Affranchi

Affranchi is a former French legal term denoting a freedman or emancipated slave, but was a term used to refer pejoratively to mulattoes. It is used in English to describe the class of freedmen in Saint-Domingue and other slave-holding French territories, who held legal rights intermediate between those of free whites and enslaved Africans. In Saint-Domingue, roughly half of the affranchis were gens de couleur libres (free people of color; Mulatto) and the other half African slaves.

The term is derived from the French word for emancipation — affranchissement, or enfranchisement in terms of political rights. But, the affranchis were barred from the franchise (voting) prior to a 1791 court case following the French Revolution. The decision in their favor prompted a backlash from the French white planter class on Saint-Domingue, who also exerted power in France. These elements contributed to the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution.

The affranchis had legal and social advantages over enslaved Africans. They became a distinct class in the society between whites and slaves. They could get some education, were able to own land, and could attend some French colonial entertainments. Planters who took slave women or free women of color as concubines often sent their sons to France for education and, in some cases, to enter the military. They were more likely to settle property on them as well. Because of such property and class issues, some free men of color considered themselves to have status above that of the petits blancs, shopkeepers and workers. Nonetheless, the latter had more political rights in the colony until after the Revolution.

Affranchi (dance)

The Affranchi is a traditional cultural dance that originated in Saint-Domingue, the modern day Haiti.

Etymology and characteristics

The word Affranchi, was used to describe people that were descendants of a European and an African slave in colonial times in Haiti. The dance involved a series of straight-backed, held-torso, French style figures and then African-styled improvisation on the final set much like the tumba francesa that later emerged in Cuba by Haitian refugees escaping the Haitian Revolution, but was performed to the string and woodwind instruments, instead of the drums.

History

Europeans in Saint-Domingue delighted in the affranchi entertainment. Both Europeans and Affranchis performed the varied line and square configurations and often made slaves dance to entertain colonial guests. Affranchi practices spread throughout Haiti and was accompanied by African-descended Kings and Queens. This highly regarded performance style and regal association was also taken to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the United States and to the rest of the disapora in the late eighteenth century.