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The terms affranchis/anciens libres, and gens de couleur/mulâtres have different but largely overlapping meanings. Affranchis, a term that meant ex-slave was widely used by whites to refer to all free people of color in Saint-Domingue. After slavery ended in the colony, the term anciens libres ("the former free") was widely used to refer to those people who were free prior to the general emancipation of 1793. Gens de couleur ("people of colour") was another term applied to free people of color, but specifically to people of mixed French and African descent, as opposed to free blacks. This term was never used for enslaved people. Mulâtres (" mulattoes") also referred to people of mixed French and African descent, and usually refered to free people because mulattoes were generally set free by their white fathers, due to varying degrees of guilt or concern on the fathers' part. (There were, however, mulatto slaves.)
The other (roughly) 12,000 affranchis were black slaves who either purchased their freedom or had it given to them by their masters for one reason or another.
Regardless of their colour, affranchis could own plantations, and often owned large numbers of slaves themselves. The enslaved people were generally not friendly with the affranchis, who sometimes portrayed themselves as bulwarks against a slave uprising. As property owners themselves, affranchis sought very distinct lines set between their own class and that of slaves. Often working on their own account as artisans, shopkeepers or landowners, gens de couleur frequently became quite prosperous, and many prided themselves on their European culture and descent. They were often well educated in the French language, as distinct from the scorned Haitian Creole language used by slaves. Most gens de couleur were CatholicGeneral meaning Catholic means universal or whole''. With respect to the Christian Church, the early Christians used the term to refer to the whole undivided church. It is in that sense that all Christians today claim ownership of the term, including Prot, and many denounced the VodounAlternate meaning: Voodoo (album For the military aircraft, see F-101 Voodoo. For the 3D graphics card, see 3dfx (the name of the manufacturer). The term Voodoo ( Vodun in Benin; also Vodou or other phonetically equivalent spellings in Haiti; Vudu in the religion originating in Africa.
Under the ancien régime, the free people of color were drastically limited in their freedoms and did not possess the same rights as white Frenchmen. Nevertheless most gens de couleur were pro-slavery, at least up to the time of the French RevolutionThe period of the French Revolution in the history of France covers the years between 1789 and 1799, in which democrats and republicans overthrew the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring. While France wo. Equal rights for free people of colour became an early central issue of the Haitian Revolution, and indeed of the French Revolution itself.
Examples of affranchis prominent in the history of Saint-Domingue and the Haitian Revolution are Toussaint LouvertureToussaint L'Ouverture ( 1743 April 7, 1803) was one of the leaders of the Haitian slave revolt of 1791 and a major figure in the struggles that followed. Toussaint was reputed to be of the western African Arrada tribe. His father, Gaou-Guinou, had been br (a black ancien libre), Julien Raimond , Vincent Ogé , André RigaudAndre Rigaud was the leading mulatto military leader during the Haitian Revolution. Among his proteges were Alexandre Petion and Jean-Pierre Boyer, both future presidents of Haiti. Something of a successor to Vincent Oge as champion of the interests of fr, Alexandre Pétion, and the Chevalier de Saint-Georges .
During the course of the Haitian Revolution, many wealthy gens de couleur left as refugees, whether for France, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Louisiana or elsewhere. Others, however, remained to play an influential role in Haitian politics.