Why were Creole slaves valued more than other slaves? How were their lives different from other slaves?

Question

Anyone care to deliberate on this subject this is the first I have heard of these terms? and I am and African American we really don't learn much in school we have to inquire ourselves to know.

Answer 1

Creole in this case means a slave who was native born, that is, born in the Americas. It does NOT mean they were mixed, that is a term that was developed later on. The true Creoles of today were of mixed race and are especially associated with Louisiana.

A Creole slave, born in America, would most likely speak some sort of English and would also be raised within the plantation environment and therefore they would "know the system". A male slave at the height of his working life, perhaps 18-30, would be valued at $1,000-$1,500 in 1850s dollars, which is like saying over $100,000 today (the average worker then earned about $10 per week, $1,00 per week today ... so x100). Also, a Creole slave could also have learned or would learn a skill or craft, carpentry, iron working, etc.

Answer 2

Creole Slaves

Answer 3

Creole slaves were considered to be a step-up from African slaves because of their mixed-blood. Creole by definition entails having European blood or heritage. In Spanish, they were Criollos and in Haiti, Creoles, many were then transported to areas such as New Orleans where the French Quarters began the thrive.

Answer 4

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RE:
Why were Creole slaves valued more than other slaves? How were their lives different from other slaves?
Anyone care to deliberate on this subject this is the first I have heard of these terms? and I am and African American we really don't learn much in school we have to inquire ourselves to know.

Answer 5

Southern slaves were up at sunrise,out in the fields picking cotton in the scorching sun till the sun went down.Supper consisted of whatever was available.Your children had no education,no health care.Your future was non-existant.You would be doing the same thing till the day you died.Your joys were few and far between.You answered to the Master.Whatever he wanted you did or you were punished. You dreamed of a better life for your children,but knew it was only a dream.But it kept you going.Your body might be broken but your spirit was alive and well.There was always to-morrow, and to-morrow and to-morrow.

Answer 6

To begin with, the word "Creole" has many different meanings. It can mean Haitian (Creole is their dialect) or it can mean slaves who were a blend of European/African/Native American ancestry, or it can even mean Spanish or Spanish/African ancestry.

Slaves who were of mixed African/European/Native ancestry were valuable because they had the genetic resistance to far more diseases (including those that occurred only in the Americas as well as Europe and Africa) and as such were hardier stock. They were also, frankly, considered better looking, which in addition to the number of slaves who were used sexually by their masters this was a good thing for rich people who wanted their house slaves to be attractive whether they were their sex partners or not.

In Haiti, where the language is a blend of mostly French with some African words and with a mostly African sentence structure and is called "Creole", there were very few white (European) women for the first century and thus there was a LOT of interracial coupling. Sometimes it was rape of course, but more often than you might think it was love (there were marriage like relationships between whites and blacks) and most often probably it was a matter of mutual convenience: the white man wanted a woman to share his bed, the black woman wanted an easier life than a field slave and, more importantly, freedom for her children. This led to a huge mulatto (mixed black/white ancestry) class and skin tone causes major class distinction and hatred in Haiti to this day. (It's a sensitive issue in the US of course, but NOTHING like it is in Haiti.)
In Haiti and other Creole cultures, it was the children of slaves with their masters who not only had the lighter skin but were far more often to be educated (by their fathers) and of course they were better fed/better clothed and often arrogant. Many were freed, the ones who weren't were more likely to be used as house slaves and spared the fields (which in Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean was HORRIBLE- life expectancy for field slaves on some islands was in the 20s). After the rebellion many mulattoes were slaughtered by slaves who had black skin because of their privileged class, and many mulattoes fled the country (either they were free and could do this or their white masters/relatives took them with them). In New Orleans in the 19th century, mulatto Haitian "Creole" slaves were worth far more money than most others because they were considered (by white standards) to be more attractive, more refined, and more intelligent (racist of course as there's no real correlation one way or the other twixt race and IQ, but because they were better spoken and better educated formally this was the way they were viewed).

New Orleans slave culture is fascinating and unlike any other in the U.S., incidentally. Slaves there were FAR more likely to keep their African identities alive- ask a slave in Georgia or Virginia what tribe they were from and they probably wouldn't have known what you were talking about because their ancestors had been here for a century and didn't talk of Africa [by law], but in New Orleans they wore hats and handkerchiefs and scarves that celebrated their tribe in Africa. There was also a HUGE free black community in New Orleans ("gens de couleur libre"- "free people of color") who were very snobbish about how "black" they were- quadroons (1/4 African and 3/4 Euro) slaves and free people looked down on mulattoes (which had come to mean 50/50 ancestry) and quadroons were looked down on by octoroons (1/8 African and 7/8 white) and the children of an octoroon and a white parent would more often than not pass as white.

It's a very very sensitive but at the same time fascinating subject.

Answer 7

Because everyone thought there "mixed heritage" was more valuble but really it was because no one really saw them as black so weren't always treated that way (some were though)