Istwanou Academy — Visual Aid

128 Parts White, 128 Parts Black

The racial classification system of colonial Saint-Domingue and the Haitian color vocabulary that survived it

0 parts white (Nègre) 64 / 64 (Mulâtre) 128 parts white (Blanc)
👇 Click any classification for its full story ↓ Scroll for 8 modern Haitian terms
The colonial scale (Moreau de Saint-Méry, 1797)
Eleven categories measuring distance from whiteness. Each person was assigned a number of "parts" white and Black out of 128. Click any tier for context.
ClassificationWhiteBlack
The colonial rule of irreversibility: One never becomes white again, regardless of how small the portion of Black ancestry. A person with 126 parts white and 2 parts Black was still sang-mêlé — never fully white. The scale measured distance from whiteness, and that distance was permanent. As Hilliard d'Auberteuil wrote: "The interest and safety of the colony require that we crush the race of Blacks with such great contempt that whoever descends from it, unto the sixth generation, shall be covered with an indelible stain."
The 8 core terms of modern Haiti
Documented by anthropologist Micheline Labelle in Port-au-Prince and Léogane, 1971-72. These terms concentrate 96% of all color classifications used across social classes. Click any term for the full picture.
The class divide in how Haitians see color: Labelle's most striking finding was that the mulâtre bourgeoisie and the Black petite bourgeoisie literally perceive the color spectrum differently. The elite compresses all Haitians into two categories (noir and mulâtre = 59% of all their classifications). The middle class spreads their perceptions across five categories — seeing a full spectrum of distinction where the elite sees only a binary.
Mulâtre bourgeoisieBinary vision: 59% in two categories
Noir 22% Mar 9% Br 3% Gr 7% Grim 14% Mulâtre 37% Oth
Black petite bourgeoisieSpectrum vision: 86% in five categories
Noir 14% Mar 16% Brun 19% Gr 8% Grim 15% Mulâtre 22% Oth
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This chart is just the beginning.
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Sources: Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de la partie française de l'isle de Saint-Domingue (1797)
Micheline Labelle, Idéologie de couleur et classes sociales en Haïti (1987)
Data from fieldwork conducted in Port-au-Prince and Léogane, 1971-72
ISTWANOU ACADEMY — istwanou.com