Light-skinned-ed Girl

Julia Chinn, Octoroon Wife of U.S. Vice-President: Mixed-Race People History Month

Thank you to Undercover Black Man for today's little-known history of mixed-race people and, in fact, American politics.  Julia Chinn, an octoroon, became the wife of Richard M. Johnson who eventually served as the ninth Vice-President of the United States under President Martin Van Buren.  As we greet the 40th anniversary of the Loving Decision which outlawed all anti-miscegenation laws, it is interesting to read the public response to Chinn's nuptials.

"This is the second time that the moral feelings of that portion of the people of Scott county who possess such feelings, have been shocked and outraged by the marriage of a mulatto daughter of Col. Johnson to a white man, if a man, who will so far degrade himself; who will make himself an object of scorn and destation to every person that has the least regard for decency, for a little property; can be considered a white man."

Read also, Undercover Black Man's postscript about his Julia Chinn post.

Ellen Craft: Mixed-Race People History Month

Ellen Craft (c.1826-1897), the daughter of a slave and her white master, became a leading abolitionist after she escaped from slavery.  The very light-skinned Craft disguised herself as a white man and escaped with her husband who acted as her man-servant.  In 1860, the couple published a book-length account of their experience called Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom.

Elizabeth Keckley: Mixed-Race People History Month

Elizabeth Keckley (1818-1907), a mixed-race woman bought her freedom in 1855 for $1200.  Keckley was an accomplished dressmaker and went on to become the seamstress and confidante of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.

In 1862, Keckley established the Contraband Relief Organization, a women's organization that helped former slaves seek refuge in Washington D.C.  In 1868, she published her autobiography Behind the Scenes; or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House.  Her public discussion of White House life was unprecedented and was roundly criticized as a salacious tell-all.  Keckley was ostracized and the book was pulled from bookstores.  She died in the Home for Destitute Colored Women & Children in 1907.

Here's my Mixed Experience Minute about Keckley.

 

Philippa Schuyler: Mixed-Race People History Month

Philippa Schuyler (1931-1967), the daughter of black conservative writer George Schuyler, was a talented pianist and journalist who demonstrated her gifts at an early age.  At age nine, she was profiled in "Evening with a Gifted Child" by a celebrated New Yorker writer.

As a teen-aged concert pianist, she toured widely throughout the United States and overseas and claimed New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia as one of her biggest fans.

In 1967, Schuyler died in a helicopter crash off the Vietnamese coast where she had traveled as a war correspondent.  Alicia Keys is rumored to star in a film version of Schuyler's life in development (based on Kathryn Talalay's book Composition in Black and White).--copyright Heidi Durrow

Below you can find my Mixed Experience Minute about Schuyler.

Saint Anastacia, the Blue-Eyed Biracial Slave: Mixed-Race People History Month Continued

Anastacia was a blue-eyed beauty in 17th century Brazil born to a slave and her Portuguese master. The story goes that Anastacia was repeatedly raped by a guard, but was successful in fending off attacks by the master, thus inspiring women today to have strength against abusive husbands. Her legend inspires healing and hope in Brazil where she is revered as a saint today.

Here is Lezley Saar's stunning Anastacia. 

May is Mixed-Race People History Month

I've designated May as Mixed-Race People History Month.  During this month, I will post short biographies of biracial/bicultural, and mulitracial/multicultural notable people in history.

It is incredibly important to recognize that multiracial people have a history.  Multiracialism and multiculturalism may be relatively newly coined words for our country, but they are not new realities.

Like Black History Month, Mixed Race People History Month is designed to educate the public about the contributions of mixed race people.  We are not tragic mulattoes.  We are part of the vital fabric of America's history (both black and white).

I recognize that this is somewhat controversial.  Many biracial/bicultural people have been hailed as African-Americans.  My purpose is not to wrestle great accomplishments or great accomplished people from the credit of African-American history (a history which is also my own history).  I simply want to recognize the complexity of these mixed-race individual's experience and the way they made a difference.

Today, I introduce Jules Lion.

Jules Lion (1810-1866) was a French-born mulatto artist.  Before emigrating to the United States in the late 1830s, he exhibited his work in prestigious Paris salons.  He settled in New Orleans and after a brief trip home to Paris, he introduced the daguerrotype (the precurser to photography) to his adopted American city and increased its popularity.

Historian Deborah Willis-Kennedy writes: "What makes the work of black photographers in this period particularly significant is that the inhumane institution of slavery existed in 1840 and would survive another 25 years."