Alexandre Dumas
Brief life of the soldier who inspired The Count of Monte Cristo: 1762-1806
by Tom Reiss
November-December 2012He was the son of a black slave and a renegade French aristocrat, born in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) when the island was the center of the world sugar trade. The boy’s uncle was a rich, hard-working planter who dealt sugar ( Read more... )

WILL-FM host Roger Cooper’s newest Classically Black program looks at the life and music of 18th-century composer Joseph Boulogne, a gifted violinist who was music director for French Queen Marie Antoinette, fought in the French Revolution, and gained international stature for his swordsmanship ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

This movie, about Africans fighting for France in WWII has been nominated for a foriegn language oscar (trailer here)

Note that the following article is dated 2006.

Equal pay for French colonial veterans
France decreed Wednesday that overseas veterans will soon get the same pensions as their French peers.

( Read more... )

50th Anniversary of the 1st International Congress of Black Writers and Artists ( Read more... )

Through an investigative lense ARISITIDE AND THE ENDLESS REVOLUTION explores the events that led to the removal of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected President of Haiti. Filmmaker, Nicolas Rossier, takes the viewer into a journey of political intrigue, armed criminals posing as freedom fighters and economic fiascos. What emerges is ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold History of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal by AFUA COOPER

On April 10, 1734, a fire ripped through Montréal, destroying forty-six buildings, including the famed hospital/convent L’Hôtel Dieu. No one died, but in the aftermath it was discovered that the slave woman Angelique had escaped, ( Read more... )

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4756635.stmRead more... )

The 15th New York Infantry was authorized in 1913 and was not formed until 1916. The armory was a cigar store with a dance hall above it on Seventh Ave. and 131st Street, Harlem. Two hundred Negro residents in the city, who had previous military service, became the nucleus for the new regiment. Overcoming many obstacles, Colonel William Hayward, a ( Read more... )