myth 33. Only people with black-ancestry “passed” for white.

Myth 34. People who “Passed” for White secretly identified as Black.

Myth 35. Whites did not actively support the civil rights movement.

Myth 36. White parents produce “throw-back” children who look Black.

Myth 37. Whites willingly embraced the one-drop-rule.

Myth 38. The one-drop-rule targeted blacks.

Myth 39. White families kept their black ancestry a secret.

Myth 40. Mulatto families could not legally and publically become White families.

Salsassin · Suspended Joined: 04 Apr 2005 {Posts: 3508 }

http://backintyme.com/essays/?p=27

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

And I intend to deliver, thank you.

Ive actually answered each myth in the style that Frank wrote his essay --> he gave me the idea, of course. However, I didnt want to include my answers untill all of the facts are exactly straight, sourced, and proper. I dont want to do anything unscholarly, now.

Salsassin · Suspended Joined: 04 Apr 2005 {Posts: 3508 }

fwsweet

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

Guys,

thanks for sharing! I want to say that I have written a response for every single one of the myths. However, at the present time my understanding of the actual REALITY is not sufficient to really explain the myths properly, thus I have chosen not to include my answers out of worry that people would take issue with the specific details. But I see people are confused because for the sake of simplicity, some of the titles are not all that accurate and without the explanations they seem silly to the informed person, so let me give you the answers:

NOTE: SOME OF THESE MYTHS WERE COPIED DIRECTLY, VERBATIM, FROM THE ESSAY: Myths Across the Color Line, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, by Frank W Sweet, May 1, 2007

THESE ARE ONLY PRELIMINARY!

Myths about how slavery was practiced

Myth 1. Black slaves were acquired by European and Arab slave traders, by raiding the african coast and kidnapping villagers. —

In reality, life-long slavery was endemic to africa throughout the international slave-trade, and the vast majority of black slaves were purchased legally from African slave masters.

Myth 2. Before the civil war, forced labor was slavery. —

In reality, life-long slavery was invented in the 1830s, and was customary for only 30 years when the civil war brought it to an end. Prior to this time, slavery was in fact indentured servitude, and was never life-long. Servants were freed after they reached a specified age ( usually 21 years ), or number of years of service ( usualy 7 to 14 years ).

Myth 3. Slaves had no legal rights –

Actually, chattle-slavery ( slaves are property with no rights ), was invented by the dread-scott decision of 1857, in which the Supreme Court ruled that blacks, being non-citizens of the United States, could not sue for their freedom. Prior to this time, slaves could and sometimes did sue for their freedom in the courts, especially in the case that the master abused the slave in a fashion which was illegal.

Myth 4. There were no slaves in the northern states. –

I havent written an essay response for this yet but I will soon.

Myths about the black “race”

Myth 5. The law classified a person as black, if they had any visible african ancestry –

In reality, it was possible in all states for a person with visible african ancestry to be legally defined as white. In four states, Alabama, Florida, Lousiana, and South Carolina, the law mainly classified people with obvious african ancestry as mixed-race; neither black nor white. In Lousiana, in 1909, the law held that a person with ½ or more white blood was legally a person-of color ( mulatto ), rather than a black person.

Myth 6. Most blacks are mixed enough to be called mulattos –

In fact, genetic studies reveal that the average white admixture in black-identified americans, is between 17 and 25 percent, with the best estimate at about 20. However, because the “average” is really a mean on a bell-curve, only half of all blacks are over the 20 percent line, and only 10 percent are at least half white. The number of blacks who are infact mulattos ( from a “racial” point of view ), is probably less than a third of the total population.

Myth 7. Black genes are more dominant than white genes –

In fact, “black” genes are not dominant over genes from other ancestries. Children of one black and one white parents, have a ¼ probablity of ending up with white skin, a ¼ probablity of ending up with black skin, and a ½ probablity of ending up with intermediate skin color. Other features such as lips, eye-color, nose, and hair-texture, are also inhereited with no particular preference for the black trait, for example, children with a black-looking parent of mixed ancestry and a white parent, commonly look entirely caucasian.

Myth 8. The Black – White IQ gap has remained constant. –

In reality, the black white IQ gap has been steadily shriking from 30 points in 1940, to 15 points in 1975, to 12 points in 2006, and is probably still falling.

Myth 9. Black parents commonly produce mixed-looking children. –

In fact, this is a rare occurrence that takes place primarily among two mulatto parents with black phenotypes. The randomness of genetic recombination occasionaly selects mostly the European genes from the parents, rather than the African genes, producing a child who is mixed-looking, even though both parents look black.

Myths about the white “race”

Myth 10. White folks have no African genetic admixture. —

In fact, about one-third of White Americans carry traces of sub-Saharan DNA from Black slaves whose descendants passed through the U.S. color line within the past three centuries to join the White endogamous group. (This is separate from knowing that the human species emerged in Africa, and non-Africans descend from a small band that crossed from Africa to Asia about 75 millennia ago.) Nevertheless, the amount of sub-Saharan DNA in White Americans is insignificant. Hence, there are two ways of looking at this, both accurate. One says that most of the DNA of sub-Saharan origin in the U.S. population is found inside the bodies of African Americans. The other says that there are twice as many White Americans as Black ones who have detectable sub-Saharan DNA.

