At the top were the big white planters, who owned the plantations and all the slaves. Often these Grands Blancs were absentee landlords, who would just rather stay in France and let their agents do, you know, the actual brutality. Below them were the wealthy free people of color. Most of the Frenchmen who came to the island were, you know, men, and they frequently fathered children with slave women. These fathers would often free their children. Wasn't that generous of them. So by 1789 there were 24,800 free people of color, along with about 30,000 white people in the colony.