Plaçage was a recognized extralegal system in French and Spanish slave colonies of North America (including the Caribbean) by which ethnic European men entered into civil unions with non-Europeans of African, Native American and mixed-race descent. The term comes from the French ''placer'' meaning "to place with". The women were not legally recognized as wives but were known as ''placées''; their relationships were recognized among the free people of color as ''mariages de la main gauche'' or left-handed marriages. They became institutionalized with contracts or negotiations that settled property on the woman and her children and, in some cases, gave them freedom if they were enslaved. The system flourished throughout the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and Spanish colonial periods, reaching its zenith during the latter, between 1769 and 1803. It was widely practiced in New Orleans, where planter society had created enough wealth to support the system. It also took place in the Latin-influenced cities of Natchez and

Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated pop ...

;

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

;

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...

and

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

; as well as

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to ref ...

(now the Republic of

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

). Plaçage became associated with

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

historicity Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity deno ...

of plaçage and have referred to many of its features, including quadroon balls, as "a myth".

History and development of the plaçage system

The plaçage system developed from the predominance of men among early colonial populations, who took women as consorts from Native Americans, free women of color and enslaved Africans. In this period there was a shortage of European women, as the colonies were dominated in the early day by male explorers and colonists. Given the harsh conditions in the colonies, persuading women to follow the men was not easy. France sent women convicted along with their debtor husbands, and in 1719, deported 209 women felons "who were of a character to be sent to the French settlement in Louisiana."Katy F. Morlas, "La Madame et la Mademoiselle," graduate thesis in history, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, 2003 The placage system first developed in Saint-Domingue. France sent women from the poor houses to the West Indies, but they had the reputation of also being former prostitutes from La Salpêtrière, and in 1713 and again in 1743, the authorities in

complained that Paris sent the settlers unsuitable former prostitutes as wives.Trevor Burnard, John Garrigus:
The Plantation Machine: Atlantic Capitalism in French Saint-Domingue
' The custom of sending brides from France was therefore discontinued in the French West Indies in the mid 18th-century, which benefitted the development of a placage system there. A new colonisation policy was adopted, in which male colonists from France merely came to the colony to make their fortune and returned to France after a few years, during which they did not marry but lived with a free woman of colour. France also relocated young women orphans known as King's Daughters (french: filles du roi) to their colonies for marriage: to both Canada and Louisiana. France recruited willing farm- and city-dwelling women, known as casket or '' casquette girls'', because they brought all their possessions to the colonies in a small trunk or casket. Historian Joan Martin maintains that there is little documentation that "casket girls", considered among the ancestors of white French Creoles, were brought to Louisiana. The Ursuline order of nuns chaperoned the casket girls until they married. Martin writes that some Creole families who today identify as white had ancestors during the colonial period who were African or multiracial, and whose descendants married white over generations. Through warfare and raids, Native American women were often captured to be traded, sold, or taken as wives. At first, the colony generally imported African men to use as slave labor because of the heavy work of clearing to develop plantations. Over time, it also imported African women as slaves. Marriage between the races was forbidden according to the Code Noir of the eighteenth century, but interracial sex continued. The upper class European men during this period often did not marry until their late twenties or early thirties. Premarital sex with an intended white bride, especially if she was of high rank, was not permitted socially.

Free people of color

White male colonists, often the younger sons of noblemen, military men, and planters, who needed to accumulate some wealth before they could marry, had women of color as consorts before marriage or in some cases after their first wives died. Merchants and administrators also followed this practice if they were wealthy enough. When the women had children, they were sometimes emancipated along with their children. Both the woman and her children might assume the surnames of the man. When Creole men reached an age when they were expected to marry, some also kept their relationships with their placées, but this was less common. A wealthy white man could have two (or more) families: one legal, and the other not. Their mixed-race children became the nucleus of the class of free people of color or '' gens de couleur libres'' in Louisiana and Saint-Domingue. After the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt began on 22 ...