Myth 11. A person was white if they looked caucasian. –

In fact, tens of thousands of people were classified as white, even though they did not appear entirely Caucasian. Ohio and Massachussetts Law, in 1815, defined anyone with more than ½ white blood, and less than ½ black blood, as legally white, no matter how dark they were. On the other hand, in many states the law classified people who looked fully caucasian, as non-white, because they possessed too much african ancestry.

Myth 12. A person was white if they had mostly European ancestry –

In reality, white Americans descriminated against people of most european backgrounds, and regarded them as non-whites. Originally ( prior to 1850 ), only those people with nearly pure Brittish ancestry were considered white. Germans and Irish for instance, despite their caucasian appearance, were socially defined as non-whites. Between 1880 and 1950, Americans considered whites to be those people with mostly Northern European ancestry. By the 1970s, Jews, Southern Europeans, and Eastern Europeans, were also considered white.

Myth 13. European immigrants in America had the same intelligence as whites –

In reality, Americans of European ancestries which were not considered white, had markedly lower intelligence than white Americans. In 1922, Jews, Russians, Poles, Italians, and Spanish, had IQ scores that were so low, that Congress restricted immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe in order to prevent the “moronization” of the American population.

Myths about the mulatto “race”

Myth 14. Americans viewed mulattos and blacks as the same race –

In fact, before 1940, mulattos and blacks were viewed as the same “caste”, rather than strictly the same race. In the Indian Caste system, a particular caste, for instance “Ksaitriya” ( warrior-caste ), is divided into multiple sub-castes. Each sub-caste differs in its occupation and level of spiritual purity. Similarly, in the American caste system, mulattos occupied one of the sub-castes within the Negro category, and blacks occupied the other. The reason was that most americans viewed mulattos as either racially superior, or as racially inferior to blacks. Mulattos were not simply the “best looking of the blacks”, or “the most arrogant”, but infact were thought to possess entirely different capacities, such as longevity, intelligence, vigor, morality, and impulsiveness.

Myth 15. Mulatto is a derogatory term meaning “mule”. —

In fact, while “mulatto” is a Spanish and Portuguese word that does translate to “mule-like”, there is no indication from Spanish and Portuguese records that it had a derogatory connotation. At the time it was invented c. 1400, mules were well understood examples of racial hybridization, so the use of a similar term to describe a mixture of races was natural. The first American literary descriptions that cast the word Mulatto in a derogatory sense appear after 1920, and the term was the typical self-designation of people with mixed afro-european ancestry in the United States, up untill the 1930s.

Myth 16. Mulattos have an intelligence intermediate to Whites and Blacks. –

In reality, a review of six studies of mulatto intelligence reveals that the mulatto IQ is 97. The white American IQ is 100, and the black American IQ is 88, thus the mulatto IQ is nowhere near intermediate to the two.

Myth 17. The higher mulatto intelligence ( over blacks ) is due to racial admixture –

In fact, while mulattos with one black and one white parent are generally about 50 to 65 percent white, the IQ gap between mulattos and whites is only 3 points ( a closure of 75% ). While genetic explanations are possible, it is more likely that change in environment and different responses ( in terms of test anxiety) to taking IQ exams, are responsible for the intelligence increase.

Myth 18. European genetic admixture in Black-Identified Americans, comes from rape. —

This myth comes in two versions. Some Whites say that admixture resulted from Black-on-White rape after the Civil War. Most African Americans and White liberals attribute it to White-on-Black rape during slavery. In fact, although rape has happened across the color line in both directions, the current levels of African genetic admixture in White Americans and of European genetic admixture in Black Americans match what one would expect from the number of actual documented intermarriages. Before 1691, intermarriage was routine. Before the Civil War it was nearly as common as today. The intermarriage rate fell drastically during the Jim Crow era but has now recovered beyond its former level. Also, for as long as records have been kept, Black male/White female intermarriages have been more common than White male/Black female intermarriages. In some places and times, such as 19th-century Boston, the difference was extreme. Finally, among Americans with “mismatched” mtDNA and Y markers (matrilineal from one continent and patrilineal from the other), most have patrilineal European markers, but a large minority show the reverse.
Myths about the black community

Myth 19. Colorism has been a problem within the black community since slavery. —

In reality, colorism ( the belief among some black-identified Americans that their lighter skin makes them more attractive, or somehow better ) is an internal problem to the black community which dates back only to the 1930s. Before this time, mulattos existed primarily in their own, rather than in black communities, and the tensions between them were intracommunal rather than intercommunal. Thus, there was little colorism prior to 1930s, since most people of mixed-ancestry identified as something different from black.

Myth 20. The black community has always seen itself as “African”. —

In reality, the Blank Yankee community of the American North, occilated back and forth between 1815 and the 1880s, prefering to see itself in some periods as “African”, and in others as “purely American”. It wasn’t untill the first civil rights movement of c. 1900, that the black community ( now a synthesis of black yankees and southern blacks ), came to permanently see itself as “African American” rather than as “purely American”.

