"The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation"

[Wild Bill]

Just for fun, lets look at the gradations of race in French Louisiana, British West Indies and the US. All blacks are assumed to be slaves by law, but the French and the Spanish were much more liberal in their laws by gradation of race. Each step toward white tended to receive more privilege in society, the ultimate regardless of blackness was freedom.

Note the lack of gradation and privilege in the United States. This led Frank Tannenbaum and his group to see Latin America (French, Portuguese, Spanish) as more liberal toward race and privilege and easier freedom. In the US census the color of a black person was described by the census taker or the Plantation owner or manager, so mulatto was the label of convenience for all blacks, free or enslaved. In his book, Ira Berlin refers to how these distinctions of race changed depending on what period a slave lived, before 1776, after 1876, and after 1815.

There were individual slaves or free persons of color know more accurately locally as quadroon or octoroon, New Orleans was famous for its quadroon dances and may planters and their sons supported black mistresses in town away from the plantation wife. But pretty much everyone was in on the secret as demonstrated by entries in the Mary Chestnut Diary (there are many copies of this famous account of a South Carolina plantation wife, but C. Vann Woodward's edition is probably the best). Also of interest are James Oakes, The Ruling Race; and Catherine Clinton, The Plantation Mistress.

Many years ago I taught a class on the Old South at the college level, which is where I get this stuff. It was divided into 2 sections of 8 weeks each, The Institution of Slavery, and The Politics of Slavery. You may get my views in my book an Historical Dictionary of the Old South. Try and get the more recent date (2013) You may run into other gradation lists. They may be better than mine and slightly different. So what it is worth, here we go:


French Louisiana British West Indies United States
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Black
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Sacatra
------------------------- Sambo (3/4 black)
Griffe (3/4 black)
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Maraban
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MULATTO (1/2 black) MULATTO MULATTO (=all mixed bloods in US census)
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Metif
------------------------
Quadroon (1/4 black) Quadroon
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Memmalouc
-------------------------
Octoroon (1/8 black) Octoroon
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Sangmelle
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White