From colour prejudice to race prejudice, the case of the French Antilles

Whereas in March 1685, the principle of equality between all free-borns and freedmen was proclaimed, the color prejudice gradually developed in the societies of the French colonies in the 18th century. This process, desired by the State Secretariat for the Navy and the Colonies, set up three “color-status” and a system of legal segregation between reputed whites, free colored people and slaves. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the word race is not used by religious, inhabitants or administrators of the colonies. However, when it is mobilized, it is in its biblical, noble or genealogical conception. In the 19th century, in the former slave colonies, race is used more and tends to substitute for color, while describing groups that fit into the legacy of “color-status”.