Mulatto
Mulatto (also Mulato, literally "crossbreed") is a term of Spanish and/or Portuguese origin describing people of mixed European and African racial descent. The feminine form is mulatta.
In colonial Latin America, the term originally referred to the children of one European and one African parent, but today refers to all people with a significant amount of both European and African ancestry.
One criticism of the term is that it ignores the large rate of racial intermixing in North America in which few people have African ancestry without significant amounts of European ancestry.
Mulattos officially make up the majority of the population in the Dominican Republic* (73%) and Cuba (51%). For other Latin American countries where mulattos don't constitute a majority they can represent a significant portion of their populations; Brazil (aprox. 23%), Colombia (14%), Panama (14%) and Puerto Rico* (aprox. %). However, these are exceptions rather than the rule.
Although mulattos, and even full-blooded Africans, did once represent a portion of the population in countries such as Mexico and Honduras, they were absorbed by the mestizo populations there. Mestizo ("mixed") refers to the population that is part European and part Native American.
Many Americans of Hispanic and/or Latino origin identify themselves as mulatto as well. The term, however, is rarely used by non-Hispanic African Americans in the United States.
Some people consider the term pejorative, as it derives from the Spanish word Mula (Mule; the infertile offspring of a donkey and a horse).
The popular song, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" is about a mulatto woman, and not about a flower.
(*) In the Dominican Republic, locally known as "Quisqueya" (Taíno. "The Great Island"), the mulatto population has absorbed the small number of Taino Amerindian strains once present in that country. In Puerto Rico, locally known as "Borinquen" (Taíno. "The Land of the Mighty Lord"), a historic mestizo population absorbed the small number of Taíno Amerindians once present, these mestizos were then themselves absorbed by the larger mulatto population.