Myth 21. The One-Drop-Rule ( the custom that any african ancestry makes a person black, no matter how distant ) was forced on Blacks by the White society. —

In fact, the black community has allways supported the one-drop-rule, even when it was resisted by Whites. The Blank Yankee community of the American North was the only staunch supporter of the One-Drop-Rule from its creation in 1840 Ohio, untill the rule became popular in the northern states during the 1880s. In the south, the black community was the only major supporter of the one-drop-rule untill after 1900, when it began to receive the approval of Whites.

Myth 22. The black community opposed legalized segregation. —

In reality, the black yankee community of the American north-east flip-flopped back and forth between supporting and opposing legalized segregation between 1830 and 1880. At times, the black yankee community was the principal proponent of segregation laws. In the South, there was only moderate black resistence to the strengthening of legal segregation under Jim Crow, and some blacks even supported it, most notably Booker T. Washington.

Myth 23. The civil rights movement was paid for and organized by blacks –
In reality, Jews and Mulattos were the primary financiers, organizers, and instigators of the civil rights movement. Before the Civil Rights Movement, the primary leadership of the black community was made up of mulattos, some of whom did not identify as black. The mulatto congregations, organized and controled the civil rights movement, with the help of Jewish activists and funding.

Myth 24. All slaves were Black. —

In fact, whether you were a slave had nothing to do with your appearance nor with how much African ancestry you had. Slavery descended strictly through the maternal line. You were a slave if your mother was a slave, and she was a slave only because her mother was a slave, and so forth. Thousands of genetically White (European) Americans were kept enslaved in the antebellum South because they had a distant matrilineal ancestor who was a slave. The most famous example was Thomas Jefferson’s son, Eston Hemings. Even though he was of overwhelming European ancestry, he was a slave because he had been born to a woman who was a slave at the time. But when he was manumitted by his father’s will, he took his place in the community as a White Virginian.

Myth 25. There were many great black novelists, inventors, polititians, scientists, actors, and scholars before the civil rights movement –

In reality, almost all of the famous“black” people of the pre-civil rights era were mulattos, not blacks. While some of these people certainly identified as black before 1920, it was only after 1940 that the majority could be refered to as “black-identified”. The paucity of blacks in high places was largely due to a severe lack of opportunity and to the discriminatory racial stratification of society.

Myths about the mulatto community

Myth 26. Slave masters invented the word “mulatto” in order to control blacks by dividing them into light-skinned and dark-skinned groups. —

Americans borrowed the term “mulatto” in the 17th century, from Spanish and Portuguese usage, in order to describe the mixed-ancestry children of White and Black unions, regardless of whether between free people, or between slave and master. The word was also applied originally to native Americans. The origin of the term “mulatto’ in the English usage predates slavery by over a century.

Myth 27. Mulattos identified as black people. —

In fact, before 1930, mulattos generally formed separate communities from blacks, and tended not to associate with them. This was a general trend among non-black people of color, including Asians, Malays, Indians, and Mestizos. After the civil war, mulattos formed their own social clubs, proffesional associations, and even neighborhoods. Intermarriage between mulattos and blacks was low enough to the point that there was a color-line operating between the two groups. This changed slowly after 1900, and then rapidly during the 1930s, as the Mulatto community merged into the black community under the pressure of Jim Crow racism and the One-Drop-Rule. It was not, however, until after the end of the civil rights movement, c. 1975, that the last remnants of the mulatto community dissappeared.

Myth 28. “Passing” for white was a rare occurrence.—

In reality, passing for “white” was a popular custom among those mixed-ancestry people who looked mostly caucasian, and it did not start to die out untill after 1920 with the introduction of the Jim-Crow segregation System and the triumph of the One Drop Rule. In addition, mulattos who looked passably Indian, Malay, or Southern-European, regularly chose to pass as members of those races.

Myth 30. Before the civil rights movement, Mulattos supported segregation –

In fact, mulattos ( both black-identified and others ) were the only group of people consistently advocating for protection of the civil rights of mulattos and blacks, up until the civil rights movement. The black community ( including some mulattos ) actually supported segregation in numerous instances.

Myth 31. Mulatto families did not breed themselves white.—

In reality, marrying up ( lighter and whiter ) was and still is a common practice in the United States. Blacks, Mulattos, Mestizos, and other non-legal-Whites, were constantly engaged in seeking out the whitest partners availiable to them with the aim of producing white children. As in Latin America, the Blanquemiento process succeeded in converting thousands of families into whites who were both legally and socially accepted. Blanquemiento is part of the reason why one third of modern day, self-identified white Americans, have detectable African ancestry.

Myths about the white community

Myth 32. People who “Passed” for white cut off all contact with their family. —

In reality, it was quite common for “passers” to secretly visit their families and ‘black’ and mulatto friends with regularity. This was easy because the black and mulatto communities rarely gave “passers” away, and if they were not well known among Legal Whites, they had little to fear.

