Placage

In our discussion in class, we talked a little about the practice of placage. So, I decided to do some more research on the subject and this is what I have found. The word placage derives from the French word Placer which means "to place with" and was used when the French realizing that they had enough women in New Orleans tried to get more French women to move to New Orleans. The efforts of the French though proved to have little success as they found it challenging to find women that would leave their country. This shortage of women is what eventually led to interracial relationships between the the French settlers and the  African slaves.As the number of slaves continued it became common place for French men to have an African lover or mistress which contributed to the growth of mixed children known as quadroons. As time passed in New Orleans and more French women entered the city it was still common for a man to have a white wife and a free woman of color or quadroon as his mistress.