Les mots esclave, nègre, Noir, et les jugements de valeur sur la traite négrière dans la littérature abolitionniste française de 1770 à 1845

Abstract

The numerous anti-slave trade writings published between 1780 and 1845 suggest trying and finding out which of the three words “slave”, “negro” and “Black” was preferred, and what views were expressed on the slave trade system. A fall in the use of the terms “slave” and “negro”, with, on the other hand, the unanimous acceptance of the word “Black” would tend to emphasize a collective effort in the literary battle, a common policy of psychological propaganda, and ultimately the triumph of abolitionist ideas, with a definite change away from the old slave trade orientated cast of mind.Using a rather rough quantitative semantic technique, 9 600 occurrences of the three basic words plus qualitative views on the slave trade have been registered out of 3 500 printed pages. The schematic analysis of the ideology, as it was fully theorized in the 18th century, with no real innovation on the part of the 19th century abolitionists, stresses the main aim of the authors: to take a stand against the subtleties of the supporters of the slave trade by insisting on the remorse arriving from the transportation of man to the inhuman slave compounds in America. The anti-slave writers however got short of breath after a century of tautology.The conclusion remains equivocal: “slave trade”, “negro trade” were still use in 1845. “Black trade” was considered snobbism. Although it had indeed instilled an awareness of the problem, the anti-slave trade literature, with no decisive change in use of words, is not enough to answer for the fundamental change in the trend of mind. The slave trade was on the verge of extirpation, yet the slave trade cast of mind and terminology subsisted.