in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many refugees came to New Orleans, adding a new wave of French-speaking free people of color. During the period of French and Spanish rule, the ''gens de couleur'' came to constitute a third class in New Orleans and other former French cities - between the white Creoles and the mass of black slaves. They had certain status and rights, and often acquired education and property. Later their descendants became leaders in New Orleans, holding political office in the city and state, and becoming part of what developed as the African-American middle class in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. By 1788, 1500 Creole women of color and black women were being maintained by white men. Certain customs had evolved. It was common for a wealthy, married Creole to live primarily outside New Orleans on his plantation with his white family. He often kept a second address in the city to use for entertaining and socializing among the white elite. He had built or bought a house for his placée and their children. She and her children were part of the society of Creoles of color. The white world might not recognize the placée as a wife legally and socially, but she was recognized as such among the Creoles of color. Some of the women acquired slaves and plantations. Particularly during the Spanish colonial era, a woman might be listed as owning slaves; these were sometimes relatives whom she intended to free after earning enough money to buy their freedom. While in New Orleans (or other cities), the man would cohabit with the placée as an official "boarder" at her Creole cottage or house. Many were located near

Rampart Street Rampart Street (french: rue du Rempart) is a historic avenue located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The section of Rampart Street downriver from Canal Street is designated as North Rampart Street, which forms the inland or northern border of the Fr ...

in New Orleans—once the demarcation line or wall between the city and the frontier. Other popular neighborhoods for Creoles of color were the Faubourg Marigny and Tremé. If the man was not married, he might keep a separate residence, preferably next door or in the same or next block as his placée. He often took part in and arranged for the upbringing and education of their children. For a time both boys and girls were educated in France, as there were no schools in New Orleans for mixed-race children. As supporting such a plaçage arrangement(s) ran into thousands of dollars per year, it was limited to the wealthy.

Inheritance and work

Upon the death of her protector, the placée and her family could, on legal challenge, expect up to a third of the man's property. Some white lovers tried, and succeeded, in making their mixed-race children primary heirs over other white descendants or relatives. A notable inheritance case was the daughters of

Nicolás María Vidal Don Nicolás María Vidal y Madrigal (10 December 1739 – 25 May 1806) was a colonial official in Spanish Louisiana and Spanish Florida from 1799–1801. Biography Vidal was born in Cartagena de Indias in 1739 to Pedro Luis Vidal and Josefi ...

, a former high official in Spanish Louisiana, who with their mother,

Eufrosina Hinard Eufrosina Hinard (also spelled Hisnard; 1777 ''after'' 1819), was a businesswoman who lived in New Orleans and Pensacola, Spanish West Florida. Hinard, a free mixed-race woman, owned and bought slaves and allowed them to purchase their own freedom. ...

, successfully petitioned the U.S. government in the 1830s to intercede on their behalf to secure a portion of Vidal's estate. The women in these relationships often worked to develop assets: acquiring property, running a legitimate rooming-house, or a small business as a hairdresser,

marchande A marchande was a female street or country merchant or vendor local to the Mississippi delta (and Louisiana in particular) known for selling Creole cuisine, fruits, vegetables, and other household items. Marchandes were common in southern Lou ...

(female street or country merchant/vendor), or a seamstress. She could also become a placée to another white Creole. She sometimes taught her daughters to become placées, by education and informal schooling in dress, comportment, and ways to behave. A mother negotiated with a young man for the dowry or property settlement, sometimes by contract, for her daughter if a white Creole were interested in her. A former placée could also marry or cohabit with a Creole man of color and have more children. Contrary to popular misconceptions, placées were not and did not become prostitutes. Creole men of color objected to the practice as denigrating the virtue of Creole women of color, but some, as descendants of white males, benefited by the transfer of social capital. Martin writes, "They did not choose to live in concubinage; what they chose was to survive." In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, after Reconstruction and with the reassertion of white supremacy across the former Confederacy, the white Creole historians, Charles Gayarré and Alcée Fortier, wrote histories that did not address plaçage in much detail. They suggested that little race mixing had occurred during the colonial period, and that the placées had seduced or led white Creole men astray. They wrote that the French Creoles (in the sense of having long been native to Louisiana) were ethnic Europeans who were threatened by the spectre of race-mixing like other Southern whites. Gayarré, when younger, was said to have taken a woman of color as his placée and she had their children, to his later shame. He married a white woman late in life. His earlier experience inspired his novel ''Fernando de Lemos''.

Notable placées

Marie Thérèse Metoyer

Marie Thérèse Metoyer ''dite'' Coincoin became an icon of black female entrepreneurship in colonial Louisiana. She was born at the frontier outpost of Natchitoches on Cane River in August 1742 as a slave of the post founder, the controversial explorer Louis Juchereau de St. Denis. She would be, for twenty years, the placée of a French colonial merchant-turned-planter,

Claude Thomas Pierre Métoyer Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher ...

