RootsBooster Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I've always wondered why some famous people of mixed race are labelled or even celebrated as famous "black" people. To give some examples: Barack Obama - Black father, white mother Bob Marley - White father, black mother Tiger Woods - Ancestry mixed African American, Chinese, Thai, Dutch and Native American origin Jimi Hendrix - Ancestry of mixed African American, European, and Native American origin Halle Berry - Black father, white mother and so on... Today I cam across the "One Drop Rule" which I had never heard of before. From Wikipedia: The one-drop rule is a historical colloquial term in the United States for the social classification as black of individuals with any African ancestry; meaning any person with "one drop of black blood" was considered black. The principle of "invisible blackness" was an example of hypodescent, the automatic assignment of children of a mixed union between different socioeconomic or ethnic groups to the group with the lower status.[1] The one-drop rule was not adopted as law until the 20th century: first in Tennessee in 1910 and in Virginia under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 (following the passage of similar laws in numerous other states). I'm still looking into it now, but is this the reason these famous "black" folk are classed as black? It seems a dumb rule to me, I'm no geneticist but surely if one parent is of one race and the other is black, the offspring can only be half-black? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hots on Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Put simply, they look black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I'm no geneticist but surely if one parent is of one race and the other is black, the offspring can only be half-black? You would think so eh? Maybe it stems from the days when you's have been considered 'tainted' if you had some black genes in you? Either that or its just if you make it famous your claimed by black people as been one of them? I have heard talk of this when Obama was elected and automatically they had a black president rather than one of mixed race. Good luck to them, if you feel the need I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aleksandr Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Put simply, they look black.Some look white(ish) to me. Can we call them brown? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Put simply, they look black. Is that why all Asians are considered '****' ? Its amazing how many eastern Europeans all seem to be Kosovon. We have it drummed into us everyday that you shouldn't stereotype and generalise but the fact is we all do it in our everyday life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Some look white(ish) to me. Can we call them brown? Even that could be considered an insult, its hard to know where the line is drawn isn't it. If they themselves consider themselves to be black than who's to say they are not. Im certainly not having an argument with every brown person I see that they are not actually black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suffragette1 Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 It's unique to the United States and originated in the South, historically rooted in slavery and was used, I think for the purposes of racial segregation. I suppose that ultimately, it is up to the individual concerned to identify with whichever race of their heritage, they see fit, if at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sidney Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Its PC gone mad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjodeano Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Hmmmm...what gets me is, we now call people of mixed race....erm, well mixed race...whereas it always used to be half caste, now all of a sudden half caste deems to be racist and offensive, it never used to like that, well, it was never used by me that way... when did it become offensive.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sidney Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Martin Luther King had a white Icelandic father, but is always referred to as "black".. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.