About this episode

Morgan Gray reads and examines the Code Noir, a significant legal document from the French colonial era that regulated slavery and enforced colonial order.

In this episode, host Morgan Gray reads the Code Noir in full, bringing listeners face-to-face with one of the most chilling legal documents of the French colonial era. Issued under King Louis XIV in 1685 and later adapted for places like Louisiana in 1724 , the Code Noir was designed to regulate slavery, control Aboriginal life, enforce Catholicism, and protect colonial order across the French empire. This episode examines the who, what, where, when, and why behind the code: who authored it, who it targeted, where it was enforced, when it was created, and why it mattered so deeply in the architecture of racial domination. The significance of the Code Noir lies not only in its brutal restrictions and punishments, but also in how it legally transformed enslaved Aboriginals and their descendants into property while giving colonial power a moral and religious cover.

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