Myth 33. Only people with black-ancestry “passed” for white. –

Many other people who were not legally white, were either raised with or assumed a white identity and public image. “Passing” for white, was not uncommon among people with Souther-European, Eastern European, Arab, and Mestizo ancestry.

Myth 34. People who “Passed” for White secretly identified as Black. –

In reality, many if not most people who “passed” for white, actually identified privately as members of the white American community. Identifying publically as white, even though they did not meet the legal criteria, was entirely consistent with their own private feelings about their racial identities. Many people who knew of these individuals non-white ancestry still chose to accept them anyway.

Myth 35. Whites did not actively support the civil rights movement. –

In reality, white Jews were primarily responsible for funding and planning the Civil rights movement since its inception.

Myth 36. All slave owners were White. —

In fact, many slave owners were of mixed Afro-Euro ancestry. This myth also comes in two versions. Confederate defenders say that hundreds of Black people owned slaves. This is incorrect. As of 1830, 474 wealthy biracial families of the South Carolina elite owned 2,794 slaves (about one South Carolina slave in a hundred), but they were not considered socially “Black.” Similarly, in 1830, 967 families of the French-culture Gulf coast gens de couleur libre owned 4,382 slaves (about one Louisiana slave in twenty-five). Seen another way, of the 1,834 Colored Creole households in 1839 New Orleans, 752 of them (41 percent) owned at least one slave. Again however, those families were not considered socially “Black” (a term applied back then only to people of unmixed African appearance). The Black version of the myth says that the only African Americans who owned slaves were those who purchased their own wives and children in order to protect them. Although this sometimes happened in Virginia after 1830, when manumitted slaves were exiled from the state, it is incorrect overall, as can be seen in the number of slave owners and the numbers of slaves recorded above. Some of the wealthiest and most famous slave owners and slave traders in the South were of mixed Afro-Euro ancestry.

Myth 37. Before the Civil War, all White southerners were slave owners. —
In fact, some White southerners did not own slaves. This myth comes in two versions. Defenders of the antebellum South say that few southerners owned slaves. This is correct. But it is correct because only the head of each household was usually considered the owner of all the family’s slaves, and most people are not the heads of their households. Detractors of the antebellum South say it the other way: “Most southern households owned slaves.” This is also correct, but the bulk of southern slave-owning households owned only one-to-three slaves, fewer families owned more than that, and only wealthy families owned entire plantations of slaves.

Myth 38. – White parents produce “throw-back” black-looking children. –

In fact, this is a rare occurrence that takes place primarily among two mulatto parents with white phenotypes. And strictly speaking, the children in such cases do not look black, but rather they look mixed. The randomness of genetic recombination occasionaly selects mostly the African genes from the parents, rather than the European genes, producing a child who is mixed-looking, not black-looking, even though both parents look white.

Myths about how racism was practiced

Myth 39. American racism evolved in order to suppress colored-people ( blacks especially ). —

In fact, American racism had nothing to do with the color of your skin. Americans were brutally racist against anyone who was not considered “white” by social custom. This included people whom the law classified as Caucasians, for instance, the Irish, Germans, Swedes, and Italians. A popular term for Irish, for instance, was “niggers turned inside out”. Thus, Europeans who were not considered “colored” were infact forced into a defacto lower racial caste, by custom rather than law. The American racial caste system had nothing to do with people of color. Instead, it was designed to segregate races considered inferior to the English, and to prevent them from participating in the society.

Myth 40. The Northern states did not practice segregation. —

In fact, most Northern States had a codified as well as defacto system of moderate segregation, since the 1830s. The legal and defacto segregation in Northen States was not ended untill the civil rights movement.

Myth 41. Lynchings took place only in the southern states. —

In fact, lynchings were commonplace throughout the North up until the civil rights movement.

Myth 42. Intermarriage between Blacks and Whites was illegal everywhere. —

In fact, prior to the civil rights movement, intermarriage between Blacks and Whites, or between Mulattos and Whites, was not illegal in many of the Northern states, and in the lower Southern States, untill after the civil war. In some of the northern states it was made illegal only for a breif period of time, before being legalized again.

Myth 43. Whites willingly embraced the one-drop-rule. –

In fact, whites resisted the one-drop-rule for 40 years since its introduction in the Northern states, and for 50 years in the Southern States. Most wealthy white famlies in the South had black ancesters and mulatto relatives, and were not eager to be tarnished by the one-drop-rule. Consequently, it was not untill the 1880s in the North, and the 1920s in the South, that the one drop rule became statutory law. Since the rule was invented in Ohio during the 1840s, it took 80 years to become nation-wide law.

Myth 44. The one-drop-rule targeted blacks. –

In fact, the one drop rule targeted whites, not blacks. Preceding the one-drop-rule, blood-fraction laws, which stated that 1/16th, or 1/32nd parts black ancestry was enough to make a person a negro, were entirely sufficient to protect white purity. All of the court cases in which a white person was alleged to be a black, under the one-drop-rule, required that the white-person prove their innocence by demonstrating they had no black ancestry what-so-ever. This was effectively impossible, and shows that the courts did not employ the one-drop-rule in the interest of protecting truth or white-purity, but rather in punshing whites who became to friendly with blacks.

