View source for Redbone (ethnicity)

{{Short description|Multi-racial culture in Louisiana}}
{{About||other uses|Redbone (disambiguation){{!}}Redbone}}
{{African American topics sidebar}}
'''Redbone''' is a term historically used in much of the [[southern United States]] to denote a multiracial individual or culture. Among [[African American]]s the term has been slang for fairer-skinned Black people, often for women specifically or for Black people with red undertones.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ozburn |first1=Renée |title=A Redbone's Reality |url=https://losangelesreview.org/redbones-reality-renee-ozburn/ |access-date=26 September 2023 |work=The Los Angeles Review}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-04-22 |title=Makeup Basics--Women of Color 'Red Bone' **Warm Undertones** |url=https://www.beyondblackwhite.com/makeup-basics-women-of-color-red-bones/ |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=Beyond Black & White}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cooper |first=Dominique |date=2020-09-23 |title=Tracing the Red in “Redbone”: Colorism and Misogyny in Black History |url=https://nursingclio.org/2020/09/23/tracing-the-red-in-redbone-colorism-and-misogyny-in-black-history/ |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=Nursing Clio |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maxwell |first=Morgan L. |last2=Abrams |first2=Jasmine A. |last3=Belgrave |first3=Faye Z. |date=November 2016 |title=Redbones and earth mothers: The influence of rap music on African American girls’ perceptions of skin color |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0305735616643175 |journal=Psychology of Music |language=en |volume=44 |issue=6 |pages=1488–1499 |doi=10.1177/0305735616643175 |issn=0305-7356|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In [[Louisiana]], it also refers to a specific, geographically and ethnically distinct group.

==Definition==
{{Wiktionary|redbone}}In Louisiana, the Redbone cultural group consists mainly of the families of migrants to the state following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The term ''Redbone'' became disfavored as it was a pejorative nickname applied by others; however, starting around 1990, the term has begun to be used as the preferred description for some creole groups, including the Louisiana Redbones.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Bartl |first=Renate |title=American Tri-Racials: African-Native Contact, Multi-Ethnic Native American Nations, and the Ethnogenesis of Tri-Racial Groups in North America |date=2020 |pages=312–313 |degree=Dr. phil. |publisher=Ludwig Maximilians-Universität LMU München |url=https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/26874/ |place=Munich, Germany |doi=10.5282/edoc.26874}}</ref>

==Louisiana Redbone cultural group==
[[File:Redbone Parishes & Counties.svg|thumb|300px|Map of Louisiana and Texas showing parishes and counties historically associated with Louisiana Redbone people.<ref>{{cite book |last=Marler |first=Don C. |date=2003 |title=Redbones of Louisiana |location=Hemphill, Texas |publisher=Dogwood Press |isbn=1-887745-21-1}}</ref><br/>
{{legend|#C83737|Traditional Redbone parishes and counties}}
{{legend|#AFDDE9|Louisiana}}
{{legend|#FFCCAA|Texas}}
]]
The Louisiana Redbones historically lived in geographically and socially isolated communities in the southwestern [[Louisiana]] parishes, ranging from [[Sabine Parish, Louisiana|Sabine Parish]] in the northwest and [[Rapides Parish, Louisiana|Rapides Parish]] near the center of the state down to [[Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana|Calcasieu Parish]] in the southwest,<ref name="everett">Everett, C.S. "Brass Ankles/Red Bones," Vol. Ed. Celeste Ray, ''6 Encyclopedia of Southern Culture'' (University of North Carolina Press 2007), pp. 102-104</ref> including parts of [[Orange County, Texas]] and [[Newton County, Texas]]. This area is roughly coextensive with what was once known as the [[Neutral Ground (Louisiana)|Neutral Ground]] or [[Sabine Free State]], an area of disputed sovereignty from 1806 to 1821 that was primarily bound on the east by the [[Calcasieu River]] and the [[Sabine River (Texas–Louisiana)|Sabine River]] on the west.<ref>''See'' [[Adams-Onís Treaty]].</ref> Most families ancestral to the Louisiana Redbones came from [[South Carolina]] (where they were at times classified in some census records as "[[free people of color|other free persons]]"),<ref name="everett"/> although some families came from other [[Southeastern United States|Southeastern states]]. A review of newspaper articles, land grants, census records and other documents referring to the Redbones indicates that the main settlements of Redbones to southwestern and south central Louisiana and southeastern [[Texas]] took place over the course of many years,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ancestry.com/|title=Ancestry® - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records}}</ref> although some members of Redbone families are noted as settling in the [[Neutral Ground (Louisiana)|Neutral Ground]] before 1818 when the land was finally and officially considered part of the United States.<ref>''Claims to Land Between the Rio Hondo and Sabine Rivers in Louisiana.  Communicated to the Senate January 31, 1825''</ref>

