Mixed race, mulattos, coloureds, multiracial and a multiple number of more derogatory terms have been used to describe those of us who are of mixed origin. In Southern Africa, where I hail from, the term used is Coloured and the biggest and oldest of the community is the Cape Coloured. During the pre-production of ‘I’m Not Black, I’m Coloured – Identity Crisis at the Cape’, an historical documentary film to explore the legacy of Apartheid through the viewpoint of the Cape Coloured community, a DNA project was started since “we can not always use surnames to track our lineage (such as Adams, Jacobs) as surnames were given during slavery by the colonizers upon arrival to Cape Town in the late 1600’s.” This should be a wonderful experiment in using DNA for genealogical and historical purposes and I shall be watching the project carefully over the next few years. The details of the DNA project can be found at http://www.capecoloureddnaproject.com/
References:
http://capecoloured.ning.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulatto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloured_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Coloureds
http://www.mixedfolks.com/africa.htm
