>Hello, >I ordered the microfiche of Who's Who In Colored Louisiana the cost was >fifteen cents a fiche. > Chapter 3 > Civil and Social Status of Colored Louisiana > The Slave and the Free Man of Color >Slavery progressed rapidly in Louisiana as aggressive farming supplanted >haphazard "cropping" methods, and the abandonment of the all but profitless >production of indigo for the production of sugar cane and cotton on a vast >scale. In 1700 there were not more than 3300 slaves in the territory according >to various writers of the period. By 1800 there were some 60,000; and by 1860 >approximately 332,000. > >There were three classes of colored people, the free mulattos, free blacks, >and the slaves. The mulattos, or "blanc," were nearest the whites in their >social and civil rating; the free blacks, and the slaves, the lowest down, of >course. Many of the "free mulatto" class had had advantages. Some were >wealthy, educated, refined, and owed large plantations, fine residences, >coaches, horses, servants, and slaves. The free blacks also formed a social >group; but the number of free blacks were small, and while some possessed >property and refinement, they were not regarded as the social and economic >equals of the mulatto class. Many free mulattos were engaged in profitable >lines of business, as merchandise, brokerage, exporting, and importing, >contracting, and planting. > >In 1800 the free colored population numbered 18,047, and they owned some 6,000 >slaves. The Meytoies, several families, who resided in Ascension Parish, owned >a total of 304 slaves. Lois Meytoier alone owned 66: Augustine Meytoier owned >60, Madam Cyprian Riccard of Iberville Parish owned 40 slaves. George Alces, a >cigar maker in Charles Street, worked over 200 men. It is estimated the free >men of color paid taxes on $15,000,000 worth of property in New Orleans in >1860. About 1840 when the, "free colored people" were in the "hayday," of >their fortunes, they owned, as shown by parish registrations, 3,938 slaves. >They constituted 10% of the colored population. But by 1860 a relative drop in >their increase is seen, as they then constituted but little over 5% of the >total colored population. The reason for this relative drop will be apparent >as the subject develops here. > >In the early history of the State we find clearly drawn legal and social >distinctions between and the free mulattos and the free blacks. Much of this >sentiment had been transferred from the West Indies and from France, from >where a majority of the early settlers had emigrated. As slavery increased its >grip and power on the State the legal and social status of free people became >more and more restricted. Nevertheless, as already stated, the free mulatto >class enjoyed a general distinction in law and society not accorded the free >blacks. They were, as it were, "ne blanc, ni negre." > >No mulatto class in the United States, not including South Carolina, where >along the "Coast Line" they formed themselves into an exclusive society, were >such "hard and fast" color lines drawn against the darker colored group as did >the mulattos of Louisiana. And within the mulatto group itself, there were >still further distinctions, not so clearly defined and recognized, however, as >in the case of the blacks; There were the "griffes", or brown-skins; the >"briques" or light browns; the "mulattoes" or half whites; the "quadroons" or >three-fourths white; and the "octoroons", as white as Madame Laussat herself >or Monsieur de la Chaise. Out of these several shades came the "mulatto >aristocracy," came the "tip top" of the free population. The two groups, black >and mulatto, might meet on common ground where there was mutual economic, >civil, or industrial interest; but on any accepted social plane, never. > >If we should extend this social classification a little further so as to >better define the whites and their relation to the colored groups, we should >find the poorer whites, the tenants, vendors, servants, day laborers, and >small "calibered business men." The education wealth, and sometimes genuine >culture of the free class, gave them influence with the aristocracy and made >them rivals of the poor class of whites. It was this class that was later used >by the aristocracy to overthrow and make null and void Negro suffrage during >the last years of "Reconstruction." > >The book is excellent. I will post the author 's name as soon as possible. > >Carolyn Washington >------------------------------------------------------------------------- >- African Ancestored Genealogy Discussion >- To unsubscribe, email: Majordomo@MsState.Edu >- In body of message: unsubscribe afrigeneas >- >- Afrigeneas archives: http://www.msstate.edu/listarchives/afrigeneas/ >------------------------------------------------------------------------- >