Myth 45. White families kept their black ancestry a secret. –

In reality, prior to the one-drop-rule, white famlies, especially in the south, were entirely open about their black ancestry. Only once the one-drop-rule terrorized whites with the prospect of becoming black, did black-ancestry turn into a secret.

Myth 46. Mulatto families could not legally and publically become White families. –

In fact, before the oned-drop rule of the 1920s, and epsecially before the mid 19th century, entire families of mulattos ( who were usually quadroon, or octroon ) were proclaimed white by the mayor, or the state, in a public celebration. In other cases thorughout the pre-one-drop-rule period, families simply became legally white by moving to a different state with a more lenient definition.

Salsassin · Suspended Joined: 04 Apr 2005 {Posts: 3508 }

Salsassin · Suspended Joined: 04 Apr 2005 {Posts: 3508 }

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

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OTHER · Posted: Sat 02 Feb 2008 15:49 Post subject: Slavery Myths

Hey, ImBack, have you ever read this article, "Slavery Myths" by Laurence M. Vance? I had posted it a few weeks ago over at mulatto.org. You can find it at - http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance61.html

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

Here are some myths with full sourcing, but not formatted correctly yet ( I dont have the time ). These along with the others will appear in a final paper later.

Myth. The one drop rule has always been popular – In reality, this belief ( that one drop of black blood makes a person black ) was never popular anywhere in the country before the 1830s. Between 1831 and 1850, the rule became customary in the Northern States ( Why Did Northerners Invent a One-Drop Rule?, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, by Frank W Sweet, December 1, (2005) ). In the upper South it became customary between 1850 and 1865. (The Antebellum South Rejects the One-Drop Rule, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, by Frank W Sweet, November 15, 2004 ). The lower South rejected the one-drop-rule throughout the 19th century( Presenting the Triumph of the One-Drop Rule, Presentation given at the Melungeon Conference, Frankfort KY, July 30, 2005, and at the Melungeon Sixth Union, Kingsport TN, June 8-10, 2006, by Frank W Sweet ). After 1895, the one-drop-rule grew in popularity in the lower South, and almost every state incorporated it into the legal code between 1910 and 1925. ( Why Did Northerners Invent a One-Drop Rule?, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, by Frank W Sweet, December 1, (2005) )

Myth. A person of visible african ancestry, was always black rather than white. – This was not strictly true. In fact, before the one-drop-rule became an accepted custom, a mixed person with visible african ancestry could be legaly white. For instance, the case of the Inhabitants of Medway v. Inhabitants of Natick (1810) Ohio, decided that a mixed person with less than ½ African ancestry was legaly white, no matter how dark their skin. ( Documents printed by order of the senate of the commonwealth of massachusetts during the session of the general court, ( 1841 ) ). In another example, the case of Thurman vs. State, Alabama ( 1850 ), decided that a person with less than 1 / 4th african ancestry was not black, despite the defendant’s brown skin. (How the Law Decided if You Were Black or White: The Early 1800s, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, (2004) ). In Alabama, Lousiana,(Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule
by Frank W Sweet, (2004) ), South Carolina, (Barbadian South Carolina: A Class-Based Color Line, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, (2005) ) and Florida (No Color Line in Spanish Florida, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, (2005) ), people with visible mixed ( afrro-european ) ancestry, were often legally and socially accepted as white people.

Myth. A person was always either Black or White (the “Color-line”) – In fact, before the One-Drop-Rule became prominent, (The Journal of Negro History, Vol. I. Jan. 1916 ), Alabama, Lousiana,( Antebellum Louisiana and Alabama Two Color Lines, Three Endogamous Groups, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, by Frank W Sweet, (2004) ), South Carolina, (Barbadian South Carolina: A Class-Based Color Line, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, (2005) ) and Florida (No Color Line in Spanish Florida, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, (2005) ), legally and socially recognized people of Mixed ( afro-european ) ancestry as a third race. The color-line rule ( you were either white or black ) was not totally accepted until after 1910. [Footnote --> The Supreme Court of Lousiana ruled in the case of State vs. Treadway, ( 1910 ), “that a mulatto is not a Negro in legal parlance.” ( The Journal of Negro History, Vol. I. Jan. 1916 ).]