The ambiguity of the origins of the members of the Redbone community and the cultural attitudes held by those living in the same region as the Redbone community but who were not part of it is shown in a letter written in 1893 by Albert Rigmaiden, Calcasieu parish treasurer, to McDonald Furman, a South Carolinian who conducted private ethnological research.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.sc.edu/socar/uscs/1997/furman97.html|title=Charles James McDonald Furman papers, 1804-1903}}</ref> Rigmaiden wrote that he was unable to explain how the name Redbone originated and stated that: "they are neither white nor black & as well as I can find out, the oldest ones came from S.C many years ago ... they are not looked on as being—Negros—Indian nor White people."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://redbone-red-bone.blogspot.com/|title=REDBONE REDBONE}}</ref>

Historically, members of the Redbone ethnic group lived in three areas. One community lived along Ten Mile Creek in [[Rapides Parish, Louisiana|Rapides Parish]] and [[Allen Parish, Louisiana|Allen Parish]]. Members of this community were referred to as "Ten Milers"<ref name="Baton Rouge Daily Advocate p. 2">The Baton Rouge Daily Advocate, August 28, 1857 p. 2</ref><ref>''New Orleans Times-Picayune'', September 9, 1877</ref> or as "Red Bones."<ref>
* ''New Orleans Times-Picayune'' August 6, 1891 p.8
* ''New Orleans Times-Picayune'' August 5, 1891 p.1
* ''The New York Times'' August 5, 1891
* New Orleans Times Picayune July 3, 1897 p.8</ref> in the 19th century. A second community was along Bearhead creek in what is now [[Beauregard Parish, Louisiana|Beauregard Parish]]. A third community was established in [[Newton County, Texas]] and [[Orange County, Texas]]. 19th century newspapers tended to refer to members of this community simply as "mulattos,"<ref>Galveston Weekly News (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 17, Ed. 1, Tuesday, July 15, 1856</ref><ref>The Weekly Telegraph (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 19, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 23, 1856</ref> and members of the Texas community were not able to vote.

In the frontier of Southwestern Louisiana, the settlers successfully resisted classification as non-White. In 1837 and 1849, several of the members of the Redbone community were indicted for illegal voting on the charge that they were of color rather than White. The state court found them all not guilty, thus establishing that the Redbone community would be legally considered white in the state of Louisiana.<ref name="Baton Rouge Daily Advocate p. 2"/>

However, references to the Redbone community and its members in 19th century newspapers tend to be wildly divergent, ranging from making no mention of racial makeup,<ref name="Baton Rouge Daily Advocate p. 2"/><ref>''New Orleans Times-Picayune'' July 3, 1892</ref> to stating that the members were White,<ref name="Baton Rouge Daily Advocate p. 2"/> to stating that the members were African American<ref>''The Springfield Daily Republican'' August 28, 1857</ref><ref>The New York Times August 28, 1857</ref> to stating that the members were of Indian extraction<ref>New Orleans Times Picayune August 6, 1891</ref> to the assertion that the members were of unspecified mixed race.<ref>''New Orleans Times Picayune'' August 5, 1891</ref> These newspaper references do have the commonality of all pertaining to violent actions either in the community or perpetrated by members of the community.

Two incidents of violence in Louisiana are particularly notable, one due to the statement of Webster Talma Crawford and one due to the amount of newspaper coverage the incident received. The Westport Fight occurred December 24, 1881 in southern Rapides Parish. According to the Crawford account, friction between the more recent settlers and the Redbones had been simmering for much of the month before exploding into a fight that involved several families in the community and ended in the burning down of a store owned by some of the recent non-Redbone settlers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.mcneese.edu/depts/archive/FTBooks/redbones.htm|title=REDBONES IN THE NEUTRAL STRIP OR NO MAN'S LAND by Webster Talma Crawford}}</ref> The Bearhead Creek incident took place in what is now southern [[Beauregard Parish]] on August 2, 1891. This battle also occurred due to similar tensions between Redbone and more recent, non-Redbone settlers. It left six men dead and several others wounded.<ref>
* ''Dallas Morning News'' August 4, 1891
* ''Times-Picayune'' August 5, 1891, p.1
* ''Times Picayune'' August 6, 1891
* ''Baton Rouge Daily Advocate'' August 7, 1891
* ''Times-Picayune'' August 9, 1891
* ''New Orleans Item'' August 11, 1891
* ''Dallas Morning News'' September 11, 1891</ref>

In Texas, one incident of violence is notable. In May 1856 in the town of Madison (now Orange, Texas), Orange County, Clark Ashworth was arrested for the theft of a hog. Ashworth was bound over for trial and his bond was paid by his cousin Sam Ashworth. Sam and a friend met the deputy sheriff Samuel L Deputy who had arrested Clark on these charges and Sam challenged him to a gun fight. The deputy sheriff arrested Sam Ashworth on the charges of abusive language from Negroes. Justice of the Peace A.&nbsp;N. Reading ruled that Sam Ashworth was a mulatto and not exclusively black, but neither was he white. Reading then sentenced Ashworth to 30 lashes on the bare back. The sheriff, Edward C. Glover, who was friendly to members of the Redbone community, allowed Sam to escape before sentence could be carried out. Sam Ashworth and his cousin, Jack Bunch, then murdered deputy sheriff Samuel Deputy as he crossed Sabine river with his friend A.&nbsp;C. Merriman. Sheriff Glover organized a posse to hunt for Ashworth but only included Glover's and Ashworth's friends. The posse did not find the wanted men. Thereafter, other attempts were made to find Ashworth and Bunch that were not successful. In the aftermath of this incident, members of the Redbone community in Orange County were harassed; their homes and businesses were burned and plundered. Many living in Orange County moved to Louisiana. Over the coming weeks, a war raged between two groups, The Orange County War of 1856. Those in support of Glover and the Redbones became known as "regulators" while those who supported Merriman became known as "moderators."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/mulattoe.htm|title=Mulattoes: The Orange County War of 1856}}</ref><ref>''Galveston Weekly News'' June 6{{snd}}July 25, 1856</ref>

