[ExI] Race Biology

[Lee Corbin]

Olga writes

> Lee wrote
>  
>> Damien writes
> 
>>> Sally Hemings' mother, Betty Hemings, was the daughter of the English
>>> Captain Hemings and a black slave woman brought from Africa
>>> (Wikipedia says), so her kids by Jefferson were three-quarters
>>> "white." That surely made them white, eh? Oh yeah?
>>
>> No, in the U.S. they'd be called black, because that's their relative
>> coloration compared to the rest of the people here.
> 
> My stepdaughter (who sports white skin and wavy blonde hair - as a baby she 
> was absolutely tow-headed) is 3/4 white and 1/4 black.  Were you to meet 
> her, there's no way you'd think she was anything but "white."

I'll bet that a *lot* of the reason is due to the color of her skin.

> I'm confused about what you meant by "coloration." 

Just that.

> Are you saying that a  person is considered "black" as long as there
> is some evidence (i.e.,  physical difference from "whites") of this from
> his/her appearance?

In most countries, this is true.  In the U.S., and I think in Oceania, 
white people are so deemed chiefly because they have very light
colored skin (even compared to Japanese women, to the great
consternation of the late 19th century Japanese). They also have
other obvious outward physical markers, such as thin noses and
with more of a tendency towards dolichocephalism. 

> The reason my stepdaughter is considered "black" is due to the racist 
> "one-drop" rule - it has nothing to do with her appearance (or coloration).

Really.  And just how do people on the street know her family
history.  As they say here, can't she easily "pass for white"?
Unless you're not being entirely forthcoming about her appearance.

But I'm eager to learn:  is there some kind of official classification 
where she lives, like there used to be in South Africa (and, for all
I know, still is)?

Lee