Myth. Mulattos have always identified as Black people. — In fact, before 1930, mulattos ( people with significant afro-european ancestry ) generally identified as mixed-race, and many identified as White. This was the general custom both among slaves ( Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Florida Narratives, Work Projects Administration, http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/2/2/9/12297/12297.htm ) and free mulattos, and was widespread. ( Need real source for this ) After the civil war, mulattos formed blue-vein societies in Nashville, preperatory schools and Colleges which denied admission to Blacks, mulatto-only business associations, mulatto-only neighborhoods ( Shades of Brown, Trian Jones, 2000 ), and mulatto-only social clubs in major American cities. ( Aristocrats of Color: South and North The Black Elite, 1880-1920, by Willard B. Gatewood, Jr., The Journal of Southern History, 1988 ). The general separation of blacks and mulattos was notably not limited to the wealthy elite either – "...There is a very observable tendency among what are called the mulattoes to withdraw themselves from the dark-skinned negroes and set up for themselves a distinct social class…These separate themselves from the negroes of darker skins…" ( The Negro and The White Man, W. J. Gaines, 1897 ). Between 1900 and 1930, the pressure of Jim Crow racism, the One-Drop-Rule, the povery of the Great-Depression, and constant protest from the Black community, had the effect that “…A growing number of Americans of mixed race began to abandon their claims to a "third space," and to identify themselves as Negroes...” ( Blackness/Mixedness, Contestations over Crossing Signs, Naomi Pabst, 2003 ). As late as 1925 it was still unclear if the “negrofication” process would continue or reverse itself completely, (The Mulatto Problem, J. Hered Dodge, (1925) ), nevertheless, the change entered its most rapid and permanent stage in the following decade ( Forty Acres and a mule: Horace Mann Bond and the Lynching of Jerome Wislon, Adam Fairclough, Journal of American Studies, 31, 1997 ). By the mid 1940s the process was complete - “…’Among Negroes in general there are no considerable social distinctions based on color. A colored person is a Colored person, mulatto or Negro, and all mingle together as one race.’” ( An American Dilemma, Volumn I, The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, Gunnar Myrdal, 1944).

Myth. A person of visible african ancestry was assumed to be a slave. – This was strictly true, only for those people who appeared to be of pure african descent. (How the Law Decided if You Were Black or White: The Early 1800s, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, (2004) ). A person with any visible european ancestry was assumed to be free, following the precedent decided in Gobu v. Gobu, (1802 ) North Carolina. (How the Law Decided if You Were Black or White: The Early 1800s, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, (2004) )

Myth. Before the Civil Rights Movement, Whites and Blacks could not intermary –Strictly speaking, this was not the case. Intermarriage was always legal in 10 states, illegal for less than 50 years in 10 states, and breifly legal in 4 states. By the eve of the Civil Rights Movement in 1950, intermarriage was legal in 28 states.

^ http://www.thedrewshow.com/reparations/JIM_CROW_LAWS_BY_STATE2004.doc
^ Chin, Gabriel J. & Hrishi Karthikeyan, Preserving Racial Identity: Population Patterns and the Application of Anti-Miscegenation Statutes to Asian Americans, 1910-1950, 9 Asian Law Journal 1 (2002)
^ The History of Jim Crow
^ Courtroom History, Loving Day, <http>. Retrieved on 2008-01-02
^ Edward Stein (2004), PAST AND PRESENT PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION REGARDING MARRIAGE*, vol. 82, Washing State University Law Quarterly, <http>. Retrieved on 2008-01-04
^ Frank W Sweet (January 1, 2005), The Invention of the Color Line: 1691—Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Backentyme Essays, <http>. Retrieved on 2008-01-04
^ Interracial Marriage and Cohabitation Laws, Redbone Heritage Foundation, <http>. Retrieved on 2008-01-04
^ Kimberly S. Hanger, Bounded Lives, Bounded Places: Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleans,1769-1803. Durham N.C., and London: Duke University Press, 1997.
^ Stephen R. Haynes (2002), Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery, Oxford University Press US, <http>. Retrieved on 2008-01-07
^ Steiner, Mark. “The Lawyer as Peacemaker: Law and Community in Abraham Lincoln’s Slander Cases”. The History Cooperative
^ enacted similar anti-miscegenation laws.“Chinese Laborers in the West”Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program
^ Robinson II, Charles F., University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. (accessed January 4, 2007).
^ Miscegenation and competing definitions of race in twentieth-century Louisiana.
^ Wallenstein, Peter, Tell the Court I love my wife
^ Where were interracial couples illegal?, Loving Day, <http>. Retrieved on 2008-01-04
^ Tucker, Neely (June 13, 2006). “Loving Day Recalls a Time When the Union of a Man And a Woman Was Banned”. Washington Post.
^ Alabama removes ban on interracial marriage, USA Today, November 7, 2000, <http>. Retrieved on 2008-01-04
^ Rita M. Byrnes, ed. (1996), "Legislative Implementation of Apartheid", South Africa: A Country Study, Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, <http>. Retrieved on 2008-01-04
^ US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Nuremberg Laws: Nazi Racial Policy 1935.
Myth. Intermarriage between Whites and Blacks is higher now than ever before –In fact, the Black-White intermarriage rate, which is was four percent in 2000, was in that year, three times lower than it was in the state of Massachusetts during the 1860’s. (The Color Line Created African-American Ethnicity in the North, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, (2005) ).

Myth. Lynchings happened only in the South. — In fact, lynchings were common throughout the entire United States ( Presenting the Triumph of the One-Drop Rule, Presentation given at the Melungeon Conference, Frankfort KY, July 30, 2005, and at the Melungeon Sixth Union, Kingsport TN, June 8-10, 2006, by Frank W Sweet ). Between 1889 and 1968, 17% of all recorded lynchings took place outside of the South. ( http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingsstate.html ).

