As I understand it, Jessica, mulatto was used to lump the “anything but white” into one category, “white” meaning no blood of another kind. I think was codified in South Carolina, but I don’t know how census takers could tell in many cases. “Passing” became important because of the legal rights one could attain thereby.
There still exists today the idea of marrying up, or marrying someone who was lighter. I’ve personally seen this kind of behavior in SC. In Jamaica at one time, there were something like eight levels of color, and marrying “whiter” was the goal. In my son-in-law’s case, that is exactly what his ancestors did, eventually becoming white in census records.
Actually, I think that my daughter marrying him is a great thing because he is such a wonderful guy. Plus, he’ll add a whole new dna dimension to our family. Better then marrying another Scottish farmer for the millionth generation in a row. My elder daughter started this off my marrying wonderful man of some Puerto Rican descent. My two sons-in-law prove the point that King made: the content of character, not the color of skin.
Don’t the Lumbees have some kind of state recognition? A small tribe a little further north does. One of their members was on The Voice a season or two ago and went pretty far.