
Kings & Pawns:
The Bloodlines of Bourbon-Orléans
BY LAURA KUHN
2015
PART THREE:
Bal de Cordon Bleu (The Quadroon Balls)

Among the patinas earned with age, a paradise of ruins stands like an antiquated vestige of days gone by. The haunting portrait of New Orleans is earthen and adorned, prized as a semitropical oasis, and defined by the architectural expressions of a colonial village surviving the 21st century. The buildings of Vieux Carré – a term used for the French Quarter – are mute testimony to the city’s lifelong love affair with anthropology, abundantly en vogue to many eras of ethnic traits.
New Orleans is a hybrid. Infused by a complicated heritage, the city’s roots stem from crossbreeding various cultures and civilizations. Words like gumbo, mixology, and melting pot are commonly used to describe the many ingredients that combine to create such a colorful kaleidoscope in the Southland. Three centuries of splendor, motion, and chaos are preserved in the mysterious opulence of La Nouvelle Orléans, and during the period between the War of 1812 and the Civil War at the end of the 19th century, one of the most mysterious and controversial customs ever to be executed played a part in the history of Salle d’Orléans.
Antebellum New Orleans was a different world, both in tradition and social practice. During the golden age of Salle d’Orléans – the Orleans Ballroom connected to the Orleans Theatre – a certain social event took place which is worth documentation yet bears the scar of unjust humanity. Controversy surrounds the “Bal de Cordon Bleu,” a.k.a. Quadroon Balls, which first began after the Louisiana Purchase in the early 1800s. New Orleans was now part of America, and the interracial births of society caused confusion as uncertainty arose for the economic and marital placement of women born from cross-cultural relations.
The Quadroon Balls were deduced from the practice called plaçage, a term from the French placer meaning “to place with.” For nearly two centuries, the placement of interracial relationships in colonial France and Spain were considered mariages de la main gauche, or left-handed marriages. In the dawn of America, men and women of separate skin colors were prohibited to marry, therefore these left-handed marriages became a socially acceptable way to intercede the races without breaking the law.
During the intermingling of Louisiana’s French, Spanish, African and American populace, the shades of skin began to vary. A new and exotic beauty was bred into New Orleans as women with exquisitely chiseled features enticed the Creole men. They had dark liquid eyes, lips of coral, and teeth of pearl. Their long raven locks were soft and glossy, and with sylphlike figures, the women were the highest order of coquettish livelihood.
Dubbed “quadroons” for a racial makeup of one-quarter African, these unmarried women did not have a certain or defined place in the community. They were free women of color, but the ability to gain an education, acquire a marriage, and obtain a source of income were exercises in futility due to their African origins. Therefore, the best way for the subclass of Quadroons to fulfill social graces within the bounds of decency was to become the mistress of a Creole man through plaçage.
The women of mariages de la main gauche were not known as wives but as placées, and the most fashionable way for a quadroon woman to meet a wealthy white gentleman was at a Quadroon Ball. Several dance halls and ballrooms in New Orleans hosted Bal de Cordon Bleu. Evidentially, Salle d’Orléans was one of these venues.
When the tropical climate of summertime cooled in the autumn, the Creoles’ social season began. The zenith of Quadroon Balls stretched through Ash Wednesday as twice-weekly dances were held for Quadroon women and young men for an admission charge of two dollars.
In the early 1800s, two dollars was more than the sum charged at any other public dance, yet by all accounts, it was well worth the price. The Quadroon Balls were elegant and elaborate, designed to appeal to the wealth of New Orleans, usually a prosperous Creole or European who could possess not just one, but two families: one with a Caucasian woman to whom he was legally married, and the other with a light-skinned placée.
While the air was fragrant with jasmine, gardenias, and sweet olive, Quadroon women began seeking liaisons after the evening’s performance at Théâtre d’Orléans. The gentlemen attended the Quadroon Ball at the adjoining Salle d’Orléans where taffeta crinolines billowed and jewels gleamed on the Quadroons. Their youth and beauty was on display, hoping to find rich protectors among the Creole bluebloods. Most shockingly, it was the mother of each Quadroon whom usually negotiated with an admirer. The mother was both chaperone and negotiatress, hoping to find her daughter the best financial and housing arrangement.
Typical arrangements included payment to the parent, paternal recognition of any children the union produced, and living quarters near Rampart Street, a division bordering the original city which became the frontier for the Tremé neighborhood. Although their homes were unimpressive cottages, the Quadroons had cooks, maids, and errand boys, living an eminently respectable life through left-handed marriage.
The upbringing of children born from this alliance was also prearranged. Most education was taught abroad, typically in France, as there were no schools available to educate mixed-race children in America at that time. However, these children became the nucleus of gens de couleur (free people of color) in Louisiana, a class that has populated and shaped the culture of this great state.
In many ways, the life of a Creole Quadroon was controversial yet romantic... and the spellbound romance, the glamorous l’amour, the secret love between mistress and master all began at the Ball!