Can someone fully explain what deep nuances and cultural references I missed in the Maher joke?

[underthematrix]

27. let me explain the difference between House n and Field n

A House n was usually a LIGHT SKIN black person, the product of rape by the slave master or other white males of African females on the plantation. A FIELD n was brown to dark brown skin.

Bill Maher was saying I'm light skin so I would be in the House and not in the field. The other implication is Bill Maher was suggesting he has AFAM blood and has been PASSING all these years.

I thought it was a poor choice of words because it mocked the rape of African female slaves by the white slave masters and other white males who had charge over them.

Go to the US Census and look at records from 1850. You will see that slaves are listed by color black or mulatto and age. No names because they were considered chattel. The mulatto slaves indicate the number children produced by rape. Some of these victims were as young as 10 years.