quadroon

Quadroon, octoroon and, more rarely, quintroon were historically racial categories of hypodescent used in Latin America and parts of the 19th century Southern United States, particularly Louisiana. The terms were also used in Australia to refer to people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry.

Quadroon is someone of one-quarter black ancestry. A quadroon has a biracial parent (black and white) and one white parent. In other words, the person has one black grandparent and three white grandparents.

Octoroon means a person of fourth-generation black ancestry. An octoroon has one parent who is a quadroon and one white parent. In other words, the person has one black great-grandparent and seven white great-grandparents.

Quintroon is a rarely used term that means a person of fifth-generation black ancestry. A quintroon has one parent who is an octoroon and one white parent. In other words, the person has one black great-great-grandparent and fifteen white great-great-grandparents.

Hexadecaroon is an even less common term to describe a person of sixth-generation black ancestry. A Hexadecaroon has one parent who is a quintroon and one white parent. In other words, the person has one black great-great-great-grandparent and thirty-one white great-great-great-grandparents.

Culture and law

This cultural classification differed somewhat from the "one-drop theory" current in most of the United States, in that it recognized a higher social status for black-descended persons by degree of majority white ancestry. Nevertheless, persons of minority black ancestry in these cultures were still heavily discriminated against and often subject to slavery.

In the United States, the Jim Crow laws generally followed the "one-drop theory"; hence the case of Homer Plessy, a Louisiana man of one-eighth black ancestry who was prevented from sitting in a railroad car reserved for whites.

By the later 20th century, these terms had almost totally faded from use, being generally considered racist and obsolete.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Racial purity
• Passing (racial identity)
• Multiracial
• Mulatto
• Colorism

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