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Once free,
according to the Black Code, persons of color were granted the
rights of full citizenship except for three crucial exceptions;
they could not vote, hold public office or marry a white person.
Because all non-whites had to carry proof of either ownership
by a master or proof of being freed, free people of color were
expected to carry passes identifying their status. They were
also not allowed to own or operate establishments where alcohol
was sold.
Through the years there were additional rules added, sometimes
formally other times informally, to the Black Code, depending
on the political temper of the time. There were periods when
free blacks had to observe the slave curfew bell of 9:00 p.m.,
when they could not mask for balls and could not place wagers
or bets of any form, when they had to gain permission to travel
outside the city, or when they were prohibited from gathering
in public.
The things they were permitted
to do were constant and even more significant, for they could
conduct all sorts of business, invest and lend out money, purchase
and own slaves, attend French social institutions such as church,
the theater and the opera. They could live and build houses
anywhere they chose, open schools to educate their children
and conduct their own dances, balls and social gatherings.
"The
Free People of Color of New Orleans"
An Introduction
By Mary Gehman |
Le
Code Noir
"Black
Codes" |
Louis,
by the Grace of God, King of France and
of Navarre, to all present and to come, greeting.
The
Directors of the Company of the Indies having represented to
us that the Province and colony of Louisiana is considerably
established, by a large number of our subjects, who use slaves
for the cultivation of the lands.
We have Judged that it behooves
our authority and our Justice, for the preservation of this
colony, to establish there a law, and certain rules, to maintain
there the discipline of the Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church,
and to order about what concerns the state and condition of
the slaves in the said Islands, and desiring to provide for
this, and to make known to our subjects who inhabit there and
who shall settle there in the future, that although they inhabit
climes infinitely remote, We are always present,
by the extent
of our power and by our application to succor them. Actuated
by these causes and others, by the advice of our Council, and
by our certain knowledge, full power and Royal authority, We
have said, decreed, and ordered, We say, decree, and order,
wish and it pleases us, the following.
ARTICLE I orders
that the edict of 1615 be applied to Louisiana, and that all
Jews who may have established their religion there be expelled
within three months, under penalty of confiscation of body and
property.
ARTICLE II
orders that all slaves in the province be instructed
and baptized in the Catholic religion.
ARTICLE III
forbids the exercise of any other religion
than the Catholic.
ARTICLE IV
forbids the employment of any overseer who
shall not be a Catholic, under penalty of confiscation of
the negroes and punishment of the overseer.
ARTICLE V
Orders Sundays and holidays to be regularly
observed, and forbids all work by master or slaves, under
penalty of confiscation of slaves and punishment of masters.
The slaves, however, may be sent marketing.
ARTICLE VI
forbids marriage of whites with slaves, and
concubi-nage of whites and manumitted or free-born blacks
with slaves, and imposes penalties.
ARTICLE VII
orders to be observed, for marriages of free
persons as well as of slaves, the solemnities of the ordinance
of Blois and of the edict of 1639. The consent of the parents
of the slave is not necessary, but only that of the master.
ARTICLE VIII
forbids curates to celebrate marriages of slaves
without consent of the masters, and forbids masters to force
their slaves to marry against their will.
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ARTICLE IX
enacts that children born from the marriages of slaves shall
belong to the master of the mother.
ARTICLE X
enacts that if the husband be a slave and the
wife a free woman, the children shall be free like their mother.
If the husband be free and the wife a slave, the children
shall be slaves.
ARTICLE XI
orders that master shall have baptized slaves
buried in consecrated ground; those who die without being
baptized to be buried at night in a neighboring field.
ARTICLE XII
forbids slaves to carry offensive Weapons or
heavy sticks, under penalty of the whip and confiscation of
the weapons in favor of the person seizing them. Slaves that
are sent hunting by their masters, and carry notes or known
marks, are excepted.
ARTICLE XIII
forbids slaves belonging to different masters
to assemble in crowds, by day or by night, under pretext of
weddings or other causes, either at one of their masters or
elsewhere, and still less on the highways or secluded places,
under penalty of corporal punishment, which shall not be less
than the whip and the fleur-de-lys; and in case of repetition
of the offense and other aggravating circumstances, capital
punishment may be applied, at the discretion of the Judges.
It also commands all subjects of the King, whether officers
or not, to seize and arrest the offenders and conduct them
to prison, although there be no Judgment against them....
ARTICLE XVII
orders seizure of goods that are offered for
sale by slaves without permission or mark.
ARTICLE XVIII
orders officers of the Superior Council to
give their advice about the provisions and the food to he
furnished the slaves. It also forbids masters to give any
kind of brandy in lieu of food and clothing.
ARTICLE XIX
forbids masters to abstain from feeding and
clothing their slaves, by permitting them to work for their
own account on a certain day of the week.
ARTICLE XX
authorizes slaves to give information against
them masters, if not properly fed or clad, or if treated inhumanly.
ARTICLE XXI
orders slaves disabled from working by old
age, sickness, or otherwise, to be provided for by their masters,
otherwise they shall be sent to the nearest hospital, to which
the masters shall pay eight cents a day for each slave, and
the hospital shall have a lien on the plantations of the masters.
ARTICLE XXII
declares that slaves can have nothing that
does not belong to their masters, in whatever way acquired.
ARTICLE XXIIII
orders that masters be held responsible for
what their slaves have done by their command.
ARTICLE XXIV
forbids slaves from exercising public functions,
from serving as arbitrators or experts, from giving testimony
except in default of white people, and from ever serving as
witnesses for or against their masters.
ARTICLE XXV
forbids slaves from being parties
to civil suits or complainants in criminal cases. Their masters
shall act for them in civil cases and demand reparation or
punishment for outrages and excesses committed against them.
ARTICLE XXVI
orders prosecution of slaves in criminal
cases in the same manner as for free persons, with exceptions
hereafter mentioned.
ARTICLE XXVII
Any slave who shall have struck his master,
his mistress, or the husband of his mistress, or their children,
so as to produce a bruise or shedding of blood in the face,
shall be put to death.
ARTICLE XXVIII
Outrages or acts of violence against free persons
committed by slaves shall be punished with severity, and even
with death if the case require it.
The End
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