The cultural mulatto is a concept introduced by
Trey Ellis in his 1989 essay "The New Black Aesthetic". While the term "
mulatto" typically refers to a person of mixed black and white ancestry, a cultural mulatto is defined by Ellis as a black person who is highly educated and usually a part of the middle or
upper-middle class
In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...
, and therefore
assimilates easily into traditionally white environments.
Overview
Ellis writes: "Just as a genetic mulatto is a black person of mixed parents who can often get along fine with his white grandparents, a cultural mulatto, educated by a multi-racial mix of cultures, can also navigate easily in the white world" (235).
Cultural mulattoes are skillful code-switchers (alternating between multiple languages during conversation) and they may be equally comfortable around blacks as around whites. Members of the New Black Aesthetic are typically cultural mulattoes. Their ability for easy interaction with both blacks and whites is what ultimately allows cultural mulattoes opportunities for class and status
upward mobility
Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...
.
Examples
Examples of cultural mulattoes offered by Ellis include:
*
Bill Cosby
William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...
's daughters
*
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
*
Lisa Jones,
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
alumna and founder of Rodeo Caldonia (a performance art group for black women)
*
Kellie Jones, Visual Arts Director of the
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
(
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
) Arts Center
References
*Ellis, Trey. ''Platitudes and the New Black Aesthetic''. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003.
External links
The New Black Aesthetic
African-American culture
Mulatto
Multiracial affairs
Mulatto
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