Hi,
William Sabatta was born 1823 in Quebec/British North America, got married in 1849 in Cape town and died there 1862.
In 1845, he was ticketed as a merchent seaman in London. In this record it is stated "Complexion: Man of color".
Since I'm not familiar with British racial terminology of 1845: Does that most likely refer to mixed race or native american? Somebody else advised me that if he was black, the record would have stated "negro". Is that correct? Any other opinion?
Greetings,
tannenbaum
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30-08-2018, 8:58 AM #1
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Racial Terminology in England arround 1845
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31-08-2018, 6:47 AM #2
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Hi tannenbaum
No expertise here, just my opinion:
I think that in the 1840's the English would use the term "Man of colour" for anyone who was not "white". A general term that covered Mixed race/Asian/Native American/Black ...
I agree that the term "negro" would define "black", but "colour" covers everything.
We English really were a racist lot!
Jane
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31-08-2018, 8:21 AM #3
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Not sure about that, Jane. The Chartist leader William Cuffay (son of a former slave from St Kitts) was described in the Times as "the black man and his party", This was the 1840s.
Also I've seen Blackamoor in parish registers. I take this to refer to African/Caribbean ancestry.
More to the point, "man of colour" crops up in 19th century newspapers. So far as I can see it refers to people from the Caribbean.
Again in old newspapers, native North Americans seem to have been usually described as "Red Indian". "Negro" seems mostly to appear in news stories about the USA.
You say he married and died in South Africa. Is his ethnicity mentioned in any South African records?
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