La Mulâtresse Solitude

File:Guadeloupe (Pont du Galion depuis le Fort Louis Delgrès à Basse-Terre).jpg

The bridge over the river Galion. The bridge was built by the engineer of 1773 Labbé Talcy à 1780. It is an arch bridge of 35 meters range. The galleon sank 35 meters below. Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in late 1799 decided to reinstate slavery abolished by the Convention. Guadeloupeans who have tasted freedom resist. Organized resistance, Ignatius officer Pointe à Pitre joined his men another insurgent Delgrès Louis (a free mulatto officer). On May 21, 1802 General Richepance stormed the fort where refugees Delgrès, Ignatius and their men. On 22, before the bombing, and Ignace Delgrès exit through the gate of Galion. Ignatius goes on the road in Pointe-à-Pitre he dies in battle. Delgrès Matouba goes to Saint-Claude.Degrees and his companions will jump to the cry of 'Live Free or Die!". The mulatto Solitude, pregnant, a symbol of women's resistance, will be hanged in November 1802 just after childbirth.

La Mulâtresse Solitude (circa 1772-1802) is a historical figure of the fight against slavery on Guadeloupe. She has been the subject of legends and a symbol of the struggle against slavery.

Guadeloupe Solitude, as she is also known, is being currently considered for inclusion in the French Pantheon, that celebrates the memory of distinguished French citizens.

Biography

Born around 1772, daughter of slaves, saw the abolition of slavery in 1794 and joined a Maroon community in Guadeloupe.

In 1802, when Napoleon Bonaparte reinstated slavery in the French colonies, she rallied around Louis Delgrès and fought by his side, for freedom. She survived the battle of May 8, 1802, but was imprisoned by the French. Because she was pregnant at the time of her imprisonment, she was not to be hanged until November 29 of the same year, one day after giving birth.

In 1999, a statue by Jacky Poulier was placed on Héros aux Abymes Boulevard in Guadeloupe in her memory.

In 2007, another statue was erected in her memory, this time in the île-de-France region of Hauts-de-Seine, for the celebration of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. The statue is made of iroko, a kind of African wood and steel. According to its sculptor Nicolas Alquin, it is the first memorial to all "enslaved people that resisted".

See also

• List of slaves