The Missing Authorship of Creole Women of Color in American Literature

Creole women of color appear in post-colonial nineteenth-century creole literature. However, creole women were not the authors of literature that depicted their lives. There was creole color of men authors, such as Adolphe Duhart, who used a pseudonym of a woman's name to avoid criticism for his racially charged writing. Catherine Savage Brosman's groundbreaking work, entitled Louisiana Creole Literature: A Historical Study, explores the history of creole literature; specifically, Brosman offers outstanding scholarship concerning creole women of color and their depiction of nineteenth-century American literature. Through her research, she found that for creole women of color, "there were fewer schools for them, and, in particular, their families did not send to them Paris for schooling" (Brosman). In the creole society, it was a right of passage for creole men of color to journey to Paris, France for schooling. Therefore, Creole women of color were not held to high esteem like their creole male counterparts; their gender seemingly played a role in the opportunities that they would receive. However, Creole people of color were concerned more about their daughters' martial futures than their educational options.

Creole women of color participated in Quadroon balls to "place" them with suitable white partners. As a result of anti-miscegenation laws, interracial marriages were not legally recognized. Therefore white men and creole women of color took on plaçages and un mariage de consciences, which were intimate interracial relationships not considered by Louisiana law. Creole men of color and white men often wrote about these relationships; they often critiqued these relationships by determining that they were immoral. However, contemporary scholars reject the idea of Quadroon Balls and deem these events as events. Kenneth Aslakson' s "The "Quadroon-Plaçage" Myth of Antebellum New Orleans: Anglo-American (Mis)interpretations of a French-Caribbean Phenomenon" questions the validity of such social events. Louisiana creole historians, Jeremy K. Siemen and Nick Douglas, argue that these supposed Quadroon Balls were fronts for prostitution.

Whether quadroon balls existed or not, white and men of color wrote about creole women of color placed in plaçages. Importantly, creole women of color were not writing about themselves and how they felt about being "placed" with rich white men. Then, how does the missing voice of creole women of color impact the authenticity of nineteenth-century text? How do nineteenth-century Louisiana legislations and events affect the depiction of creole women of color in creole literature? This study hopes to make connections between the missing creole woman of color's voice in texts and nineteenth-century historical events through the investigation of historical events and publication of creole literary texts.