Affranchi () is a former French legal term denoting a freedman or

emancipated Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...

slave, but was a term used to refer

pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

ly to mulattoes. It is used in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

to describe the social class of freedmen in Saint-Domingue, and other slave-holding French territories, who held legal rights intermediate between those of free whites and enslaved Africans. In Saint-Domingue, roughly half of the ''affranchis'' were ''

gens de couleur libres In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...

'' (free people of color; ''Mulatto'') and the other half African slaves. The term is derived from the French word for emancipation — ''affranchissement'', or enfranchisement in terms of political rights. But, the ''affranchis'' were barred from the franchise (voting) prior to a 1791 court case, which followed the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. The decision in their favor prompted a backlash from the French white

planter class The planter class, known alternatively in the United States as the Southern aristocracy, was a racial and socioeconomic caste of pan-American society that dominated 17th and 18th century agricultural markets. The Atlantic slave trade permitted ...

on Saint-Domingue, who also exerted power in France. These elements contributed to the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution. The ''affranchis'' had legal and social advantages over enslaved Africans. They became a distinct class in the society between whites and slaves. They could get some education, were able to own land, and could attend some French colonial entertainments. Planters who took slave women or free women of color as

concubines Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

, often sent their sons to France for education. In some cases these sons entered the French military. The parents were more likely to settle property on them as well. Because of such property and class issues, some free men of color considered themselves to have status above that of the ''petits blancs'', shopkeepers and

workers The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...

. Nonetheless, the latter had more political rights in the colony until after the Revolution. The colonists passed so many restrictions that the ''affranchis'' were limited as a separate caste: they could not vote or hold colonial administrative posts, or work in professional careers as doctors or lawyers. There were sumptuary laws: the free people of color were forbidden to wear the style of clothes favored by the wealthy white colonists. In spite of the disadvantages, many educated ''affranchis'' identified culturally with France rather than with the enslaved population. A social class in between, the free people of color sometimes had tensions with both whites and enslaved Africans. Ambitious mulattoes worked to gain acceptance from the white colonists who held power in that society. As they advanced in society, ''affranchis'' often also held land and slaves. Some acted as creditors for planters. One of their leaders in the late 18th century,

Julien Raimond Julien Raimond (1744 – 1801) was a Saint Dominican indigo planter in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now the Republic of Haiti, who became a leader in its revolution and the formation of Haiti. Early activism He was born a free man of co ...

, an

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

planter, claimed that ''affranchis'' owned a third of all the slaves in the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

at that time. In the early years of the

and Haitian Revolution, many gens de couleur were committed to maintaining the institution of slavery. They wanted political equality based on class - that is, extended for men of property, regardless of skin color.

References

{{reflist

External links

''African Americans in New Orleans: 'Les gens de couleur libres' (Free people of color)''
Online Exhibits, New Orleans Public Library, 1999 Ethnic groups in Guadeloupe Ethnic groups in Haiti Ethnic groups in Martinique Freedmen French legal terminology Haitian people of Mulatto descent History of Guadeloupe History of Haiti History of Martinique Mulatto Anti-African and anti-black slurs People of Saint-Domingue Person of color Slavery in Guadeloupe Slavery in Haiti Slavery in Martinique Slavery in the United States Social class in France

See also

References

External links