Perhaps few know this, but Louisiana in the 18th century was a place where 'free people of color' enjoyed a relatively high level of acceptance and prosperity. The first blacks in Louisiana were likely slaves who fled to live with Indian tribes. One of the earliest record of a free black man living in Louisiana is that of a court case in 1722. Marriage records of free blacks date back to 1725 in Louisiana. There are even records going back to 1726 showing free black men holding government jobs as tax collector an executioner. In 1763, when France ceded Louisiana to Spain, the Spanish enacted a new set of laws called "Las siete partidas" which offered slaves greater protection and made it easier for them to acquire their freedom. Under Spanish rule, slaves were able to purchase their freedom under the law of coartación. Under this law, slaves could use their free time they could earn money by selling produce, or hiring themselves out as laborers, nurses and artisans and then petition court to purchase their freedom. By the end of the Spanish period, 1490 blacks in New Orleans alone had acquired their freedom by cash payments. By law, freed blacks could serve in the militia, buy and own slaves, and were protected from arbitrary police searches. Laws still prohibited mixed marriages, but they were largely ignored. Free people of color enjoyed economic and social freedom remarkably similar to that of whites.
Thus, it was in 1803, when the Louisiana purchase was negotiated, that over 15% of the 8000 people living in New Orleans was a free person of color. One major question that arose, was what to with the free people of color living in New Orleans. Critics of the Louisiana purchase worried about what to do with these "foreigners" who were "unacquainted" with democracy and the concept of self-government. Thomas Jefferson responded to his critics in his 1803 annual address to Congress. Jefferson urged congress to bless our "newly adopted brethren" and secure for them the rights of "conscience" and "property'.
"With the wisdom of Congress it will rest to take those ulterior measures which may be necessary for the immediate occupation and temporary government of the country; for its incorporation into our Union; for rendering the change of government a blessing to our newly adopted brethren; for securing to them the rights of conscience and of property"Nine years later in 1812, Louisiana was the first of 13 states carved out of the Louisiana purchase. The free men of color continued to play an important role in the area. Just two years later the militia of free men of color volunteered to defend their city and country at the Battle of New Orleans, when the British began landing troops on American soil outside the city. Yet, unfortunately Louisiana was admitted as a slave-owning state, and it would be more than 50 years before slavery was officially abolished. But the spirit of the free people of color lived on. In deed, some historians suggest that free people of color made New Orleans the cradle of the civil rights movement in the United States.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29445
http://www.knowla.org/entry/625/
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/sites/all/files/sc/fpoc/history.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_people_of_color
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_people_of_color#/media/File:Free_Woman_of_Color_with_daughter_NOLA_Collage.jpg
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