Saint-Domingue: The Free Persons Of Color

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When the French Revolution broke out there were four different groups of people in Saint-Domingue. They were the whites, the free people of color, the slaves, and the maroons The Whites There were about 20,000 whites, mostly French, in Saint-Domingue. They were divided into two main groups: The Planters-These were wealthy whites who owned plantations and many slaves and the Petit Blancs- They were less powerful than the planters. They had few slaves, but they were not wealthy like the planters. The Free Persons of Color There were about 30,000 free people of color. Half of them were considered mulattoes because they were children of a slave and a Frenchmen. While the other half were free black slaves that had bought their own freedom or been