At least three-fourths of all people defined as American blacks
have some white ancestry, and some estimates run well above
90 percent. The blacks with no white lineage are mainly in the
more isolated, rural areas of the Deep South, notably in South
Carolina.
As many as one-fourth of all American blacks have
some American Indian ancestry, and a great many people classed
as Indians have some black background. Thus, the color spectrum
among the black population ranges from ebony to lighter than
most whites, and the other racial traits show a similar range
of variation.
( Below you will
find terms commonly tossed around and used in Louisiana....
These definitions denote various mixtures within these categories. )
A...FRENCH CREOLES: |
(Aristocratic
Louisiana French men of European Extraction and their Mulatto offsprings
|
B...
FRENCH CREOLES: |
Louisiana
Indigenous people of African / Indian / European extraction
|
C...MULATTOES: |
One
half Negro and one half white
|
D...QUADROON: |
One-Fourth
Negro and three fourths white
|
E...OCTOROON: |
|
F...AFRICA
/ NEGRO: |
An
unmixed African (of African decent)
|
G...AFRICAN
AMERICAN: |
A
person of African and Colonial American Descent
|
H...REDBONES: |
Native
American, Negroe/European
|
I
...MAROON: |
African
mixed with new world Indian
|
E...GRIFFE: |
Denoting
the offspring of a Mulatto and a Negro
|
