Redbone (ethnicity) facts for kids

The term Redbone has been used for a long time in the southern United States to describe people or groups who have a mix of different backgrounds. In Louisiana, it also points to a special group of people who live in a specific area and have their own unique culture.

What Does "Redbone" Mean?

The word "Redbone" has had different meanings depending on where it was used. Most often, it referred to people with mixed ancestry.

In Louisiana, the Redbone cultural group mostly includes families who moved to the state after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. These families might have connections to the Melungeons, another group with mixed heritage. The name "Redbone" was once considered an insult, a nickname given by others. However, in the last 30 years, some of these groups, including the Louisiana Redbones, have started using the term themselves as a preferred way to describe who they are.

The Louisiana Redbone Community

Historically, the Louisiana Redbones lived in communities that were somewhat isolated. These areas were in southwestern Louisiana parishes, like Sabine Parish, Rapides Parish, and Calcasieu Parish. Their communities also stretched into parts of Orange County, Texas and Newton County, Texas.

This region was once known as the Neutral Ground. It was an area where the ownership was debated between 1806 and 1821. It was mostly bordered by the Calcasieu River to the east and the Sabine River to the west.

Many of the early Redbone families came from South Carolina. In some old records there, they were sometimes listed as "other free persons." Some families also came from other Southeastern states. Records show that Redbone families settled in southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas over many years. Some were even in the Neutral Ground before 1818, when the land officially became part of the United States.

Understanding Redbone Identity

It was sometimes unclear where members of the Redbone community came from. People living nearby who were not Redbone often had different ideas about them. For example, in 1893, a parish treasurer named Albert Rigmaiden wrote that he didn't know how the name "Redbone" started. He said they were "neither white nor black" and that the oldest ones came from South Carolina. He also noted that they were not seen as "Negros," "Indian," or "White people." This shows how unique and sometimes misunderstood their identity was.

Historically, Redbone communities were found in three main areas:

• One group lived along Ten Mile Creek in Rapides Parish and Allen Parish. They were sometimes called "Ten Milers" or "Red Bones."
• A second group lived along Bearhead Creek in what is now Beauregard Parish.
• A third community was in Newton County, Texas and Orange County, Texas. In Texas, newspapers sometimes called them "mulattos," and members of this community could not vote in the 1800s.

Legal Status and Community Life

In the early days of Southwestern Louisiana, Redbone settlers worked to be recognized as white. In 1837 and 1849, some Redbone community members were accused of voting illegally because people claimed they were not white. However, the state court found them not guilty. This decision helped establish that the Redbone community would be legally considered white in Louisiana.

Newspaper stories from the 1800s often described Redbone community members in different ways. Some did not mention their race at all. Others said they were white, African American, or of Native American background, or simply of mixed race. These stories often focused on conflicts or disagreements within the community or involving its members.

There were some notable conflicts in Louisiana and Texas. These incidents often showed tension between some new settlers and the existing Redbone population. These events might have led some non-Redbone people to see the community as clannish or prone to conflict. However, many census records from the 1800s show that many non-Redbone families settled in the same areas and lived peacefully with Redbone families. In many cases, they even married into Redbone families.

During the time of Jim Crow laws (from about the 1870s to 1965), which enforced racial segregation, schools in Louisiana accepted Redbone students as white. Also, a review of United States Census records from the late 1800s and early 1900s shows that families traditionally considered Redbone were mostly recorded as white. People from these families often married other Redbone members or individuals listed as white who were not part of the Redbone community.

Academically, the Redbone group is considered "largely unstudied," meaning there hasn't been much formal research done on them.

Redbone in Books

• Campbell, Will D. The Glad River, 1982
• Greg Iles. Natchez Burning, 2014
• James Lee Burke. Morning for Flamingos, 1990

Redbone in Movies and TV Shows

• In the film The 6th Man (1997), the character R.C. St John (played by Michael Michele) is referred to as Redbone because of her light skin.
• In the Netflix series Master of None (2015), Denise (played by Lena Waithe) uses the term for a light-skinned Black person.
• In the television series P-Valley (2020), Autumn Knight (played by Elarica Johnson) is referred to as Redbone, pointing to her heritage.

Redbone in Music

• The American funk rock band Redbone is named after the term.
• The 2016 song "Redbone" by Childish Gambino is also named after the term.