, who was two years her junior. At the onset of their plaçage, she was already the mother of five children; she would have ten more with Métoyer. In 1778, he freed her after the parish priest filed charges against Coincoin as a "public concubine" and threatened to have her sold at New Orleans if they did not end their relationship. As a free woman, she remained with Métoyer until 1788, when his growing fortune persuaded him to take a wife who could provide legal heirs. (He chose another Marie Thérèse, a white Créole of French and German birth.) In setting Coincoin aside, Métoyer donated to her his interest in 80 arpents, about of unpatented land, adjacent to his plantation, to help support their free-born offspring. On that modest tract, Coincoin planted tobacco, a valuable commodity in the struggling colony. She and her children trapped bears and wild turkeys for sales of meat, hide, and oil locally and at the New Orleans market. She also manufactured medicine, a skill shared by her formerly enslaved sister Marie Louise ''dite'' Mariotte and likely one acquired from their African-born parents. With this money, she progressively bought the freedom of four of her first five children and several grandchildren, before investing in three African-born slaves to provide the physical labor that became more difficult as she aged. After securing a colonial patent on her homestead in 1794, she petitioned for and was given a land concession from the Spanish crown. On that piney-woods tract of 800 arpents (667 ac) on Old Red River, about 5 mi from her farmstead, she set up a vacherie (a ranch) and engaged a Spaniard to tend her cattle. Shortly before her death in 1816, Coincoin sold her homestead and divided her remaining property (her piney-woods land, the three African slaves, and their offspring) among her own progeny. As often happened among the children of plaçages, Coincoin's one surviving daughter by Métoyer, Marie Susanne, became a placée also. As a young woman, apparently with the blessing of both parents, she entered into a relationship with a newly arrived physician, Joseph Conant from New Orleans. When he left Cane River, soon after the birth of their son, she formed a second and lifelong plaçage with a Cane River planter, Jean Baptiste Anty. As a second-generation entrepreneur, Susanne became far more successful than her mother and died in 1838 leaving an estate of $61,600 (equivalent to $1,500,000 in 2009 currency). Modern archaeological work at the site of Coincoin's farmstead is documenting some of the aspects of her domestic life. A mid-nineteenth century dwelling, now dubbed the Coincoin-Prudhomme House although it was not the actual site of her residence, commemorates her within the Cane River National Heritage Area. Popular lore also has, erroneously, credited her with the ownership of a Cane River plantation founded by her son Louis Metoyer, known today as

Melrose Plantation Melrose Plantation, also known as Yucca Plantation, is a National Historic Landmark located in the unincorporated community of Melrose in Natchitoches Parish in north central Louisiana. This is one of the largest plantations in the United Sta ...

, and its historic buildings Yucca House and African House. Her eldest half-French son, Nicolas Augustin Métoyer, founded

St. Augustine Parish (Isle Brevelle) Church St. Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery, or the Isle Brevelle Church, is a historic Catholic parish property founded in 1829 near Melrose, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. It is the cultural center of the Cane River area's historic Black Creo ...

, the spiritual center of Cane River's large community of Creoles of color who trace their heritage to Coincoin.

Eulalie de Mandéville

There were many other examples of white Creole fathers who reared and carefully and quietly placed their daughters of color with the sons of known friends or family members. This occurred with Eulalie de Mandéville, the elder half-sister of color to the eccentric nobleman, politician, and land developer Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandéville. Taken from her enslaved mother as a baby, and partly raised by a white grandmother, 22-year-old Eulalie was "placed" by her father, Count Pierre Enguerrand Philippe, Écuyer de Mandéville, Sieur de Marigny, with

Eugène de Macarty Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

- Irish clan in 1796. Their alliance resulted in five children and lasted almost fifty years. In contrast to the Macartys' stable relationship, Eugène's brother Augustin de Macarty was married and was said to have had numerous, complex affairs with Creole women of color. When he died, several women made claims on behalf of their children against his estate. On his deathbed in 1845, Eugène de Macarty married Eulalie. He willed her all of his money and property, then worth $12,000. His white relatives, including his niece, Marie Delphine de Macarty LaLaurie, contested the will. The court upheld his will. After Eulalie's death, their surviving children defeated another attempt by Macarty's relatives to claim his estate, by then worth more than $150,000. Eulalie de Mandéville de Macarty became a successful

and ran a dairy. She died in 1848.

