Williamson, Joel. New People: Miscegenation and Mulattoes in the United States. (New York: The Free Press, 1980).

Williamson attempts to deliver a detailed discussion of an underdeveloped subject, namely miscegenation; owing to the lack of work having yet been done on the subject by the historical community, Williamson expresses his design as one providing an "outline" history of mulattoes in America. As for these "new people," the author defines them as "new" not only in physical appearance but also in culture; these men and women are both African and European in culture, but in America the two have joined together to create what some would call a third race.

Stating that cases of racial mixing in Europe, Asia, and Africa were not quire rare, Williamson posits that the first Negroes brought to Jamestown in 1619 were already mixed with white blood, in a limited sense. This theme of shared culture is the foundation of the author's approach to the subject. In his own words, "in the broad sweep of recorded history, black was never totally black, and white was never entirely white." The mulatto population lay between the two races, but in antebellum days the white aristocracy of the South formed a bond of sorts with the mulatto elite. After the War Between the States, the white elite turned toward winning the sure support of the white mass. It was not long before the "one-drop rule" pushed the mulatto population into the mass of Negroes. Despite minority numbers even within the Negro population, the mulatto elite played a significant role in American history; it is Williamson's intent to discover exactly what these functions consist of.