Usage of historical labels for races/racial mixes

I''ve seen posts on whether whites can realistically portray experiences of other races in their books, but I haven't seen how to handle race in historical works. In my YA historical novel (years 1850-1851), the love interest is mixed race.

He's from the island of Antigua, and the primary source material I have found leads me to believe that he would refer to himself as colored. I'm basing this on The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, and some other contemporary accounts that discuss the distinctions of terms in the islands (such as quadroons, octoroons, etc).

Additionally, when he comes to the States, it seems like he would most likely be labeled a Negro. To modern ears, both of these terms can be offensive to some people.

So how do you handle something like that in the context of a historical novel? Do I need to include a foreward that gives some background on these terms in their context?

Thank you for the welcome and reply, and sorry if I duplicated a question. I did not think I was the first one to run across this dilemma, but the searches I ran didn't return what I was looking for. If you know where the threads are, can you post some links if you have some time? Thanks.

And I do lurk on the historical thread, there's some good stuff here.

Wow, a bunch of replies all at once, thank you everybody. All the research I've done (with the time period as well as how other writers handle it) led me to believe I was handling the terms the right way, but some comments from critique group members made me want to take another look at it.

And since I've gotten a lot of complimentary rejections from agents that say how they love the voice and story---but offer no specific fixes when they pass on it---I had to wonder if the interracial romance and racial terms were an issue. Probably not the only issue, since I've learned that these types of rejections usually mean the writing is just not "there" yet.

But I think that, based on your comments, I'll wait to see if an agent or editor raises a specific concern. Thanks again!

I've been submitting to agents that rep historical fiction, so hopefully they are familiar with some of the issues inherent with HF.

And my book is inspired by a legend of the Block Island area, of a ghost ship that appears off the coast, so there is a definite paranormal slant. I chose to set it in 1850-1851 since I was a docent at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park and am fairly comfortable with the Gold Rush period.