The first picture is of an unidentified Mexican woman oh horseback. The second image is of a chart that depicts Spanish racial classifications during the conquest of the Americas. Click on the image to see a larger picture of racial classifications during the Spanish era in New Mexico.
I was looking for some information on a particular individual in the 1910 Federal Census and it took me to Conejos County Colorado. I found the individual in question in 1910 Federal Census for Conejos Counry in Los Pinos. Anyway I was surprised to find out that the individual is listed as a mullato. I did a little more checking to see if his family was listed as mulatto. They sure were! I did a bit more checking and I find out the whole community is listed as mulatto! Now I know a lot of folks in Los Pinos and do not know a single mulatto. So I check some more and I see where the census taker's W looks close to his M's. The census taker was Jose B Romero.
So I check on and go to San Rafael, CO which the same individual was doing the census taking. Anyway, here is an individual born in Indiana, a Charles Emmerson. Here is where I compare the W for white in column 5 with the M for male in column 6. They are similar, but not the same. a couple of lines down there is an individual by the name of Elias Quintana. Now I compare the M for "whatever" in column No. 5 with the M for male in column No. 6. They are the same!!!!!
I Think Jose B. Romero was using the M for Mexican, not Mulatto !!!!!!!!! Whoever transcribed the actual image made the mistake, Mr. Romero's penmanship is not good, but it is not that bad. But by interpreting the M as being for mulatto instead of the M being for Mexican someone made a huge blunder. The moral of the story is "checks your data" before you determine they are facts.
1 comment:
It's very unlikely that there were many mulattos in New Mexico at the time. My grandmother grew up in Albuquerque during the 1910s and '20s and remembered the first black family moving there.
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