Were Moors Black?
Werent Moors Arabs?
Are Arabs automatically black?
Absurdity: A Statement or belief inconsistent with my opinion.
No. Moors were caucasian.
shareThe Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of Morocco, western Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, the Iberian Peninsula, Septimania, Sicily and Malta. So they were not "caucasian", they were however of African, Arabian, Spanish, and french descent.
"One gay beer for my friend, because he's gay, and one normal beer for me, because I'm normal"
Oh no, I'm so sorry, it's the Moops.
shareYou are, of course, correct about the geographic and ethnic range of people called Moors.
Many of those 'Moorish' populations included dark-skinned people of African Negroid ancestry. (Like early Christianity, Islam was notable for its lack of racism - as well as an acceptance of the practice of slavery. Othello tells us that he is a former slave.)
In Medieval Britain dark-skinned Moors were referred to as Blackamoors. A Blackamoor's Head was an established heraldic charge.
This production of Shakespeare's play suggests that Othello may be of Sub-Saharan African birth. For example, when not in officer's dress Othello is barefoot and bare-legged and wears clothes and ornamentation that look more African than Arabic in style.
Black actors have played Othello since the 19th Century (if not even earlier), with Paul Robeson (UK 1931, US 1943, UK 1959) being the best-known example in the past. (The 1943 New York production - with José Ferrer as Iago and Uta Hagen as Desdemona - was the longest-running Shakespeare play in Broadway history.)
However, Othello remained a staple of white actors until fairly recently. There are too many cases to name. But on the English stage Orson Welles (London 1952) and John Gielgud (London 1961) played the part before Olivier, and Robert Ryan (Nottingham 1967) and Paul Scofield (London 1980) played it after him. And in 1981 Anthony Hopkins played Othello on British TV.