Legality Versus Biology

Something that came to me very early on as I researched my own and other's genealogy is that DNA findings were just as important as the historical documents I poured over. The more I researched the more I questioned the "One Drop Rule". I was fascinated by the concept since my maternal and paternal family's roots are southern. Further, I wondered how could anyone possibly know that when there was definitely no DNA testing being done in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Wikipedia gives a very simple definition of what the One Drop Rule means:

The one-drop rule was a legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th-century United States. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of African ancestry ("one drop" of "black blood")[1][2] is considered black (Negro or colored in historical terms). It is 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, regardless of proportion of ancestry in different groups.[3]

Some words struck me. Not the ones I read but the ones that were obviously not included in the definition. Words like scientific. I suppose it definitely would be left out back then but how are people still arguing this antiquated notion? In my own experience I have been told things like I'm suffering from "self-hate" when asked about my ethnicity. The first proof they cited was the One Drop Rule... in the twentieth century. I have been perplexed for a long time about this. Consequently, I dug a little further into this proposal because that is exactly what it is. A proposal. There is zero evidence to support this other than White People were in complete power at the time and the rules were made to benefit them during that time.

Many of you may also know that my first career path was Criminal Justice. I've study so many cases. Especially the ones that included DNA to find a break in the case. When unidentified bodies were found and it came to giving the body a race it was the predominant race. Therefore, if DNA was done on a corpse that was 90% Caucasian and 10% negroid or African American they did not identify the corpse as being African American. 10% is definitely a larger quantity than one drop. However, science goes with what is most prevalent.

It was inevitable that I would start reconciling what I knew from crime scene research with the things I was finding doing genealogy research. Clearly science was not a factor in this definition. However, as I found out, genealogy was. Again, as there were no scientific tests done they simple used your family tree to determine if you were a Colored person. If you had just one Black ancestor you were considered Black. Many of my white family members would definitely not be considered white anymore after the research that has been done. But they are white. Why? Because European is their dominant DNA source. The one-drop rule is a social and legal principle of racial classification that was historically prominent in the United States in the 20th century. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry is considered black.

Also, in considering the One Drop Rule, if it automatically makes one Black what was the purpose of the word Mulatto? Mulatto is Spanish for Hybrid. It became a normalized word in the south to describe a person that was born to a pure African and a pure White person. It was also used to describe persons born to pure Whites and "mixed Blacks" which is a Black person mixed with something like Latino or Native American.

For me, that in itself defeats the whole point of the One Drop Rule. Going by the definition the child born to a pure White person and Pure African person should just be Black. As with a child born to a pure White person and a mixed Black person right? But it wasn't. Even during that time Whites made differences and sub-categories for People of Color. Those differences were made solely to support the rights that would or would not be afforded to Blacks. Race is a matter of biology not someone's opinion. If they didn't even stick to their own "rule" during the time it was created why are Blacks so quick to use it as an authentication tool in the 21st century?

That seems to stem from centuries of being convinced that being Black was a curse and nothing to be proud of. Those that are proud of their African American roots are sometimes conditioned to think that if you don't claim your Blackness completely you are somehow turning your back on them. Sadly, to some degree they are correct as it relates to some people. But that's the thing. You can't lay that at everyone's door step because everyone doesn't feel that way.

Contrarily, I still empathize with them. In my own family I notice members who seem to be prouder or our family members that of a lighter complexion. Like that somehow makes them better for having lighter children or cousins. As a lighter skinned member of the family I'm insulted by that. I would assume it insults me as much as those that don't really understand the One Drop Rule and what it really means. The truth is, in this century, it doesn't mean anything at all. Science separates the fact from the opinion.