The Octoroon Ball

Polar Bear: Were they more business minded in SD, while  in New Orleans, they were more concerned with culture?

Robert’s mentioned the Mulatto Balls, and mulattoes, mostly women, formed an elite group in New Orleans.

The Octoroon Ball in New Orleans. My father told me about that. Apparently they had this even under Jim Crow! The Octoroon Ball was a huge deal. The women supposedly had to be octoroons, that is, 1/8 Black, but I am not sure how this was enforced. On the other hand, racial classifications were pretty strictly enforced under Jim Crow.

My Dad said White men would come from all over to that Octoroon Ball with the hopes of meeting one of those octoroon women. He said a lot of them were very beautiful.

I am not going to comment on the beauty of pure Blacks, although some pure Black women are beautiful. It’s more a matter of taste than anything else – whether you like Black features or not. Some people like Black features and others don’t.

I do think it’s fascinating that if you throw a little bit of Black into a White person, you can often get a very attractive woman. I have also seen 1/3 Black and 1/2 Black women who were total knockouts.

Often you want to ask them a rude question about what race they are because many highly-mixed mulatto women do not appear to be part of any known human race at all. They look very exotic. And they often don’t look very Black either, other than a darker skin color. Often they look more like a White person with a deep tan and some exotic features.

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10 thoughts on “The Octoroon Ball”

    1. An octoroon is hardly even dark at all. You probably can’t even tell that she has any Black in her at all. Ever seen a North African woman? Like a Moroccan woman? They have 13% Black in them. Looks like a White woman with a nice tan and at times, some rather strange, undecipherable, odd, yet often attractive features.

      1. I’ve seen a number of Whites that could pass as Octoroon, curly hair and carmel skin. The appeal of black women to me is the same as your description of the female psyche, “Dark, dangerous, and wild like a jungle.”

        1. They don’t necessarily even have that. James Watson is 16% Black. He look Black to you? White Nationalist Craig White is 13% Black. He look Black to you. People who have just a bit of Black in them might look like, say, a Gulf Arab, for instance. I think Palestinians are 13% Black. So a Palestinian woman might be an Octoroon. They mostly hardly look Black at all, but for sure they have dark hair and dark eyes, that’s for sure.

    1. A lot of White men are buffoons for Octoroons. In fact, the French South still prizes Octoroons. One Southern gentlemen I know is totally whipped by his Octoroon wife. The Octoroona Virus has similar symptoms to Yellow Fever.

      1. While hunting for brown sugar, I prefer authentic Black women – Naomi Campbell types. A little White admixture is OK, too much I don’t want. Halle Berry types just won’t cut it for me, that’s way too White.

        Don’t want frizzy hair, Afro or dreadlocks in women of any race, that’s a deal breaker. A younger Pam Grier might be an exception.

        Always prefer straight, silky smooth hair. If she’s wearing a wig, I would pretend to never notice it.

  1. Abe Lincoln mentioned these things – even back in slave days (Abe’s trip to New Orleans when younger). It was said it repulsed him a lot, adding to his anti-slavery feelings.

    1. Well, not everyone swoons for Octoroons. Does anyone know what a 1/3 or 2/6 negro would be classied as? Like 1/8 is Octoroon.

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