French colonial policy on interracial concubinage reversed after World War I

Evidence

Although French theorists in the metropole had long since abandoned the notion of assimilating their subjects through intermarriage, outright condemnation of concubinage in West Africa and endorsement of marriage to a white woman was new in the 192o’s. Before the war, the Government General had openly tolerated interracial unions. “For those who lack the moral strength necessary to endure two years of continen.ce,” a manual from the 189o’s for West African administrators had counseled, “only one line of conduct is possible: a temporary union with a well-chosen native woman.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 588