During this Carnival season, it might be worth revisiting what Mr. Armand Nicolas wrote about it about Volume 1?
That's quite curious—and rather unsettling for certain interpretations of «our» history!
Here is a copy of page 314…
’La Pawol Initil'" by Henri (Luc) Pied
As a result, domestic slaves in the cities were given the opportunity to have fun and socialize.
In his *Voyage aux Antilles* (1798), Léonard describes one of these balls, organized by an association.
«On Shrove Sunday, at Fort-Royal, I attended a ball for enslaved Black people—all domestic servants—held by invitation (it was actually a ball organized by the association «Les Roses»). There were perhaps a hundred gentlemen and just as many ladies, all as black as the bottoms of cauldrons. The ladies, without exception, wore white satin dresses, some with crimson satin bodices… They all wore a sort of turban made of colored satin, adorned with jewels. Their dresses almost always had long sleeves trimmed with English-stitch cuffs, and they wore white gloves. All were clad in white silk stockings with white satin shoes… Moreover, never in my life have I seen so much jewelry—turquoises, emeralds, and pearls; they wore armfuls of necklaces and a mountain of bracelets. And all of it was made of the finest gold… The gentlemen were all dressed in black, in the most elegant attire… and were as resplendent as the ladies, adorned with fantastical gold chains. The waistcoat was generally made of crimson satin, often white satin embroidered with bouquets, and sometimes of fall-leaf silk with silver embossing. The white cravat and canary-yellow gloves reigned supreme…»
