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((short description|Stereotypical fictional character in 19th and 20th century American literature))
((for|underground rock band|Tragic Mulatto))
((Original research|date=March 2022))
The '''tragic mulatto''' is a stereotypical fictional character that appeared in [[American literature]] during the 19th and 20th centuries, starting in 1837.<ref name=Fer/> The "tragic mulatto" is a stereotypical [[mixed race|mixed-race]] person (a "[[mulatto]]"), who is assumed to be depressed, or even [[suicide|suicidal]], because they fail to completely fit into the "white world" or the "black world".<ref name=Fer/> As such, the "tragic mulatto" is depicted as the victim of the society that is divided by race, where there is no place for one who is neither completely "black" nor "white".

((TOC limit|2))

==Tragic mulatta==

The female "tragic [[octoroon]]" was a [[stock character]] of abolitionist literature: a light-skinned woman raised in her father's household as though she were white, until his [[bankruptcy]] or death reduces her to a menial position and she is eventually sold.<ref>((cite book|first=Ariela J.|last=Gross|title=What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|date=2010|page=61|isbn=978-0-674-03130-2))</ref> She may even be unaware of her status before being so reduced.<ref name="davis">Kathy Davis. "[http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/gcarr/19cusww/lb/HNQSPH.html Headnote to Lydia Maria Child's 'The Quadroons' and 'Slavery's Pleasant Homes'.] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629201837/http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/gcarr/19cUSWW/LB/HNQSPH.html |date=2011-06-29 ))"</ref> This character allowed abolitionists to draw attention to the sexual exploitation in slavery; and unlike the suffering of the field hands, did not allow slaveholders to retort that the sufferings of Northern mill hands were no easier, since the Northern mill owner would not sell his own children into slavery.<ref>((cite book|first=Werner|last=Sollors|title=Interracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law|publisher=  [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford, England|date=2000|page=285|isbn=0-19-512856-7))</ref>

The "tragic mulatta" figure is a woman of biracial heritage who endures the hardships of [[African people|Africans]] in the [[Antebellum South]], even though she may look white enough that her ethnicity is not immediately obvious. As the name implies, tragic mulattas almost always meet a bad end. [[Lydia Maria Child]]'s 1842 [[short story]] "The [[Quadroon]]s" is generally credited as the first work of literature to feature a tragic mulatta,<ref name=Fer/> to garner support for emancipation and equal rights. Child followed up "The Quadroons" with the 1843 short story "Slavery's Pleasant Homes", which also features a tragic mulatta character.<ref name=Fer/>

Writer Eva Allegra Raimon notes that Child "allowed white readers to identify with the victim by gender while distancing themselves by race and thus to avoid confronting a racial ideology that denies the full humanity of nonwhite women." The [[passing (sociology)|passing]] character, Clare Kendry, in [[Nella Larsen]]'s ''[[Passing (novel)|Passing]]'' has been deemed a "tragic mulatta".<ref name=Fer/>

Generally, the tragic mulatta archetype falls into one of three categories:((Citation needed|date=August 2023))

* A woman who can [[Passing (racial identity)|"pass"]] for white attempts to do so, is accepted as white by society and falls in love with a white man. Eventually, her status as a bi-racial person is revealed and the story ends in tragedy.
* A woman who appears to be white and thus passes as being so. It is believed that she is of [[Greeks|Greek]] or [[Spain|Spanish]] descent. She has suffered little hardship in her life, but upon the revelation that she is mixed race she loses her social standing.
* A woman who has all the social graces that come along with being a [[middle-class]] or [[upper-class]] white woman is nonetheless subjected to [[slavery]].

A common objection to this character is that she allows readers to pity the plight of oppressed or enslaved races, but only through a veil of whiteness—that is, instead of sympathizing with a true racial "other", one is sympathizing with a character who is made as much like one's own race as possible.((Citation needed|date=August 2023))

==In popular culture==
((More citations needed section|date=January 2016))

