Tragic Mulatto - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

Literature featuring "tragic mulatto" and "tragic mulatta" characters in pivotal roles:

• "The Quadroons", 1842 short story by Lydia Maria Child (introduced the literary character of the tragic mulatto)
• "Slavery's Pleasant Homes", 1843 short story by Lydia Maria Child
• Clotel; or, The President's Daughter, 1853 novel by William Wells Brown
• A Escrava Isaura, 1875 novel by Brazilian author Bernardo Guimarães
• Iola Leroy, 1892 novel by Frances Harper
• The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color-Line by Charles W. Chesnutt (1899)
• The House Behind the Cedars, 1900 novel by Charles W. Chesnutt
• The Marrow of Tradition, 1901 novel by Charles W. Chesnutt
• The Clansman, 1905 novel by Thomas Dixon, Jr.
• "Cross", poem by Langston Hughes published 1925
• Show Boat, 1926 novel by Edna Ferber (also the source material for the 1927 stage musical).
• "Mulatto", poem by Langston Hughes published 1927
• The White Girl, 1929 novel by Vara Caspary
• Passing, 1929 novel by Nella Larsen
• Dark Lustre, 1932 novel by Geoffrey Barnes
• Light in August, 1932 novel by William Faulkner
• Imitation of Life, 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst
• "Father and Son", short story by Langston Hughes published 1934
• Mulatto: A Play of the Deep South, 1935 drama by Langston Hughes
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston
• Lost Boundaries, 1940 book by William L. White
• The Wind From Nowhere, 1943 novel by Oscar Micheaux
• The Barrier, 1950 opera by Langston Hughes and Jan Meyerowitz
• "African Morning", 1952 short story by Langston Hughes
• To Kill a Mockingbird, a 1960 book by Harper Lee
• A Soldier's Play, 1981 drama by Charles Fuller
• Devil in a Blue Dress, 1990 novel by Walter Mosely
• The Human Stain, 2000 novel by Philip Roth

Films featuring "tragic mulatto" and "tragic mulatta" characters in pivotal roles:

• The Birth of a Nation (1915)
• Within Our Gates (1920)
• The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920)
• The Virgin of the Seminole (1922)
• Scar of Shame (1926)
• The House Behind the Cedars (1927)
• Veiled Aristocrats (1932)
• Imitation of Life (1934)
• God's Step Children (1938)
• The Betrayal (1948)
• Lost Boundaries, 1949
• Pinky (1949)
• Il Mulatto, 1950 Italian film released as "Angelo" in the United States
• Show Boat (1951)
• Band of Angels (1957)
• Kings Go Forth (1957)
• Imitation of Life (1959), remake of the 1934 original
• Shadows (1959)
• I Passed for White (1960)
• The Black Klansman (1966), a.k.a. I Crossed the Color Line
• Purple Rain (1984)
• A Soldier's Story (1984)
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
• The Human Stain (2003)

Television movies and series featuring "tragic mulatta" characters in pivotal roles

• Alex Haley's Queen, the acclaimed television series by Alex Haley offers a subversion of the "tragic mulatta" archetype, while making reference to many of its elements.
• A Escrava Isaura has been adapted to Brazilian television twice, first in 1976 (as Escrava Isaura), and again in 2004.
• Angel (the television series) featured a tragic mulatta character (portrayed by Melissa Marsala) in its 2000 episode "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been".

Video games featuring "tragic mulatta" characters in pivotal roles

• Assassin's Creed: Liberation, the first PlayStation Vita installment of the acclaimed series, has the playable character, Aveline, subvert the trope, according to Kotaku writer Evan Narcisse.