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Home > Haiti History > Haiti The Conflicts Of Color And Class > The Birth Of Haitian Discrimitation The Birth Of Haitian Discrimitation Conflict and resentment permeated the society of SaintDomingue .
Beginning in 1758, the white landowners, or grands blancs, discriminated against the affranchis (free blacks - usually mulattoes, or gens de couleur--people of color) through legislation.
Statutes forbade gens de couleur from taking up certain professions, marrying whites, wearing European clothing, carrying swords or firearms in public, or attending social functions where whites were present.
The restrictions eventually became so detailed that they essentially defined a caste system.
However, regulations did not restrict the affranchis' purchase of land, and some eventually accumulated substantial holdings.
Others accumulated wealth through another activity permitted to affranchis by the grands blancs--in the words of historian C.L.R. James, "The privilege of lending money to white men."
The mounting debt of the white planters to the gens de couleur provided further motivation for racial discrimination.
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