===Literature featuring "tragic mulatto" and "tragic mulatta" characters in pivotal roles===
*''[[Le Mulâtre]]'' 1837 short story by [[Victor Séjour]]
*[[Sab (novel)|''Sab'']], 1841 novel by [[Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda|Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda]]
*''[[The Quadroons]]'', 1842 short story by [[Lydia Maria Child]] (introduced the literary character of the tragic mulatto)<ref name=Fer/>
*''Slavery's Pleasant Homes'', 1843 short story by Lydia Maria Child<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin|Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly]]'', 1852 novel by [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] (published serially 1851–1852)<ref name=Robinson>((cite book|first=Cedric J.|last=Robinson|title=Forgeries of Memory and Meaning: Blacks and the Regimes of Race in American Theater and Film Before World War II|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]]|location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina|date=2007|page=272|isbn=978-0807858417))</ref>
*''[[Clotel|Clotel; or, The President's Daughter]]'', 1853 novel by [[William Wells Brown]]<ref name=Fer/>
*''The Garies and Their Friends'', 1857 novel by [[Frank J. Webb]]
*''[[The Octoroon]] (Life in Louisiana)'' 1859 play, by [[Dion Boucicault]]<ref name=Robinson/>
* ''[[A Escrava Isaura (novel)|A Escrava Isaura]]'', 1875 novel by Brazilian author [[Bernardo Guimarães]]
* ''[[Iola Leroy]]'', 1892 novel by [[Frances Ellen Watkins Harper|Frances Harper]]
*[[Désirée’s Baby|''Désirée's Baby'']], 1893 short story by [[Kate Chopin]]
* ''[[Pudd'nhead Wilson]]'', 1894 novel by [[Mark Twain]]
*''[[The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line]]'' by [[Charles W. Chesnutt]] (1899)
*''[[The House Behind the Cedars]]'', 1900 novel by Charles W. Chesnutt
*"Talma Gordon," 1900 short story by [[Pauline Hopkins]]
*''[[The Marrow of Tradition]]'', 1901 novel by Charles W. Chesnutt
*''[[The Clansman]]'', 1905 novel by [[Thomas Dixon, Jr.]]<ref name=Fer/> (the source material for [[D.W. Griffith]]'s ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'').
*[[Summer (Wharton novel)|''Summer'']], 1917 novel by [[Edith Wharton]]
*"Cross", 1925 poem by [[Langston Hughes]] 
*''[[Show Boat (novel)|Show Boat]]'', 1926 novel by [[Edna Ferber]] (also the source material for the [[Show Boat|1927 stage musical]]).
*"Mulatto", 1927 poem by [[Langston Hughes]]
*''The White Girl'', 1929 novel by [[Vera Caspary|Vara Caspary]]<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Passing (novel)|Passing]]'', 1929 novel by [[Nella Larsen]]<ref name=Fer/>
*''Dark Lustre'', 1932 novel by [[Geoffrey Warnes|Geoffrey Barnes]]<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Light in August]]'', 1932 novel by [[William Faulkner]]
*''[[Imitation of Life (novel)|Imitation of Life]]'', 1933 novel by [[Fannie Hurst]] (source material for the [[Imitation of Life (1934 film)|1934 film]] and its [[Imitation of Life (1959 film)|1959 remake]])
*"Father and Son", 1934 short story by Langston Hughes
*''[[Mulatto (play)|Mulatto: A Play of the Deep South]]'', 1935 play by Langston Hughes
*''Lost Boundaries'', 1940 book by [[William L. White]]<ref name=Fer/>
*''The Wind From Nowhere'', 1943 novel by [[Oscar Micheaux]]
*''The Barrier'', 1950 opera by Langston Hughes and [[Jan Meyerowitz]]
*''African Morning'', 1952 short story by Langston Hughes
*''[[Band of Angels]]'', 1955 novel by [[Robert Penn Warren]]
*''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'', 1960 novel by [[Harper Lee]]
*''[[A Soldier's Play]]'', 1981 play by [[Charles Fuller]]
*''[[Devil in a Blue Dress]]'', 1990 novel by [[Walter Mosley]]
*''[[The Human Stain]]'', 2000 novel by [[Philip Roth]]
*''[[Island Beneath the Sea]]'', 2009 novel by [[Isabel Allende]]
*''[[The Vanishing Half]]'', 2020 novel by [[Brit Bennett|Britt Bennett]]
*''[[All the Sinners Bleed]]'', 2023 novel by [[S.A. Cosby]]

===Films featuring "tragic mulatto" and "tragic mulatta" characters in pivotal roles===
*''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' (1915)<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Within Our Gates]]'' (1920)<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[The Symbol of the Unconquered]]'' (1920)
*''[[The Virgin of the Seminole]]'' (1922)
*''[[Scar of Shame]]'' (1926)((Citation needed|date=August 2023))
*''[[The House Behind the Cedars]]'' (1927)
*''[[Veiled Aristocrats]]'' (1932)
*''[[Imitation of Life (1934 film)|Imitation of Life]]'' (1934)<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Ouanga (film)|Ouanga]]'' (1936)
*''[[God's Step Children]]'' (1938)<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[The Betrayal (1948 film)|The Betrayal]]'' (1948)
*''[[Angelitos negros (1948 film)|Angelitos negros]]'', 1948<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Lost Boundaries]]'', 1949<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Pinky (film)|Pinky]]'' (1949)<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Il Mulatto]]'', 1950 Italian film released as "Angelo" in the United States
*''[[Show Boat (1951 film)|Show Boat]]'' (1951)<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Mulata (film)|Mulata]]'' (1954)
*''[[Band of Angels]]'' (1957)
*''[[Kings Go Forth]]'' (1957)<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[Yambaó]]'' (1957)
*''[[Imitation of Life (1959 film)|Imitation of Life]]'' (1959), remake of the 1934 original (with significant changes)
*''[[Shadows (1959 film)|Shadows]]'' (1959)
*''[[I Passed for White]]'' (1960)
*''[[Flaming Star]]'' (1961)
*''[[The Black Klansman]]'' (1966), a.k.a. ''I Crossed the Color Line''
*''[[Angelitos negros (1970 film)|Angelitos negros]]'' (1970), remake of the 1948 original<ref name=Fer/>
*''[[A Soldier's Story]]'' (1984)
*''[[Devil in a Blue Dress (film)|Devil in a Blue Dress]]'' (1995)
*''[[The Human Stain (film)|The Human Stain]]'' (2003)
*''[[Passing (film)|Passing]]'' (2021)

