Was Jane Austen Really Black?


When I searched this question on the Internet after reading one of the racial references in a Jane Austen book, Mansfield Park, I found many entries in which the claim that she was black or mulatto was made. I tried to find out whether the allegations are coming from an ethnocentric standpoint, such as black supremacy. I found a great many claims that, among other things, said Cro Magnon man was black (which makes sense because dark skin is dominant over light genetically, and the Cro-Magnons were thought to be newly arrived from Africa). One article also claimed that a large number of famous Europeans were black – that black people used to be the ruling class, and even that all the early peoples of Europe and the Middle East were black until the Indo-European migrations from Finland (according to the article) came in and established dominance.


That article and another similar one that I found persistently called the white race “The Albinos,” and accused them of lying about history. These articles call themselves Black History. I think Black History is about a broader range of subjects than these, and should have the backing of some white historians as well, if they are based on facts. Surely there are some honest white historians.


The author called the people in the Bible black, when they are at this time in the Middle East definitely mostly olive -skinned rather than dark-skinned, and they aren't considered negroid by modern scientists who study race, even when their skin is dark. Many Indian people are quite dark, but they are also not considered negroid. I read a good part of a book on raciation some years ago, and it identified many more racially identifiable groups than the three that most people think of. It even went on to say that to divide people up by race into the three races is fallacious, due to the extreme number of subdivisions among groups and specific differences between individuals.


I empathize with black people in modern society, because there is no doubt that they have been and are still often mistreated shamefully, and I personally see to it that I don't do that, but when I encounter “black supremacy” I don't find it to be any more righteous or truthful than “white supremacy,” and both work to destroy a just peace within the big race – the human race. No race has a monopoly on virtue, or intelligence, beauty, greatness, or any other fine characteristic. The only good way for the races to get along is to step aside from their group loyalties and meet as individuals on a fair playing field. I believe I can truthfully say that this is what I practice as well as preach. To me it's the only way.


But to the subject of Jane Austen – she did write in several places about mulattoes living among the ranks of privileged people in great houses, or hinted at it. I've seen that in other books from the time period, too. This developed as a number of former slaves had gone into business and made fortunes, and then married into the Middle Class or higher ranks within British and European society, so she probably did see a fair number of cases of it. According to one article, the societal attitudes toward mixed marriages and miscegenation was not as negative in England and Jamaica as it has always been in the US. Austen wrote against slavery, which was at its height in her lifetime.



As to her heritage, her brother described her as being of a “brunette” complexion with hazel eyes. The following quotations from others who knew her said similar things about her (from the article called "Was Jane Austen Black?" on the website Online-literature.com):


"... her's was the first face I can remember thinking pretty ... Her hair, a darkish brown, curled naturally – it was in short curls round her face...Her face was rather round than long – she had a bright but not a pink colour – a clear brown complexion and very good hazel eyes. Her hair, a darkish brown, curled naturally, it was in short curls around her face. She always wore a cap ... before she left Steventon she was established as a very pretty girl, in the opinion of most of her neighbours."

Caroline Austen,
Jane's niece



"Her hair was dark brown and curled naturally, her large dark eyes were widely opened and expressive. She had clear brown skin and blushed so brightly and so readily."

An early description of young Jane at Steventon by Sir Egerton Brydges



" Her stature rather exceeded the middle height; her carriage and deportment were quiet but graceful; her complexion of the finest texture, it might with truth be said that her eloquent blood spoke through her modest
cheek."



" Her pure and eloquent blood spake in her cheeks and so distinctly wrought that you had almost said her body thought."

Henry Austen said of his sister



[QUOTE=Egmond Codfried;928423[/QUOTE] author and a Jane Austen fan:


WAS JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817) BLACK?

You have asked the same question before and the answer is NO.

Are you sure that you don't work for the BBC?





Those descriptions could be of a mulatto, or of an olive skinned person, equally, especially as the ideal of the time period by contrast was fair skin, blue eyes and blond hair. Two reports I saw spoke of a portrait of Jane Austen showing negroid features. A portrait with the heading “Cassandra Austen or Jane Austen?” was posted on the Online-literature site, and to me, the features are more indistinct than negroid. The nose certainly isn't. The mouth is pursed up in a slightly odd way, but doesn't look anymore full or large than a typical white person's mouth usually does. In general it isn't a very good portrait, so I wouldn't judge by it; the proportions of the body are clumsy-looking.



I don't care if Jane Austen was a mulatto (or more likely a quadroon, according to one article I read – Barack Obama has one parent white and the other black, is a mulatto). I would like to know it if she was, because it makes her all the more interesting. Wikipedia says that Elizabeth Barrett Browning thought herself to be part black, but that there is no proof of it.



So far, I haven't been able to find any proof of Jane Austen's race one way or the other. I think the whole idea is a very recent one, and the only way to prove it one way or the other would be to go to the modern day descendants of her family (she had no children) and do some DNA tests. Maybe somebody will do that some day. Whatever she was racially, I still consider her to be one of the very best and most entertaining authors of English literature.