The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1910-12-15
What is a Negro?

Observation-Disclosures,


/ found myself face to- face with
curious and seemingly absurd ques-
ton:
What is Negro?"
"Abaurd as the question apparent
ly is, it is one of the most perplex-
ing, and at times most embarrassin.
that has faced our legislators ar
judges. 10
II race distinction are to be rec
ogn1zed in the law, it is essential
that the races be clearly distinguish
ed from one another. II a statute
provides that Negroes shall ride in
separate coaches and attend separate
schools, 1t is necessary to decide
hrst who Is included under the term
"NegCo.". 1t would seem that racial
~demarcations would be sufficient, and
In most instances, this is true 1t
Is never difficult to distinguish the
full-blood Negro or Indian or Mon
gol1an from one an other or from the
Caucasian. But the difficulty arises
In the blurring of the color line by
amalgamation. The amount Of mis-
cegenation between the Monaghan
and other races represented in the
United States IS negligible. But the
extent of intermixture between the
o Caucasian and the Negro, the Negro
and the Indian, and the Caucasian
and the Indian Is appreciable, and
problems arising from it are serious
1t is absolutely impossible to as
certain the number of mulattoes,-
that is, persons having both
Caucasian and Negro blood in their
Veins,-in the United States. Mr.
Baker, says: 81 saw plenty Of men
and women who were unQuestiona-
bly, Negroes, Negroes in every ply
sicial characteristic, black OF coun-
tenance- with-thiek- 4ips-and- kinky
hair, but l also met men and wom-
en- as white as / am whose asser-
tons that they were really Negroes
] accepted in defiance Of the evidence
Of my own senses. I have seen blue
eyed Negroes and golden-hai Ne
groes; one Negro girl I met had an
abundance Of soft straight red hair.
I have seen Negroes I could not
easily distinguish from the Jewish
Or French type: l once talked with
a man took at first to be China
man but who told me he was a Me-
gro, and l have met several people,
passing everywhere for white, who I
knew had Negro blood"
A separate enumeration of mulat-
toes has been made four times
in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1890. The
census authorities themselves said
that the figures were of little value,
and the whole project was aband-
oned in the census of 1900. If the
person is apparently white, the GEN.
sus taker will feel q delicacy in ask
ing him II he has Negro blood in
his veins. If he does ask the ques~
answer, it is often that the latter
does not know his ancestry. For in
stance, Booker T. Washington has
said that he does not know who his
father was. The martial relations
among Negroes during slavery were
SO irregular, and there was so much
hot
Of the master race and the women OF
the slave race that the line Of an
Cestry Of many mulattOes is hope
lessly lost. But Mr. Baker makes
the rough estimate which l have no
reason to believe incorrect, that g.
100000 Of the 100000 (about)
Negroes are visibly mulattoes. This
one third Of the total Negro poDu=
lation represents every shade of
race color and physical demarcat-
ions from the fair complexion, light
hair, blue eyes, thin lips, and sharp
nose Of the octoroon who betrays
scarcely a trace Of his Negro blood,
to the coal black skin, and kinky
hair, brown eyes, thick lips, fiat
nose Of the man who has scarcely
trace Of Caucasian blood. 1t is
this gradual sloping off from one
race to another which has made it
necessary for the law to set artifi-
Cial lines.
The difficulty arising out of the
jntermixture Of the races was real
lied while the Negro was still
slave. throughout the statutes
prior to 1860, one finds references
to persons Of color" generic
phrase including all who were not