Myth. Lynchings were committed by a handful of terrorists – In reality, lynchings were “a public ritual, a human sacrifice attended by hundreds, sometimes thousands of spectators…”( Presenting the Triumph of the One-Drop Rule, Presentation given at the Melungeon Conference, Frankfort KY, July 30, 2005, and at the Melungeon Sixth Union, Kingsport TN, June 8-10, 2006, by Frank W Sweet ), and far from involving a few criminals, or from being committed secretly in the night, lynchings were the work of entire towns, and took place in broad daylight.

Myth. Lynching victims were always black. – In reality, between 1889 and 1968, one third of all lynching victims nation wide, were white, and in the Northern and Western states, only one fifth of lynching victims were black. ( http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingsstate.html ).

Myth. Tens of thousands of blacks were lynched. – Actualy, the total number of blacks lynched between 1889 and 1968, was less than 3500 (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingsstate.html ). The figure would fall further if the number of mulattos lynched ( which is unknown ) were removed, since before about 1930, mulattos did not usually identify as blacks .( Forty Acres and a mule: Horace Mann Bond and the Lynching of Jerome Wislon, Adam Fairclough, Journal of American Studies, 31, 1997 ), ( Blackness/Mixedness, Contestations over Crossing Signs, Naomi Pabst, 2003 ).

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

The following is a good example of how the folk-mythology I am writting about, influences modern day political thought and teaches us what our social standards should be. This was taken from a poster on a mixed-race forum.

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It's just been in recent years, say the last 25 or so that some people who are of mixed race, Black/White or Black whatever have been wanting to identify more as anything other than Black, some identify as mixed, others will choose their other ethnic mix other than Black.

It really hasn't been that long ago, that anybody that was mixed Black/White, no matter their features, were considered Black and most went as Black. It's just like a genneration or so we're starting to become removed for gennerations of people that have been identified as Black. So that's why this topic is so sensitive to many people. We who identify as Black, some of us feel that others who identify as mixed now, are trying to move away from being Black, like it's something wrong with being Black. Because that has been the history throughout gennerations in our families. The most negative thing to be is Black, people don't want to identify with being Black, not even some Black people. Hence many who were light enough like my gr. aunt, passed as White only. She was very ashamed of her Black heritage, and back then it was not a good life to live as a Black person in this country. Some of those feelings still persists today with people.

Personally of the people I've known in my life, many who are mixed, do identify with being Black. I know more who identify as Black than mixed or biracial. And I don't know anyone personally off the net, who says their mulatto. If they don't identify as Black, they just say mixed.

This is truly a sensitive topic within the mixed mulatto and Black communities.

ImBack · Wizard Joined: 28 Jun 2006 {Posts: 587 }

Here are some more, sourced myths. Pay special attention to the one in red, I think your in for a SHOCKER!

Myth. Mulattos have an IQ in the middle between Whites and Blacks. – In reality, the IQ of American, English, and German, Mulattos, is 97*, while the White IQ is 99, and the Black American IQ is 88***.

*Normalizations ( to the control population ) of the results from Willerman et. al ( 1974 ), Eyferth ( 1961 ), Scarr et. al ( 1983 ), Moore ( 1986 ), National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health ( Wave I ), produce a mean IQ of 97.
** IQ averages of 30 European nations ( data taken from IQ and the Wealth of Nations, Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhannen, 2002, Praeger/Greenwood ), produce a mean IQ of 99
***( Black Americans Reduce the Racial IQ Gap: Evidence from, Standardization Samples Forthcoming: Psychological Science, Flynn et. al, 2006)

Myth. European Ethnic-Americans had the same intelligence as Whites – In reality, Americans of European ancestries which were not considered White, had markedly lower intelligence than white Americans. (The "Race" Notion's Role in Ethnic Assimilation, Frank W. Sweet, 2002, http://www.interracialvoice.com/sweet12.html)”...In the 1920s, the average Polish-American IQ score was 85. In the 1910s, the average Italian-American IQ score was 83. In the 1900s, the average Irish-American IQ score was below 80. In World War I, Jews averaged such low IQ scores that they prompted the 1924 quota system…” (The "Race" Notion's Role in Ethnic Assimilation, Frank W. Sweet, 2002, http://www.interracialvoice.com/sweet12.html).

Myth. American racism was meant to suppress colored-people — In fact, American racism had nothing to do with the color of your skin. Americans were often brutally racist against anyone who was not socialy considered “white” (The "Race" Notion's Role in Ethnic Assimilation, Frank W. Sweet, 2002, http://www.interracialvoice.com/sweet12.html. This included people whom the law classified as Caucasians, for instance, the Irish, Germans, Italians, and Jews. (The "Race" Notion's Role in Ethnic Assimilation, Frank W. Sweet, 2002, http://www.interracialvoice.com/sweet12.html

Myth. Black genes are dominant over White genes – In fact, “black” genes are not dominant over genes from any other ancestries. Children of one Black and one White parent, have a ¼ probablity of ending up with European features, a ¼ probablity of ending up with black features, and a ½ probablity of ending up with intermediate features. (The Heredity of “Racial” Traits, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule,by Frank W Sweet, 2004 ).

