Editing Concubinage (section)

=== Plaçage ===
{{main|Plaçage}}
In [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] and former French territories, a formalized system of concubinage called ''plaçage'' developed. European men took enslaved or [[free people of color|free women of color]] as mistresses after making arrangements to give them a dowry, house or other transfer of property, and sometimes, if they were enslaved, offering freedom and education for their children.<ref name="everyculture.com">[http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Creoles.html Helen Bush Caver and Mary T. Williams, "Creoles"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813013942/http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Creoles.html |date=13 August 2011 }}, ''Multicultural America'', Countries and Their Cultures Website. Retrieved 3 February 2009</ref> A third class of [[free people of color]] developed, especially in [[New Orleans]].<ref name="everyculture.com"/><ref>Peter Kolchin, ''American Slavery, 1619–1865'', New York: Hill and Wang, 1993, pp. 82–83</ref> Many became educated, artisans and property owners. French-speaking and practicing [[Catholicism]], these women combined French and African-American culture and created an elite between those of European descent and the slaves.<ref name="everyculture.com"/> Today, descendants of the free people of color are generally called [[Louisiana Creole people]].<ref name="everyculture.com"/>