There were definately free people of color in Pensacola as well as not so far away as Mobile. There are families here today who can trace back to ancestors who were free people of color in early Pensacola or close by in Mobile. See the Escambia County Florida site on US GENWEB. 2 listings there are under People of Escambia County, Florida : 1- Free people of color and slaves & 2 -Pensacola's free people of color. I've seen records of slaves in pre-American Spanish Louisiana who became free people by their free relatives buying them from their owners. One case was of a young girl whose relative a free woman of color arranged to purchase her from her owner who would sell her for her weight in coin. No joke. When her relatives came up with the money he tried to renege so they petitioned the authorities who held him to the deal & the girl was made free. I wish I could find where I saw this.

Marcie