Children of the plantation
"Children of the plantation" was a euphemism used during the time of slavery in the United States, to identify the offspring of enslaved black women and white men, usually the owner or one of his sons or the plantation overseer.
Such children were born into slavery, through a legal doctrine known as partus sequitur ventrem. These children were classified as mulattoes, a historic term for a multiracial person. The one drop rule meant that they could never be part of white society.
Alex Haley's is a historical novel, later a movie, that brought knowledge of the "children of the plantation" to public attention.
Edward Ball's Slaves in the Family, written by a white descendant of slave owners, describes this complex legacy.
Toni Morrison wrote that this sexual usage of slaves was known as droit du seigneur, the "right of the lord".