Rosette Rochon

Rosette Rochon Rosette Rochon (1767–1863) was an American placée and businesswoman, who was an important figure in the ''Gens de couleur libres'' society of New Orleans. She belonged to the most famous of the placées of New Orleans alongside Eulalie de Man ...

was born in 1767 in colonial

, the daughter of Pierre Rochon, a shipbuilder from a Québécois family (family name was Rocheron in Québec), and his mulâtresse slave-consort Marianne, who bore him five other children. Once Rosette reached a suitable age, she became the consort of a Monsieur Hardy, with whom she relocated to the colony of Saint Domingue. During her sojourn there, Hardy must have died or relinquished his relationship with her; for in 1797 during the Haitian Revolution, she escaped to New Orleans, where she later became the placée of Joseph Forstal and Charles Populus, both wealthy white New Orleans Creoles. Rochon came to speculate in real estate in the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old S ...

; she eventually owned rental property, opened grocery stores, made loans, bought and sold mortgages, and owned and rented out (hired out) slaves. She also traveled extensively back and forth to

, where her son by Hardy had become a government official in the new republic. Her social circle in New Orleans once included Marie Laveau, Jean Lafitte, and the free black contractors and real estate developers Jean-Louis Doliolle and his brother

Joseph Doliolle Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

. In particular, Rochon became one of the earliest investors in the Faubourg Marigny, acquiring her first lot from Bernard de Marigny in 1806. Bernard de Marigny, the Creole speculator, refused to sell the lots he was subdividing from his family plantation to anyone who spoke English. While this turned out to be a losing financial decision, Marigny felt more comfortable with the French-speaking, Catholic free people of color (having relatives, lovers, and even children on this side of the color line). Consequently, much of Faubourg Marigny was built by free black artisans for free people of color or for French-speaking white Creoles. Rochon remained largely illiterate, dying in 1863 at the age of 96, leaving behind an

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representat ...

valued at $100,000 (today, an estate worth a million dollars).

Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau (also spelled Leveau, Laveaux), known as the voodoo queen of New Orleans, was born between 1795 and 1801 as the daughter of a mulatto business owner, Charles Leveaux, and his mixed Black and Native American placée Marguerite Darcantel (or D'Arcantel). Because there were so many whites as well as free people of color in

with the same names, Leveaux could also have been another free man of color who owned slaves and property as well. All three may have escaped Haiti along with thousands of other Creole whites and Creoles of color during the slave uprisings that culminated in the French colony's becoming the only independent black republic in the New World. At 17, Marie married a Creole man of color popularly known as Jacques Paris (however, in some documents, he is known as

Santiago Paris Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

). Paris either died, disappeared or deliberately abandoned her (some accounts also relate that he was a merchant seaman or sailor in the navy) after she produced a daughter. Laveau was styling herself as the Widow Paris and was a hairdresser for white matrons (she was also reckoned to be an herbalist and

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

nurse) when she met Louis-Christophe Dumesnil de Glapion and in the early 1820s, they became lovers. Marie was just beginning her spectacular career as a voodoo practitioner (she would not be declared a "queen" until about 1830), and Dumesnil de Glapion was a fiftyish white Creole veteran of the

Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Fren ...

with relatives on both sides of the color line. Recently, it has been alleged that Dumesnil de Glapion was so in love with Marie, he refused to live separately from his placée according to racial custom. In an unusual decision, Dumesnil de Glapion passed as a man of color in order to live with her under respectable circumstances—thus explaining the confusion many historians have had whether he was truly white or black. Although it is popularly thought that Marie presented Dumesnil de Glapion with fifteen children, only five are listed in vital statistics and of these, two daughters—one the famous Marie Euchariste or

Marie Leveau II Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in T ...

—lived to adulthood. Marie Euchariste closely resembled her mother and startled many who thought that Marie Leveau had been resurrected by the black arts, or could be at two places at once, beliefs that the daughter did little to correct. Sebastopol: This plantation house and property was built and cultivated by Don Pedro Morin in the 1830s in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. It was bought twenty years later by Colonel Ignatius Szymanski a Polish American who later served in the Confederate Army, and renamed Sebastopol. At his death, Colonel Szymanski willed this estate to his placée Eliza Romain, a free woman of color, and to their son John Szymanski.

