From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tragic mulatto
Tragic mulatto
The Tragic mulatto is a stereotypical fictional character but upon the revelation that she is mixed race, she
that appeared in American literature during the 19th and loses her social standing.
20th centuries. The "tragic mulatto" is an archetypical • A woman who has all the social graces that come
mixed race person (a "mulatto"), who is assumed to be along with being a middle-class or upper-class white
sad or even suicidal because they fail to completely fit woman is nonetheless subjected to slavery.
in the "white world" or the "black world". As such, the A common objection to this character is that she allows
"tragic mulatto" is depicted as the victim of the society readers to pity the plight of oppressed or enslaved races,
they live in, a society divided by race. They cannot be but only through a veil of whiteness — that is, instead
classified as one who is completely "black" or "white". of sympathizing with a true racial "other", one is sym-
The female "tragic octoroon" was a stock character pathizing with a character who is made as much like
of abolitionist literature: a light-brown-skinned woman one’s own race as possible. The "tragic mulatta" often ap-
raised as if a white woman in her father’s household, un- peared in novels intended for women, also, and some of
til his bankrupty or death has her reduced to a menial po- the character’s appeal lay in the lurid fantasy of a person
sition and sold.[1] She may even be unaware of her status just like them suddenly cast into a lower social class af-
before being reduced to victimization.[2] This character ter the discovery of a small amount of "black blood" that
allowed abolitionists to draw attention to the sexual ex- renders her unfit for proper marriage.
ploitation in slavery, and unlike the suffering of the field
hands, did not allow slaveholders to retort that the suf-
ferings of Northern mill hands were no easier, since the
Popular culture
Northern mill owner would not sell his own children into • "The Quadroons", 1842 short story by Lydia Maria
slavery.[3] Child (introduced the literary character of the tragic
The "tragic mulatta" figure is a woman of biracial mulatto)
heritage who must endure the hardships of African- • "Slavery’s Pleasant Homes", 1843 short story by
Americans in the antebellum South, even though she Lydia Maria Child
may look white enough that her ethnicity is not imme- • Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter, 1853 novel by
diately obvious. As the name implies, tragic mulattas al- William Wells Brown
most always meet a bad end. Lydia Maria Child’s 1842 • A Escrava Isaura, 1875 novel by Brazilian author
short story "The Quadroons" is generally credited as the Bernardo Guimarães
first work of literature to feature a tragic mulatta, to gar- • Iola Leroy, 1892 novel by Frances Harper
ner support for emancipation and equal rights. (Child • The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line
followed up "The Quadroons" with the 1843 short story by Charles W. Chesnutt (1899)
"Slavery’s Pleasant Homes", which also has a tragic mu- • The House Behind the Cedars, 1900 novel by Charles W.
latta character.[4] ) Chesnutt
Writer Eva Allegra Raimon notes that Child "allowed • The Marrow of Tradition, 1901 novel by Charles W.
white readers to identify with the victim by gender while Chesnutt
distancing themselves by race and thus to avoid con- • The Clansman, 1905 novel by Thomas Dixon, Jr.
fronting a racial ideology that denies the full humanity • "Cross", poem by Langston Hughes published 1925
of nonwhite women." The passing character in Nella • "Mulatto", poem by Langston Hughes published 1927
Larsen’s Passing has been deemed a "tragic mulatta". • The White Girl, 1929 novel by Vara Caspary
Generally, the tragic mulatta archetype falls into one • Passing, 1930 novel by Nella Larsen
of three categories: • Light in August, 1932 novel by William Faulkner
• A woman who can "pass" for white attempts to do • Imitation of Life, 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst
so, is accepted as white by society and falls in love • "Father and Son", short story by Langston Hughes
with a white man. Eventually, her status as a bi- published 1934
racial person is revealed and the story ends in • Mulatto: A Play of the Deep South, 1935 drama by
tragedy. Langston Hughes
• A woman who appears to be white and thus passes as • Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937 novel by Zora
being so. It is believed that she is of Greek or Spanish Neale Hurston
descent. She has suffered little hardship in her life, • Lost Boundaries, 1940 book by William L. White
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tragic mulatto
• The Wind From Nowhere, 1943 novel by Oscar Televisions Movies and Series Featuring "Tragic
Micheaux Mulatta" Characters in Pivotal Roles
• The Barrier, 1950 opera by Langston Hughes and Jan • Alex Haley’s Queen, the acclaimed television series by
Meyerowitz Alex Haley offers a subversion of the "tragic
• "African Morning", 1952 short story by Langston mulatta" archetype, while making reference to many
Hughes of its elements.
• A Soldier’s Play, 1981 drama by Charles Fuller • A Escrava Isaura has been adapted to Brazilian
• Devil in a Blue Dress, 1990 novel by Walter Mosely television twice, first in 1976 (as Escrava Isaura), and
• The Human Stain, 2000 novel by Philip Roth again in 2004.
• Alex Burness, 2012 novel by P.P. Foster • Angel (the television series) featured a tragic mulatta
Films Featuring "Tragic Mulatto" & "Tragic Mulatta" character (portrayed by Melissa Marsala) in its 2000
Characters in Pivotal Roles episode Are You Now or Have You Ever Been.
• The Birth of a Nation (1915)
• Within Our Gates (1920)
• The Virgin of the Seminole (1922)
See also
• Scar of Shame (1926) • Miscegenation
• The House Behind the Cedars (1927) • Passing (racial identity)
• Veiled Aristocrats (1932) • One-drop rule
• Imitation of Life (1934) • Multi-Facial
• God’s Step Children (1937) • Good Hair (African American Usage)
• The Betrayal (1948)
• Lost Boundaries, 1949
• Pinky (1949)
References
• Il Mulatto, 1950 Italian film released as "Angelo" in [1] Ariela J. Gross, What Blood Won’t Tell: A History of Race
the United States on Trail in America, p 61 ISBN 978-0-674-03130-2
• Show Boat (1951) [2] Kathy Davis. "Headnote to Lydia Maria Child’s ’The
• Band of Angels (1957) Quadroons’ and ’Slavery’s Pleasant Homes’."
• Kings Go Forth (1957) [3] Werner Sollors, Interracialism p 285 ISBN
• Shadows (1959) 0195128567
• I Passed for White (1960) [4] Pilgrim, David. "The Tragic Mulatto Myth". Jim
• The Black Klansman (1966), a.k.a. I Crossed the Color Line Crow: Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Ferris State
• Purple Rain (1984) University. http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/
• A Soldier’s Story (1984) mulatto/. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) • The Tragic Mulatta Revisited: Race and Nationalism in
• The Human Stain (2003) Nineteenth-Century Antislavery Fiction, by Eva Allegra
Raimon
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Categories:
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