Free People of Color get Involved in the Revolution
Jean-Baptiste Belley and Jean-Baptiste Mills, Black Deputies from the Colonies at the National Convention
On November 14, 1789, more than 75 women and men, known as “free people of color,” gathered together on the Place Dauphine, in the home of the lawyer Lefébure de Saint-Maur. Some of them were rich and even slave owners, like Julien Raimond, while others were educated, like Xavier de La Buy, a surgical student. However, they were all discriminated against due to their skin color. Calling themselves, the “American colonists,” their members included four women. Their petition was clear: they requested to be represented in the National Assembly, like white colonists. It was the beginning of their revolution.
Among the signatories of the petition, was a certain Vincent Ogé. Born in the Antilles, he had completed his studies in mainland France. Seeing that white colonists refused to apply the decree from March 28, 1790 stipulating that “any free person aged 25 years […] building owner […] could enjoy the same voting rights as all French,” he left for Saint-Domingue and got involved in the rebellion. Arrested, he died in the Dominican city of Cap-Français broken on the wheel with Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, also an insurgent.
Portrait of Vincent Ogé, Young Colonist from Saint-Domingue
