47 On the Eve of the Haitian Revolution
man and black woman. Therefore mulattoes could have been slaves. These children would follow their mother into slavery, which was beneficial for a society always in need of slaves. Others would be manumitted and allowed to join free society. In practice, not by law, until the 1750‟s, all mulattoes were free until the age of 24 and they were not persecuted. Owners often would not enslave the mulattoes early in their lives, in order to gain their favor 27. It can be assumed that often these mulattoes were given the more desired positions in the slave work system, such as a slave drive or overseer. Most plantations had a slave driver who acted as the agent of the owner in day to day activities. An overseer was higher in the chain of command than the driver; he did what his title suggested28. Generally, free men of color were allowed to go about their daily lives with the same freedom as the whites during the first half of the 18th century29. As Laurent Dubois clearly stated, “there was, in principle, no discrimination solely on basis of African descent or skin color. Although they probably experienced racial discrimination in their day to day lives, people of color] could buy land and slaves, live in any neighborhood...educate
[free
themselves in
school...and practice any profession” 30 . Free men of color were sometimes as wealthy and educated as their white counterparts. It was common for these men to be educated in the same European institution, serve in the French armies and essentially have the same credentials as their white counterparts31. But, these talents would be of little use to the free men of color; the whites created new laws to undermine their freedoms legally guaranteed by the Code Noir in 1685. In the face of mounting competition from the free men of color in the economic and social
27
C.L.R James. The Black Jacobins, 37. C.L.R James, “The Property,” in The Black Jacobins. 29 Julien Raimond. “Observations on the Origin and Progression of the White Colonists‟ Prejudice against Men of Color,” in Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, ed. by Laurent Dubois. 30 Laurent Dubois. Avengers of the New World, 61. 31 C.L.R James. The Black Jacobins, 38-40. 28