Fashionable Rebellion

By the time the Spanish took over the Louisiana colony in 1763 there was an established community of free Black people who lived and worked in the territory. The status of free Black people was unclear in Louisiana. They were not under the control of the laws that governed enslaved people, but they were also denied all the rights and privileges that white colonists enjoyed.

The Spanish government wanted to better define the status of free Black people in Louisiana to prevent them from becoming too powerful. One major concern was that too many white men were pursuing relationships and marriage with free Black women. Some assumed that this was because Black women were naturally too attractive. In response to this belief, in 1786 the governor of Louisiana proclaimed that all free Black women must wear tignon. Tignon were headscarves typically worn by enslaved women to keep their hair up while they worked. By requiring free Black women to wear the same hair covering, the governor was associating free Black women with enslaved women rather than white women. He was also forcing free Black women to cover their hair, which was considered one of their most attractive features.

The free Black women of Louisiana were more than up to this challenge. The tignon was widely adopted in accordance with the law, but women used colorful, expensive fabrics and tied them with ornate knots. They also decorated them with feathers and jewels. Instead of being a symbol of the inferiority of free Black women, it became a mark of their beauty, wealth, and creativity, a subtle rebellion against a colonial government that wanted to keep them down.

In this portrait, we see the beauty and style of the tignon on proud display. The subject of the painting is Betsy, the free Black housekeeper of artist François Fleischben. Historians do not know why the portrait was made. One theory is that Betsy commissioned this portrait. Another is that François admired her style and asked her to sit for him.

This portrait demonstrates not only what the tignon looked like, but that the style long outlived Spanish colonial rule in Louisiana, which ended in 1801. It is a testament to the tignon’s importance as a statement of power for free Black women.

• commission: A formal request to produce a work of art.
• Louisiana: Founded in 1682, this colony was the second North American colony claimed by the French. The territory stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. It was taken by the Spanish in 1763.
• privilege: A special right granted only to a particular person or group.
• tignon: A cloth wrapping that covered the hair. Free Black women in colonial Louisiana were required to wear tignon beginning in 1786.

• Lesson Plan: In this lesson designed for kindergarten through second grade, students will learn how to study portraits and draw conclusions about people long ago. They will use the portrait of Betsy as a case study.
• After learning about  tignon, show students the portraits of Dolley Madison and Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau. Why are these white women wearing tignon?  What does this say about the history of this fashion accessory? How do students feel about this historic example of cultural appropriation?
• For another example of how women were expected to dress to limit the attention of men, read Ornaments of the Daughters of Zion.
• Connect this story with the modern debate over natural Black hairstyles in schools and the New York City ban on workplace discrimination based on hair in 2019— how do contemporary attitudes about Black hair echo this historical case? What, if anything, has changed?

AMERICAN CULTURE; DOMESTICITY AND FAMILY