Question

Which of the following activities were permitted in French-controlled Caribbean islands by the 1685 Code noir, and which were banned?
Activity Permitted by the Code noir
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Activity Banned by the Code noir
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1. All colonists could own enslaved laborers.
2. Enslaved individuals could work at skilled trades to earn a bit of income for themselves.
3. Free people of color could own property.
4. A planter could automatically enslave the children of an enslaved woman.
5. Free people of color could marry European colonists.

Answer 1

Permitted by the Code Noir
- 1. All colonists could own enslaved laborers.
(The Code Noir regulated and legitimized slaveholding in the French colonies—though it excluded certain groups, e.g. Jews, from settlement.)

- 3. Free people of color could own property.
(Freed people could possess property, including slaves; manumission and property ownership were recognized, though social and legal restrictions remained.)

- 4. A planter could automatically enslave the children of an enslaved woman.
(The Code Noir affirmed that children born to enslaved mothers inherited the mother's slave status.)

Banned / Not permitted by the Code Noir
- 2. Enslaved individuals could work at skilled trades to earn a bit of income for themselves.
(The Code Noir did not grant slaves an independent right to practice trades and keep earnings; masters controlled labor and any income.)

- 5. Free people of color could marry European colonists.
(The Code Noir sought to uphold racial hierarchy and tightly regulated unions between races; interracial marriage/relations were heavily restricted and stigmatized.)

Note: Colonial practice varied and evolved over time, so lived realities sometimes diverged from the Code Noir’s strictures.