Explore Black History

1860-1880

The colonial postcard, popular in the first two decades of the 20th century, came to represent both the technological triumphs of western photography – in printing and mass production – and the political triumphs of European conquest and expansion. These postcards also promoted tourism to the French Caribbean, painting the region as a safe, favorable, and exotic travel destination.
The woman in this image wears a traditional chemise jupe, an informal bodice and skirt ensemble. Prior to Emancipation, enslaved women in the French Caribbean were subject to le code noir, which required them to wear a chemise jupe made up of a white blouse, two skirts, and silver jewelry. The first skirt was colorful whereas the second one was made from cotton and muslin. Following Emancipation, black women resisted these dress codes by donning elaborate five-piece formal douillettes that were previously forbidden.
The ensemble is finished with an ornately tied madras head scarf with attached pins. Originally produced in the Chennai region of southeast India, madras cloth became popular amongst Creole women in the 18th century and replaced the white cotton head kerchief which was associated with the dress codes of enslavement. In the early twentieth century, Guadeloupian and Martiniquan women reclaimed this head adornment as their own and many wore madras head scarves with their douillette and chemise jupes. The square or rectangular piece of madras cloth was worn over the forehead and folded to display varying numbers of peaks. The head scarf can be tied in a ceremonial fashion or can be worn to show the availability of the woman in courtship, depending on the number of peaks tied into it. One peak represents that the woman is single, two that she is married, three that she is widowed or divorced, and four that she is available to any who tries.
It was fashionable to accessorize these outfits with gold jewelry. The woman in this image wears a traditional collier-choux around her neck. The collier-choux is a multi-layered necklace made up of a succession of two striated gold grains welded together.

Photograph of a woman wearing a traditional Creole chemise jupe ensemble leaning on a column in a studio. She is facing directly forward and has one arm placed on the column and the other holding her hip under her skirt. She is wearing a white blouse with a patterned foulard scarf tucked into her full-length, dark, floral-patterned skirt or jupe. She is wearing a madras head scarf with large ornamentation. She also wears traditional jewelry such as the gold collier-choux necklace and large earrings. The photograph has a white border surrounding the image. The back is blank but has handwritten text in the upper left quadrant [531582].

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Memorabilia and Ephemera - Other
Photographs and Still Images

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

National Museum of African American History and Culture

2016.151.3

photographs
portraits

Public Domain
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper

H x W: 4 1/8 × 2 1/2 in. (10.5 × 6.4 cm)

Object Name • Photograph of unidentified woman wearing French Antillean dress

nmaahc_2016.151.3

NMAAHC

PHOTOGRAPH OF UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN WEARING FRENCH ANTILLEAN DRESS

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

1880s • 1860s

Chennai • Asia • North and Central America • Europe • Tamil Nadu • Caribbean • France • Latin America • Madras • India

African diaspora • Photography • Description and travel • Women • Colonies • Clothing and dress • Fashion • French colonialism • Freedom • Gender issues • Group identity

African Americans • Africans

Subregion • Caribbean • Region • Latin America • Continent • North and Central America • Country • France • Continent • Europe • Locale • Madras • City • Chennai • State • Tamil Nadu • Country • India • Continent • Asia

Portraits • Photographs

Images

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