Louisiana's Creoles of Color

12 Pages 2876 Words

aves for manual labor along the docks and to other businesses in need of labor. Slaves would be allowed to keep a portion of fees charged for themselves, eventually allowing them to buy their freedom. Children of slave women and white owners were often given their freedom either upon the death of the father or while still young. Although they did not have all of the rights of their white counterparts, many free people of color prospered in 19th century New Orleans. As of the 1850's, The Free People of Color owned over 2 million dollars worth of property (Dominguez, 1986.)
The freed slaves shared neither the privileges of the master class nor the degradation of the slave. They stood between sharing the cultivated tastes of the master class and the humiliation attached to the race of the enslaved (Desdunes, 1973.) The free person of color had the rights of any citizen of French Louisiana except for marriage with and legacies from Whites. Creoles of that time were respected as enterprising and upright people. However, while financial prosperity w...