Quadroon balls

The term quadroon is a fractional term referring to a person with one white and one mulatto parent, some courts would have considered one-fourth Black. The "quadroon balls" were social events designed to encourage mixed-race women to form liaisons with wealthy white men through a system of concubinage known as plaçage. SignaresBal

Quadroon Balls of Saint Domingue

The origin of quadroon balls can be traced to the '' redoutes des filles de couleur'' in Cap-Français in the French colony of Saint Domingue.Jorge Canizares-Esguerra, Matt D. Childs, James Sidbury:
The Black Urban Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade
' In the French colony, the male population outnumbered women, white women were few, and there were few alternatives to prostitution for free women of color. The colony was known in the Caribbean for its "Mulatto Courtesans," whose trademark was elegance, a haughty demeanor, and the demand to be courted. As there were no brothels in the colony and sex workers worked independently, these balls were the place where the most exclusive courtesans met their clients. Having met, they were set up as the official housekeeper (''menagère'') or openly kept as mistresses. When their male client died or left to settle in France for their retirement, they were normally left with money, property, or slaves for their future support. This was a common background for free colored businesswomen, among whom the most famous were Nanette Pincemaille (d. 1784), Anne Laporte (d. 1783), Simone Brocard, and

Julie Dahey Julie Dahey (d. ''after'' 1782), was a French planter of Saint-Domingue. Julie Dahey was a member of the class of '' Gens de couleur'' or free colours in Saint-Domingue. In 1767, following a common custom in Saint-Domingue, she became the professi ...

. Many refugees from

came to New Orleans and settled after the outbreak of the

in 1791 until the Dominguan refuge colony in Cuba was ousted in 1809. These were white, black, and free people of color who were used to the plaçage system in Saint Domingue and who introduced a more formalized form of plaçage as well as the famous quadroon balls to New Orleans.Emily Clark:
The Strange History of the American Quadroon
'

Quadroon Balls of New Orleans

Monique Guillory writes about quadroon balls that took place in New Orleans, the city most strongly associated with these events. She approaches the balls in context of the history of a building the structure of which is now the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. Inside is the Orleans Ballroom, a legendary, if not entirely factual, location for the earliest quadroon balls. In New Orleans in 1805, Albert Tessier, a refugee from

, began renting a dance hall where he threw twice weekly dances for free quadroon women and white men only. This was an innovation in New Orleans at the time: balls for free women of colour had been held in New Orleans in the 1790s, but they had been opened for both white men and free men of colour, the latter of whom could marry the women rather than form a placage with them, and these new balls exclusively for free quadroon women and white men was therefore more closely associated with the placage system, introducing a Dominguan custom to New Orleans. The quadroon balls were elegant and elaborate, designed to appeal to wealthy white men. Although race mixing was prohibited by New Orleans law, it was common for white gentleman to attend the balls, sometimes stealing away from white balls to mingle with the city's quadroon female population. The principal desire of quadroon women attending these balls was to become ''placée'' as the mistress of a wealthy gentleman, usually a young white Creole or a visiting European. These arrangements were a common occurrence, Guillory suggests, because the highly educated, socially refined quadroons were prohibited from marrying white men and were unlikely to find Black men of their own status. A quadroon's mother usually negotiated with an admirer the compensation that would be received for having the woman as his mistress. Typical terms included some financial payment to the parent, financial and/or housing arrangements for the quadroon herself, and, many times, paternal recognition of any children the union produced. Guillory points out that some of these matches were as enduring and exclusive as marriages. A beloved quadroon mistress had the power to destabilize white marriages and families, something she was much resented for. According to Guillory, the system of plaçage had a basis in the economics of mixed race. The plaçage of black women with white lovers, Guillory writes, could take place only because of the socially determined value of their light skin, the same light skin that commanded a higher price on the slave block, where light skinned girls fetched much higher prices than did prime field hands. Guillory posits the quadroon balls as the best among severely limited options for these near-white women, a way for them to control their sexuality and decide the price of their own bodies. She contends: : "The most a mulatto mother and a quadroon daughter could hope to attain in the rigid confines of the black/white world was some semblance of economic independence and social distinction from the slaves and other blacks".Monique Guillory, "Under One Roof: The Sins and Sanctity of the New Orleans Quadroon Balls", 83 She notes that many participants in the balls were successful in actual businesses when they could no longer rely on an income from the plaçage system. She speculates they developed business acumen from the process of marketing their own bodies.

Treatment in fiction

Isabel Allende Isabel Angélica Allende Llona (; born in Lima, 2 August 1942) is a Chilean writer. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the genre magical realism, is known for novels such as ''The House of the Spirits'' (''La casa de los espír ...

