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When talking about the colonies in the New World , the term free people of color was used for people who had both European , and African , and sometimes native American parents, but who were not slaves . This term applied to many people in Louisiana (which was known as 'New France' at the time), and the Caribbean islands . In the colonies , these people were classified in various ways, usually depending on what they looked like. The term became popular in the late 17th century. In the thirteen colonies , these people were sometimes called free negroes .

The term did not apply to freed slaves, which were usually known as affranchi , in French.

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