A Legacy of Slavery – Black with the Slaves or Mulatto with the Slavers? An English Jamaican Theological Reflection on the Trajectories of ‘Mixed Race Categories’

This wide ranging piece is a contribution to the ‘unearthing of lost voices’ within our diverse and multi-cultural landscape. As a preliminary statement it will present the need for the visible inclusion of a perspective germane to Britain’s fastest growing ethnic minority – people categorized as ‘mixed race’. Beginning within the framework of plantation slavery in Jamaica, it will provide an introductory view of attitudes towards ‘race’ within the multiple oppressions of the legacy of the slave experience. This work will sketch White protestant thinking in its classification and treatment of ‘mixed race’ identities with reference to solutions devised in colonial locations. These observations will contribute to an understanding of contemporary attitudes to those of mixed race (including self-perceptions) from the 1940s to present day. I hope to outline its evolving nature and changing symbolism as an indicator of racial identity.