A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved. In the United States, such persons were referred to as "free Negroes," though many were of mixed race (in the terminology of the day, mulattos, generally of European and African descent).
Free people of color was especially a term used in New Orleans and the former Louisiana Territory, where a substantial third class of primarily mixed-race, free people developed. There were also free people of color in Caribbean and Latin American slave societies. There colonial societies classified mixed-race people in a variety of ways, generally related to appearance and to the proportion of African ancestry.
Free people of color, or gens de couleur libre, played an important role in the history of New Orleans and the southern part of the state, former Louisiana Territory. When French settlers and traders first arrived in the colony, the men took Native American women as their concubines or common-law wives; and when African slaves were imported to the colony, they took African women as wives.
Person of color (plural: people of color; persons of color) is a term used, primarily in the United States, to describe all people who are not white. The term is meant to be inclusive among non-white groups, emphasizing common experiences of racism. People of color was introduced as a preferable replacement to both non-white and minority, which are also inclusive, because it frames the subject positively; non-white defines people in terms of what they are not (white), and minority frequently carries a subordinate connotation. Style guides for writing from American Heritage, the Stanford Graduate School of Business,Mount Holyoke College, recommend the term over these alternatives. It may also be used with other collective categories of people such as students of color, men of color and women of color.
The untranslated English term has also seen some limited usage among Germans of color, especially when stressing the postcolonial perspective, but so far has not found entrance into general German language and is not necessarily known by the general populace. Pessoa de cor (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˌdʒi ˈkoʁ]), mulher de cor, etc. are in common usage in Brazil, although it has a limited, mostly colloquial, usage. Nevertheless, most of Brazilians will understand it when referring to non-white persons[citation needed].
[Chorus - Sample (Freeway)]
We are people, who've been tried through time (that's right)
Rejected by society (not just black people but people in general)
Left to wander deaf, dumb and blind (ya know)
We know the depth of darkness, ignorance's shame (uh huh)
A people lost without a name (Free)
Without a name, ohhh, what a shame
But now here we are ...
[Verse 1 - Freeway]
Yeah, this how it started, the beginning it was me alone
It's '09, I look around, it's me alone
Huh, no "Love Jones", No Nia Long
And my kids still askin "are we there yet?
Did we make it to the top dad?"
"My bad
We just made it to the middle, gettin paid a little
So you know what that means, y'all could play a little
But I still gotta work a lot, close the locks"
Niggaz see me on the tube, they think I'm worth a lot
And if they try to take y'all, I'm gonna murk the block
Pull out and squirt the block, hurt the block
I don't care if I alert the cops, call the S.W.A.T.
When I blast, bodies drop like Pilates class
Throw on the mask, then I palm the glock
If y'all niggaz try to hide, I'm a find ya ass
[Chorus - Sample (Freeway)]
We are people, who've been tried through time
Rejected by society (I'm tempted)
Left to wander deaf, dumb and blind (know what I mean)
We know the depth of darkness, ignorance's shame
(How I'm supposed to react?)
A people lost without a name (uh huh)
Without a name, ohh, what a shame
But now here we are ...
[Verse 2 - Freeway]
Here we are, face to face, we didn't grow with no silver spoons
Hopin to find, a strip we can grind on
A connect we can rely on, my God
Philly Freezer used to hustle on the block
Listenin to songs on the tape deck before the iPod
Yeah, some niggaz used to grind hard
While other niggaz used to take checks
Niggaz that grind had it out with the cops
Niggaz that took checks, faced a quick death
They was shootin out 'til not a clip left
Wind up goin out in a box
And I wind up rollin out in a box Porsche
'Lo sport from the shorts to the socks to the shirt
Yeah, I'm gonna make this rap thing work, watch
[Chorus - Sample (Freeway)]
We are people (that's right), who've been tried through time
(Trials and tribulations)
Rejected by society
Left to wander deaf, dumb and blind (just wakin up)
We know the depth of darkness
(Goin through your normal day is a trial)
Ignorance's shame (it's all a test)
A people lost (from God) without a name (you gotta find yourself)
Without a name, ohh, what a shame (that's right)
But now here we are ...