‘Mestizo’ and ‘mulatto’: Mixed-race identities among U.S. Hispanics
*”Complicated” doesn’t begin to describe the nuanced self-identification of U.S. Latinos. Thirty four percent say they are of mixed race (mestizo, mulatto, given the choice), but some of them say they are also white. Try putting that in a spreadsheet. VL
By Aana Gonzalez-Barrera, Pew Research Center
For many Americans, the term “mixed race” brings to mind a biracial experience of having one parent black and another white, or perhaps one white and the other Asian.
[pullquote][tweet_dis]Four-in-ten of Hispanic respondents identifying as mestizo/mulatto say their race is white, while one-in-five volunteered their race as Hispanic.[/tweet_dis][/pullquote]But for many U.S. Latinos, mixed-race identity takes on a different meaning – one that is tied to Latin America’s colonial history and commonly includes having a white and indigenous, or “mestizo,” background somewhere in their ancestry.
When asked if they identify as “mestizo,” “mulatto” or some other mixed-race combination, one-third of U.S. Hispanics say they do, according to a 2014 Pew Research Centersurvey of Hispanic adults.
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[Photo by Michael Righi/Flickr]
