"Children of the plantation" was a euphemism

Euphemism

A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...

 used in the 19th-century United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to identify the offspring of black slave women by their white owners. Such children, who were legally slaves

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

, were seldom acknowledged by their white fathers.

Alex Haley

Alex Haley

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was an African-American writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the coauthor of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.-Early life:...

's Queen

Queen: The Story of an American Family

Queen: The Story of an American Family is a 1993 partly factual historical novel by Alex Haley and David Stevens. It brought back to the consciousness of many White Americans the plight of the children of the plantation: the offspring of black slave women and their white masters, who were legally...

is a partly factual historical novel, now made into a movie, which has helped to bring knowledge of the "children of the plantation" to public attention in recent years.