Colorism and Class Divisions Among Free Blacks Played a Controversial Role in U.S. Slave History
As a result of the Haitian Revolution, a war in which the Black people of Haiti defeated Napoleon, many slave owners escaped to Louisiana and to Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia. Napoleon fought with “White” French troops but unknown to many he also had a Mulatto Army. The Mulatto Army sided with the French slave owners in Haiti because they were part Black and part White and of very light skin. Not all mulattos supported the White slave owners, but those that did went to New Orleans and purchased slaves. Shamefully, at one point they owned over 10,000 enslaved Blacks across several states. This is why the slave owners supported Hendrick Arnold, who was a Mulatto, and who supported the slave owners of Alamo fame. Recently, they erected a statue of this mulatto slave owner at the Alamo. Some of the largest traders in slaves were actually “mulattos,” the offspring of slave owners. They were given special privileges and at different times allowed to own slaves.
The Revolution in Haiti
In 1860, history reports that Auguste Donatto, a free Mulatto in St. Landry Parish owned 70 slaves. In South Carolina, William Ellison, another Mulatto slave owner, also owned dozens of slaves who were forced to pick over 100 bales of cotton in 1861. The federal census provides this information in terms of the Black owners of slaves and the people they owned. One man, a slave, turned in Denmark Vesey and for his selling out, he was freed. Some slaves turned in others for favors and some Mulattos bought slaves in order to free them. However, the free Mulattos of Haiti, who owned their darker skinned brothers, saw the end of slavery as a danger to their status. The revolution in Haiti, led by Black general Toussaint L’Ouverture, became the ruin of lighter skinned Blacks (Mulattos) who wanted to become like the French slave owners.
Related: “Ned” Was Given 600 Slashes
“Safe Negro”, The Color-Coded System
One Mulatto, who helped to turn in Black freedom fighters was William Penceel of Charleston, South Carolina, who was looked upon as a “safe Negro.” He was awarded large sums of money and was excused from paying taxes on the slaves he owned. Fear of losing their status, as Uncle Toms for the slave owners, some eventually fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Some of these “safe Negroes” became accepted by slavers. “Safe Negroes” tried to separate themselves from the majority of Blacks by sucking up to white supremacy. Many light-skinned Mulattos separated themselves from the masses of Black folk to establish a color-coded system (light skin) based on wealth. This morphed into modern times with some civil rights leaders making negative comments in sly ways.
Andrew Young recently made a suspicious comment about Malcolm X by saying, “The difference was that Martin Luther King learned in college Malcolm X learned in jail.” Malcolm X described his intensive self-education while incarcerated from 1946 to 1952 as his true “university,” reading extensively to overcome his earlier limited schooling. Why didn’t Andrew Young say it this way? Interesting.
Mulattos felt superior because of light skin. They did not want to be identified solely as Black. This led to the idea that Louisiana Blacks, who were identified as Mulattos, thought themselves superior often in dress and bourgeoise mannerisms. During slavery, they went to high-brow events and even danced with slave owners. Cotillion Balls (French dance) were popular in Louisiana, especially amongst slave owning Mulattos. Cotillion Balls were once a showcase of light skin, and used to show that lighter skinned Blacks were better than the darker ones.
