“Mongolian Spots”


Um, no.


(Image source)




(Illustration source)




  1. the Caucasian, Caucasoid, or “white” race
  2. the Mongolian, Mongoloid, or “yellow” race
  3. the Malayan or “brown” race
  4. the Ethiopian, Negroid or “black” race
  5. the American or “red” race






So what’s stopping her?

What’s stopping us?


~ Sharon Chang, originally posted at Multiethnic & Multiracial Asian Families


  1. Joe

    Thanks, Sharon, for the excellent post. Blumenbach actually invented the racist term “Caucasian,” and the reason was that he thought the people of the Caucasus were the most beautiful of the (white) European peoples. So it too is a racist term that everyone one needs to know the source of — and not use. I see too that Morton is getting celebrated these days in books and articles as the great founder of certain academic disciplines — in spite of his Nazi-like racist views and founding work in scientific racism….. Why cannot whites, esp. white elites, in this society ever deal well with accepting a critical history of our racist past, apologizing for it, and changing the way we celebrate it — those are modest first steps?

  2. AthensJ

    I’m sorry, but this is not correct at all. In all 4 of the citations you provided, not once are the words “Mongol” or “Mongolian” even mentioned in a negative or racist context. I even checked other sources (I work in a large University Library) and have yet to find any reference to “Mongol” or
    “Mongolian” being used, as you say, “in a negative manner”. Now it is true that Blumenbach coined the term “Mongolian”, but that does not mean that anyone since then has largely used it in a negative manner. If all of the english words that were invented by white supremacists were inherintly racist, then the majority of the English language would be racist. Language, though, is a function of how it is used. It is irresponsible to say that the words “Mongol” and “Mongolian” have been used “usually in a negative manner” when none of the sources you cite even hinted that. Maybe you should start fresh with your research.
    You are right about the term “Mongoloid”, however. For a long time, it has been used to refer to someone who has Down’s Syndrome or is mentally disabled, and from what I’ve found there are several racist connotations.

    It’s strange that the term “Mongolian spots” would have offended you before you knew its’ history, especially considering the fact that people from Mongolia refer to themselves as Mongolians. The man who coined the term “Mongolian spots” was not known to be a racist, but he obviously studied the works of a renowned anthropologist in asia who WAS obviously racist. I think it would have been strange had Balz NOT studied the work of Blumenbach.

  3. Sharon Chang Author

    Hi there. Thank you for your reply.

    I see you are wondering about my citations. To clarify, “The words ‘Mongol’, ‘Mongolian’, ‘Mongoloid’ were extensively used throughout European history since the 13th century usually in a negative manner” is a direct quote from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid. You can find it under the section entitled “Populations Included.”

    Yasuko Takezawa, Ph.D., http://www.janm.org/projects/inrp/english/sc_take.htm. wrote an excellent piece entitled “Problems with the Terms: ‘Caucasoid’, ‘Mongoloid’, and ‘Negroid'” http://jairo.nii.ac.jp/0019/00121668/en. She refers to the troublesome history of “Mongoloid” under “Eurocentrism and Racial Terminology” in paragraphs 4-6. There she also writes on the connection between “Mongoloid” and a long-standing European fear of the Mongols, or Mongol Empire. Indeed there is much historical documentation on the ferocity of the Empire and the terror it evoked.

    In his article for the Globalist “Europe’s Fear of Asia” http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=4472, Jack Weatherford further shows how the fear on Mongols led Europeans to rationalize theories on Asian inferiority. So the negative connotations of “Mongol” and “Mongoloid” have deep roots.

    I agree with you that language is a function of how it is used and context is very important. For example, calling someone Mongolian when they are actually from Mongolia makes complete sense. In this case however, the trouble with “Mongolian Spots” is that it is DERIVATIVE of Mongoloid – which is linked to a painful and discriminatory history of racism towards Asian peoples. It is not a reference to the people of Mongolia and it is used to label children who are not Mongolian. Using Blumenbach’s 5 races, would we allow “Negroid spots” or “Negro spots” by our medical professionals?


  1. “Mongolian Spots” | ChristianBookBarn.com
  2. “Asian” Eyes :: racismreview.com

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