Race, Identity, and Imperial Communications: Slave Couriers and the Postal System in the French Atlantic World, 1794–1802

The effective operation and expansion of communication networks across oceans and land was integral for the French overseas empire during the early modern period, especially in times of war. During the French Revolutionary Wars, the circulation of mails in the Caribbean was frequently obstructed by military conflicts, inclement weather, disease, and more. With its military personnel stretched thin, and constant threat of annexation nearby, the French colonial mail system turned to the use of slaves to collect and distribute their letters and packages. This paper examines how this desire for effective communications transcended the racial and ethnic hierarchies established in Martinique and Guadeloupe. Drawing on numerous archival sources, this paper illustrates how slaves were not marginalized from French imperial communications, but rather, were essential to their operation and expansion during the French Revolutionary Wars.

It demonstrates how the use of slaves as couriers was not anecdotal, but systematic enough to warrant legislation to moderate their services on mail packet boats, as postmen between colonial and naval officials during wartime, and even couriers of mails between colonial towns. Further complicating the picture is that towards the end of the war, certain French colonies implemented legislation that clearly identified slave couriers as being French, as seen with them being provided delivery uniforms draped in the colors of the Republican tricolore. Moreover, postmasters and colonial officials were so adamant to protect them that they drafted legislation to shield them from harm. As such, this paper addresses numerous issues concerning race and national identity in relation to the circulation of information and ideas, and the overall apparatus of French imperial communications. In doing so, it aims to bring further attention to this area of study, which has been little explored in comparison to its counterparts in the British Caribbean, the United States, and Europe.