Myth. European and Arab traders, kidnapped and enslaved Black Africans — In reality, life-long slavery was endemic to africa, and the vast majority of Black slaves were purchased legally from Black African slave masters (2). The misperception that the African-Slave trade was involuntary, arose after the second world war, largely due to the work of Black historians. (A revised history of the slave trade. It’s almost 200 years since the Anglo-American trade was banned: how do historians now view its practices and effects?, Steven Hahn (2006 ), http://mondediplo.com/2006/05/13slavery ). “…there is a common public perception that slavery was chiefly a European…As early as the 9th century, a lively trade in slaves developed between west and north Africa…The Atlantic slave trade was less an imposition by Europe on Africa than a distinctive variant of a trade already in place…The extent of slave ownership within Africa and an ancient internal African slave trade meant that…from the beginning, control of the trade remained mostly in African hands…Africans captured and enslaved each other, usually as a result of conflicts between states over which Europeans had little or no influence. Africans carried slaves from the interior to the coast with little or no participation by Europeans. Africans housed and sold the slaves directly to European traders, who were relegated to coastal outposts where they could conduct business on terms established by Africans” (A revised history of the slave trade. It’s almost 200 years since the Anglo-American trade was banned: how do historians now view its practices and effects?, Steven Hahn (2006 ), http://mondediplo.com/2006/05/13slavery ).

(2) Herbert S Klein, The Atlantic Slave Trade, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1999.

Myth. Southern slaves invented Black culture. — In reality, the earliest Black American culture developed in the mid 1700s, in the North, and included most Black Northerners by the 1830s ( The Color Line Created African-American Ethnicity in the North, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, 2005 )
. The Black “Yankees” of the Northern states, invented the term “African American” to describe their community, and distanced themselves from the Southern slaves ( The Color Line Created African-American Ethnicity in the North, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, 2005 ). The historical black culture that existed between the 1860s and the 1960s, on the other hand, drew its traits from three sources: The Mulatto communities of the lower South, the Black “Yankee” Community of the North, and the liberated Southern Slaves. ( The Color Line Created African-American Ethnicity in the North, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, 2005 )

Myth. There were no laws against racism until the Civil Rights Movement – In reality, 22 states passed more than 104 laws, protecting the civil rights of non-whites, between 1843 and 1953. ( http://www.thedrewshow.com/reparations/JIM_CROW_LAWS_BY_STATE2004.doc )

Myth. The Black community has always seen itself as “African”. — In reality, the Black community of the American North, occilated back and forth between the mid 18th century, and mid 19th century, prefering to see itself in some periods as “African”, and in others as “purely American”. ( The Color Line Created African-American Ethnicity in the North, Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule, Frank W Sweet, 2005 ).

gawosany · New User Joined: 11 Jun 2008 {Posts: 12 }

i disagree with some of the stuff you are posting. like this:

Myth. American racism was meant to suppress colored-people — In fact, American racism had nothing to do with the color of your skin. Americans were often brutally racist against anyone who was not socialy considered “white” (The "Race" Notion's Role in Ethnic Assimilation, Frank W. Sweet, 2002, http://www.interracialvoice.com/sweet12.html. This included people whom the law classified as Caucasians, for instance, the Irish, Germans, Italians, and Jews. (The "Race" Notion's Role in Ethnic Assimilation, Frank W. Sweet, 2002, http://www.interracialvoice.com/sweet12.html

that doesn't make sense at all.

of course they were racist because of our skin color.

even if a black person were "socially" like a white person they would still be treated unfairly.

gawosany · New User Joined: 11 Jun 2008 {Posts: 12 }

Myth. European and Arab traders, kidnapped and enslaved Black Africans — In reality, life-long slavery was endemic to africa, and the vast majority of Black slaves were purchased legally from Black African slave masters (2). The misperception that the African-Slave trade was involuntary, arose after the second world war, largely due to the work of Black historians. (A revised history of the slave trade. It’s almost 200 years since the Anglo-American trade was banned: how do historians now view its practices and effects?, Steven Hahn (2006 ), http://mondediplo.com/2006/05/13slavery ). “…there is a common public perception that slavery was chiefly a European…As early as the 9th century, a lively trade in slaves developed between west and north Africa…The Atlantic slave trade was less an imposition by Europe on Africa than a distinctive variant of a trade already in place…The extent of slave ownership within Africa and an ancient internal African slave trade meant that…from the beginning, control of the trade remained mostly in African hands…Africans captured and enslaved each other, usually as a result of conflicts between states over which Europeans had little or no influence. Africans carried slaves from the interior to the coast with little or no participation by Europeans. Africans housed and sold the slaves directly to European traders, who were relegated to coastal outposts where they could conduct business on terms established by Africans” (A revised history of the slave trade. It’s almost 200 years since the Anglo-American trade was banned: how do historians now view its practices and effects?, Steven Hahn (2006 ), http://mondediplo.com/2006/05/13slavery ).

(2) Herbert S Klein, The Atlantic Slave Trade, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1999.

i already knew this. but i read somewhere that the african slaves were treated differently than the way europeans treated african slaves.