Chesnutt, Charles Waddell. "What is a White Man?".

Summary and Analysis

The essay contemplates the status of coloured people and of mulattoes in the prevailingly white society still burdened by the residues of slavery.

Southern authorities claim that the "all-pervading, all-conquering Anglo-Saxon race" should forever govern the country. But what is an "Anglo-Saxon" race? For instance Jews are not to be excluded because of the money they have and mortgages they provide. It is mostly the genuine Negro who is disfranchised and deprived of a citizenship.

But considering the mingling of races, what is a white man? There is a number of laws in different states which set the line between freedom and slavery or degradation. The author is convinced that the laws will not be valid in future and so they will remain the milestones of progress.

What proportion of black blood then makes a mulatto? We have different concepts in different states ranging up from 1/4 to 1/8 of black blood to make already a white person. South Carolina should be expected to have strict laws but actually they are the loosest. Not only the proportion of black blood but also the person's reputation is taken into account and the final decision is up to a jury.

Before the War the abstract colour-line was fixed by the law, now it is loosened. Some laws still exist where the marriages between a white and a black person are punished by jail and a fine for the white person. In Georgia the intermarriages are forbidden.

The essay also touches the problems of terminology: "persons of colour", "person of African descent", etc. Ironically, the mulattoes are still considered to be descendants of illegitimate children. This was originally true, but the times have changed. Mulattoes continue to be virtuous, get married, and have children in their marriages.

The author calls the laws of "illegitimacy" wise laws, but adds in an ironic way that a white person should consider whether the preserving of the white race could not be also managed by the white man's being virtuous himself.