The Feast of All Saints

I've seen bits and pieces of this film before and it has always made me want to watch more, but I hesitated. The movie "The Feast of All Saints" plays like it should be a classic novel, maybe it will be one day. It was written by Anne Rice, best known for creating the vampire named Lestat and writing "Interview with the Vampire." I never expected a white woman known for interesting vampire fiction to have such a grasp on the history of the gens de couleur libre. That translates to "the free people of color," a term that is pretty self-explanatory. The twist comes from the location of these free colored people, the good city of New Orleans.

Something many do not know is that because New Orleans was once the property of France, many French cultures still exist there today. New Orleans also had the reputation of being less harsh on slaves because, for whatever reasons, French men had fewer problems with finding beauty in darker women. This was a gift in a way and a curse in others.

These French men were also influenced by other white men in America and although the black women they loved could find themselves "kept," this choice was still basically a one of a whore. The movie explores these relationships between white men, their black mistresses, and the children of these affairs. The twist comes with the women who are still considered black but have skin so fair that many could pass for white. The white men considered it a grand prize to have a black woman who could "pass." Having her would be a better prize than having a white woman...well, at least in secret. No matter how prized she is, she was still black and therefore never respectable enough to be his wife...but his desire for her would make him do whatever he needed to "purchase" her loyalty. If she could not be bought, he may take her anyway...that's the way it worked.

The film explores how while many slaves may not have been beaten to death like in the deep south, they still lost their souls by being forced to do things to survive. The fair black women, given a taste of a good life, could not resort to washing and mending clothing and keep their high standards. Also, many had been living such a life since they were young girls, it was all they knew.

The story told in this movie is touching and annoying. It made me think of my very fair black son. In the film, the fair son was treated fantastic while his fair-skinned sister (born into slavery) was treated as a slave and remained in service until she killed herself. The boy could see the life draining from his sister but had no power to free her. The main thing put forth in this story was, no matter how fair these free people were, they were still people of color...as is my son. The movie strikes a deep cord with me because looking at my skin, I would have been desirable by many white men...not because I could pass, I can not, but the cafe au lait skin was the attraction.

When I hear people say our president is biracial (which is true) but then deny his African American heritage, it makes me angry. A film like this reminds me that white people were willing to remind us all the time that no matter how light we got, we were still black. I feel that continues to apply today, for me, my son and definitely for our President.