, '' Island Beneath the Sea''. A novel about a mixed-race slave who is brought to

and is eventually taken to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

quadroon daughter is introduced to society as a placée. *

George Washington Cable George Washington Cable (October 12, 1844 – January 31, 1925) was an American novelist notable for the realism of his portrayals of Creole life in his native New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been called "the most important southern artist wo ...

, '' The Grandissimes, A Story of Creole Life'' (1880) by . He also wrote the short stories " Títe Poulette", "

Madame John's Legacy Madame John's Legacy is a historic house museum at 632 Dumaine Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Completed in 1788, it is one of the oldest houses in the French Quarter, and was built in the older French colonial style, r ...

" and " Madame Delphine", which portrayed the placée as societal outcast. *

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most ...

, '' Absalom, Absalom!''. A young man is engaged to a woman until it is found out that he is already involved with a placée in New Orleans and has a child with her. *

Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), '' Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' C ...

, '' Saratoga Trunk''. The book was later adapted as a film by the same name, starring

Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary '' Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is ofte ...

and Gary Cooper. *

Barbara Hambly Barbara Hambly (born August 28, 1951) is an American novelist and screenwriter within the genres of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction. She is the author of the bestselling Benjamin January mystery series featuring a fre ...

, ''

The Benjamin January Mysteries The Benjamin January mysteries is a series of historical murder mystery novels by Barbara Hambly. The series is named after the main character of the books. The ''Benjamin January mysteries'' are set in and around New Orleans during the 1830s, ...

''. This series of novels features Benjamin January, a free man of color, in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Anne Rice, '' The Feast of All Saints''. A

coming of age novel In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age), in which character change is import ...

about a young man making his way in Creole New Orleans. it was adapted as a film by the same name. *

Patricia Vaughn Patricia is a female given name of Latin language, Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick (given name), Patrick. The name Patr ...

, '' Shadows on the Bayou''. A historical romance following the life of Sylvia Dupont, a young woman raised to be a placée. Dupont marries a free man of color and struggles with the consequences. * Sarah Riggs (screenplay),

R.B. McGowen Jr. Rb or RB may stand for: Arts and entertainment * Rebecca Black, an American pop singer * Richard Blackwood, a British rapper * Rhythm and blues, a music genre combining blues, gospel and jazz influences * ''Rock Band'', a music video game serie ...

(story) Quadroon - 1971 film following preparation of prostitutes for presentation at the annual Quadroon Ball set in 1835 New Orleans. * Marcus Gardley, ''The House That Will Not Stand'' premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, January 31 – March 16, 2014. *

Beyoncé Knowles Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

, in her "Formation" music video, features visuals of placées. This song was released February 6, 2016. *'' Haunting of the Octoroon Mistress'', a folktale featuring the institutions of octoroon balls and plaçage. *''The Courage to Love'' - a 2000 TV movie featuring Diahann Carroll as a placée and

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, and fashion designer. She gained recognition as the first African-American woman to receive the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She resigne ...

as her daughter struggling with the thought of also becoming a placée. *The video game Assassin's Creed III: Liberation features a protagonist, Aveline de Grandpre, who is a free woman of color in 1760s New Orleans, the daughter of a French merchant and his placée.

References

External links

* , Creole genealogical newsletter, dated June 20, 2003, on the genealogy of Marie Laveau, also related to the Trudeaus, page 5.
"Up Through Slavery"
Information about the life of Marie Thérèse Coincoin Metoyer. * , History of 918 Barracks Street in the French Quarter, where Eugène Macarty purchased and then built another home for his placée, Eulalie Mandeville (fwc; for ''free woman of color'') and their children.

* , located on 1515 Pauger Street, Marigny, New Orleans. This house, which survived Hurricane Katrina, is the only extant residence built by Mme. Rochon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Placage History of New Orleans Women in society History of European colonialism Louisiana Creole people Concubinage Saint-Domingue 19th century in New Orleans Interracial relationships Marriage, unions and partnerships in France Marriage, unions and partnerships in Spain History of women in Louisiana

History and development of the plaçage system

Free people of color

Inheritance and work

Notable placées

Marie Thérèse Metoyer

Eulalie de Mandéville

Rosette Rochon

Marie Laveau

Quadroon balls

Quadroon Balls of Saint Domingue

Quadroon Balls of New Orleans

Treatment in fiction

See also

References

Further reading

Recent books

Contemporary accounts

External links