Slavery Era
As repeated from your history books, the
first recorded form of race mixing happened around the slavery era (Bond).
However, race mixing occurred primarily to increase the number of females
in the New World, The United States (Russell, Wilson, Hall). As a
result of upholding the act of race mixing throughout the south,
individuals known as "mulattoes" were born (Russell, Wilson,
Hall). Mulattoes were children who were both of the African and European
descent (Russell, Wilson, Hall).
Although these individuals were considered as "Negroes", they were not always treated the same as Negroes (Russell, Wilson, Hall). In slave auctions, mulattoes were priced higher than regular Negroes because they were viewed as having more worth because they could work inside the house and were more educated (Russell, Wilson, Hall). Thus resulting in a division within the slave community, and pure Africans believing they were not of the same worth as the mulattoes (Russell, Wilson, Hall); thus resulting in self-esteem issues among the group.
Auctions during the slavery era not only effected how skin color was interpreted among the slaves, but it also changed how body shape was interpreted also (Martin, Baugh). For a woman, her worth increased if she appeared she could bare a lot of children. This was important to the slave masters because they wanted to have as many slaves as they could without buying all of them (Russell, Wilson, Hall). Similar to how a certain skin tone was seen more favorable to others, body shape was the way (Russell, Wilson, Hall).
Although these individuals were considered as "Negroes", they were not always treated the same as Negroes (Russell, Wilson, Hall). In slave auctions, mulattoes were priced higher than regular Negroes because they were viewed as having more worth because they could work inside the house and were more educated (Russell, Wilson, Hall). Thus resulting in a division within the slave community, and pure Africans believing they were not of the same worth as the mulattoes (Russell, Wilson, Hall); thus resulting in self-esteem issues among the group.
Auctions during the slavery era not only effected how skin color was interpreted among the slaves, but it also changed how body shape was interpreted also (Martin, Baugh). For a woman, her worth increased if she appeared she could bare a lot of children. This was important to the slave masters because they wanted to have as many slaves as they could without buying all of them (Russell, Wilson, Hall). Similar to how a certain skin tone was seen more favorable to others, body shape was the way (Russell, Wilson, Hall).