Free People of Color

https://www.lib.lsu.edu/sites/all/files/sc/fpoc/

Free People of color was a term that was used to describe a group of individuals that were of color and free of slavery before slavery was abolished in 1865.  However, since the French founded Louisiana, they had different laws for these free people.  Before America took control over the area known as Louisiana, free people of color had many of the same rights as white people.  They could own property, vote, and go about their daily business just like everyone else.  Do to this amount of freedom the African American population here grew.  As their population grew, so did their cultural influence on the city. Soon they would make most of the population, which is still the same today. 

While the country was under catholic rule, the people who were enslaved still had rights as well.  They were to born catholic, meaning that they were granted all the same rights by the church.  It was law that they babtized their children, the church recorded their marriages, and they were able to keep the sabbath holy by not being forced to work.  The first child to be babtized in new Orleans was a baby that was born into slavery.    It wasn’t till America took over that slavery in Louisiana became something that we read about in our history books.