Tragic mulatto  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to:
navigation, search  The tragic mulatto is a stereotypical
fictional character that appeared in American literature during
the 19th and 20th centuries, from the 1840s.[1] The "tragic
mulatto" is an archetypical mixed-race person (a "mulatto"), who
is assumed to be sad, or even suicidal, because they fail to
completely fit in the "white world" or the "black world".[1] As
such, the "tragic mulatto" is depicted as the victim of the
society in society divided by race, were there is no place for
one who is neither completely "black" nor "white".  The female
"tragic octoroon" was a stock character of abolitionist
literature: a light-skinned woman raised as if a white woman in
her father's household, until his bankruptcy or death has her
reduced to a menial position and sold.[2] She may even be
unaware of her status before being so reduced.[3] This character
allowed abolitionists to draw attention to the sexual
exploitation in slavery, and unlike the suff