Explore Black History

ca. 1920

The title of this French colonial postcard “MARTINIQUE - Type et Costume Créole” exemplifies the standard naming structure that categorized “exotic” native subjects in the form of ethnic and occupational “types.” Presenting the image subjects in this way conveyed the perception of them as “tame” colonial subjects capable of assimilation into European ways of life. 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, five-piece French Caribbean formal ensemble called a douillette, which is derived from the grand robe worn by early French settlers. Prior to Emancipation, dress codes required enslaved women to wear a chemise jupe, an informal bodice and skirt ensemble. Douillettes would have been worn by mulattas and free black women. Following Emancipation, previously enslaved black women resisted these old dress codes by donning elaborate douillettes that were previously forbidden. The douillette dress is made of colored or shiny fabric and is worn over a petticoat and accessorized with a satin foulard shawl over the shoulders.
The ensemble is finished with an ornately tied madras head scarf. 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.
As seen in this image, it was fashionable to accessorize these outfits with gold jewelry.

A photographic postcard of an unidentified woman from Martinique in the traditional Creole douillette ensemble. She is featured standing, facing towards the left of the image, with her right hand on her front holding up her dress. Her other hand is resting on an object covered with fabric in front of her. The background is a painted canvas of a forest. She is wearing a long, paisley-patterned dress with a floral foulard scarf and a madras head scarf. The photograph has a white border and underneath the image, printed in black, [Cliché Fabre - Leboullanger, éditeur, à Fort-de-France / MARTINIQUE - Type et Costume Créole]. A circular stamp in black ink on the right bottom corner of the image says, [BAUER [indecipherable] / ET / CIE / DIJON]. The back of the postcard is unused and has [CARTE POSTALE] printed in black at the top. Below, are blank spaces for [CORRESPONDANCE] and [ADRESSE]. Handwritten in graphite on the top right is [132 / Dm / 16C].

French Colonial postcard from Martinique

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

2016.151.4

postcards

Public domain
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper, with ink on paper

H x W: 5 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. (14 × 8.9 cm)

Title • MARTINIQUE - Type et Costume Créole

nmaahc_2016.151.4

NMAAHC

MARTINIQUE - TYPE ET COSTUME CRÉOLE

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

1920s • 1910s

Fabre, Cliché • Leboullanger • Bauer, Louis

Chennai • Asia • North and Central America • Europe • Fort-de-France • Martinique • Tamil Nadu • Caribbean • 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

City • Fort-de-France • State • Martinique • 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

Images

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