=== Television movies and series featuring "tragic mulatto" and "tragic mulatta" characters in pivotal roles ===

* ''[[Alex Haley's Queen]]'', the acclaimed television series by [[Alex Haley]], offers a subversion of the "tragic mulatta" archetype, while making reference to many of its elements.((Citation needed|date=August 2023))
* ''[[A Escrava Isaura (novel)|A Escrava Isaura]]'' has been adapted to Brazilian television twice, first in 1976 (as ''[[Escrava Isaura (1976 TV series)|Escrava Isaura]]''), and [[A Escrava Isaura (2004 TV series)|again in 2004]].((Citation needed|date=August 2023))
* ''[[Angel (1999 TV series)|Angel]]'' (the television series) featured a tragic mulatta character (portrayed by Melissa Marsala) in its 2000 episode "[[Are You Now or Have You Ever Been]]".((Citation needed|date=August 2023))
* The television series, ''[[Quincy, M.E.]]'' includes an episode, entitled, "Passing," that subverts the tragic mulatta trope. A female character raised to believe she is white learns that her deceased father was passing all the time she knew him and that she has been mixed-race all of her life. Instead of viewing the news as tragic, she ends the episode saying, "Black is beautiful."((Citation needed|date=August 2023))
* The television series, ''[[Murdoch Mysteries]]'' features an episode, entitled, "Colour Blinded," in which a white-passing black woman is suspected in a murder: it is revealed her husband is responsible, and that he killed the victim, her biological father, to hide to his wealthy campaign contributors that she is partially of black descent.((Citation needed|date=August 2023))

===Folktales===
* ''[[Haunting of the Octoroon Mistress]]'', a ghost story featuring the institution of [[Plaçage#Quadroon balls|octoroon balls]].((Citation needed|date=August 2023))

=== Video games featuring "tragic mulatta" characters in pivotal roles ===
* ''[[Assassin's Creed: Liberation]]'', the first [[PlayStation Vita]] installment of the [[Assassin's Creed (series)|''Assassin's Creed'' series]], has the [[playable character]], Aveline, subvert the trope, according to ''[[Kotaku]]'' writer Evan Narcisse.<ref>((cite web|title=I'm Surprised By How "Black" Assassin's Creed Liberation Feels|url=http://updates.kotaku.com/post/34760797518/im-surprised-by-how-black-assassins-creed|work=Kotaku|first=Evan|last=Narcisse|date=November 1, 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103102124/http://updates.kotaku.com/post/34760797518/im-surprised-by-how-black-assassins-creed|archivedate=November 3, 2012))</ref>

===Music===
* The 1973 song "[[Half-Breed (song)|Half-Breed]]" by [[Cher]] tells the story of a child rejected by both white and Cherokee society. Although Cher appeared on the single's artwork in a native headdress, and her mother [[Georgia Holt]] at one time claimed Cherokee ancestry, she is not Cherokee.((Citation needed|date=August 2023))

==See also==
*[[Biracial identity development]]
*[[Good hair (phrase)]]
*[[La belle juive]]
*[[Mary Mildred Williams]]
*[[Melungeon]]
*[[Miscegenation]]
*''[[Multi-Facial]]''
*[[One-drop rule]]
*[[Passing (racial identity)]]
*[[White slave propaganda]]

==References==
((Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Fer">((cite web
  | last=Pilgrim
  | first=David
  | title=The Tragic Mulatto Myth
  | url=http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/mulatto/
  | type=also: [http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/mulatto/]
  | series=Jim Crow: Museum of Racist Memorabilia
  | date=November 2000
  | publisher=Ferris State University
  | accessdate=26 June 2012
  | archive-date=6 July 2012
  | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706094505/http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/mulatto/
  | url-status=live
  ))</ref>
))

=== Sources ===
* ((cite book |title= The Tragic Mulatta Revisited: Race and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Antislavery Fiction |first=  Eva Allegra |last= Raimon |url= ((google books |e9jhiScL-4EC |plainurl= yes )) |publisher= Rutgers University Press |date= 2004 |isbn= 0813534828 ))

((DEFAULTSORT:Tragic Mulatto))
[[Category:Mulatto]]
[[Category:Multiracial affairs]]
[[Category:Multiracial literature]]
[[Category:Stock characters]]
[[Category:Ethnic and racial stereotypes in the United States]]
[[Category:Antebellum South]]

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