Why read A Colony of Citizens?

Book cover of A Colony of Citizens: Revolution and Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787-1804

Book description

The idea of universal rights is often understood as the product of Europe, but as Laurent Dubois demonstrates, it was profoundly shaped by the struggle over slavery and citizenship in the French Caribbean. Dubois examines this Caribbean revolution by focusing on Guadeloupe, where, in the early 1790s, insurgents on the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked A Colony of Citizens as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Christina Proenza-Coles

Author

During the Age of Revolution, enslaved and formerly enslaved residents of the French Caribbean were among those who most vigorously insisted that the “rights of man” were universal. This book focuses on the colony of Guadeloupe, though Laurent Dubois has written about the Haitian Revolution as well, an event that resulted in the first nation in the Americas to outlaw human enslavement. Enslaved and free Afro-French men and women engaged colonial assemblies and militias to stake their claims to the rights of citizenship. As they endeavored to turn Enlightenment ideals into political realities, Afro-Americans in the Caribbean championed the rise…

From Christina's list on The best books on how African Americans shaped democracy in America.