These incidents illustrate the friction between some (mainly new) non-Redbone settlers to the region and the existing Redbone population. It is incidents such as these that may have cemented the non-Redbone view of this population as being both clannish and violent. The census records from the early to late 19th century list many non-Redbone families settling in the same regions as the Redbones,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/search/group/usfedcen|title=U.S. Federal Census Collection - Ancestry.com}}</ref> and these settlers, from the evidence of the records, lived peacefully with members of the Redbone families, even, in many cases, marrying into Redbone families.<ref name="ancestry.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.ancestry.com|title=Ancestry® - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records}}</ref>

During the era of mandated racial segregation under [[Jim Crow laws]] ({{circa|1870s}} to 1965) schools accepted Redbone students as white<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/allen/history/schools.htm|title=USGenWeb Archives: Allen Parish, Schools}}</ref> and a review of [[United States Census]] records in the late 19th and early 20th century shows that families traditionally considered as members of the Redbone community were mainly (although not always) recorded as white. Additionally, according to the marriage and census records, individuals who were from these families married either other members of the Redbone community or individuals who were listed in the census records as white and not members of the Redbone community.<ref name="ancestry.com"/>

Academically, the group has been termed "under-researched."<ref name="everett"/>

==In literature==
* [[Will Campbell (Baptist minister)|Campbell, Will D]]. ''The Glad River'', 1982
* [[Greg Iles]]. ''Natchez Burning'', 2014,
*[[James Lee Burke]]. ''Morning for Flamingos'', 1990

==In film==
*In the film ''[[The 6th Man]]'' (1997), R.C. St John (played by [[Michael Michele]]), in reference to her light colored skin.
*In the [[Netflix]] series ''[[Master of None]]'' (2015), Denise (played by [[Lena Waithe]]) uses the term to refer to a light skinned black person.
*In the television series ''[[P-Valley]]'' (2020), Autumn Knight (played by [[Elarica Johnson]]), in reference to her heritage/ethnicity.
*In the television series “[[Insecure (TV series)|Insecure]]”, Issa Dee (played by [[Issa Rae]]) uses the term to refer to Nathan, a fair skinned black love interest.

== In music ==
*The American [[funk rock]] band [[Redbone (band)|Redbone]], formed in 1969, is named after the term as the founding members were all of mixed ancestry.
*The song "Redbone" by [[Cassandra Wilson]] from her 1993 album ''[[Blue Light 'til Dawn]]'' describes a troubled woman of Redbone heritage. 
*The song "Redbone" by [[Childish Gambino]] from his 2016 album ''[[Awaken, My Love!]]'' describes paranoia and infidelity within a romantic relationship.

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Ben-Ishmael Tribe]]
* [[Brass Ankles]]
* [[Dominickers]]
* [[Melungeon]]
* [[Carmel Melungeons]]
* [[Sabine Free State]]
* [[Adams–Onís Treaty]]
* [[Regulator–Moderator War]]
* [[Cajuns]]
* [[Acadians]]
* [[Mulatto]]
* [[Louisiana Creole people]]
* [[High yellow]]
* [[United Houma Nation]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* Gilmer, Jason A., Selected Works ''Free People in a Slave Country,''[http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=jason_gillmer&sei-redir=1#search=%22Free%20People%20slave%20country%22], March, 2010.
* [http://www.melungeon.org/ Melungeon Heritage Association]
* DeMarce, Virginia. ''National Genealogical Society Quarterly'', March 1992.
* Marler, D. C. ''{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20120718070440/http://www.afrigeneas.com/library/redbones.html Louisiana Redbones]}}'', presented at the First Union, a meeting of Melungeons, at Clinch Valley College in Wise, Virginia, July 1997. (anecdotal history)
* Marler, D. C. ''Redbones of Louisiana'', Dogwood Press.
* Crawford, Webster Talma. [http://library.mcneese.edu/depts/archive/FTBooks/redbones.htm ''Redbones in the Neutral Strip or No Man's Land Between Calcasieu and Sabine Rivers, and the Westport Fight Between Whites and Redbones for Possession of this Strip on Christmas Eve, 1882'' ]

{{Ethnicity in Louisiana}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redbone (Ethnicity)}}
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Multiracial ethnic groups in the United States]]
[[Category:African-American history of Louisiana]]
[[Category:Society of Louisiana]]
[[Category:Neutral Ground (Louisiana)]]