La Mulâtresse Solitude

La Mulâtresse Solitude (circa 1772 – 1802) was a historical figure and heroine in the fight against slavery on French Guadeloupe.

Though little is recorded about the Guadeloupean woman Solitude, she is highly regarded as a figure that helped lead the insurrection culminating in the battle of Matouba against the reinstating of slavery in Guadeloupe in 1802.

The only recorded mention of Solitude comes from Auguste Lacour in his book Historie de la Guadeloupe, an exploration of the administrative archives on the 1802 rebellion against the reinstatement of slavery.

Originally written in French, he says this about the maroon leader: La mulâtresse Solitude, who came from Pointe-à-Pitre to Basse-Terre, was then in the Palermo camp.

One of them having escaped, she armed herself with a pin, ran, pierced him, lifted him up, and presented him to the prison women: 'Here', she said, 'by mixing with her words the most offensive epithets, this is how I will treat you when it is time!'

[7] Solitude's story is widely known throughout the Caribbean and France, inspiring many different artists and institutions to pay homage to her life.

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

(16°14′50″N 61°31′45″W / 16.24719°N 61.52904°W / 16.24719; -61.52904) In 2007, another statue was erected in her memory, this time in the Hauts-de-Seine in the Île-de-France region, for the celebration of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade.

[9] In 2011, as part of a housing construction project, the town of Ivry-sur-Seine decided to name a new road "allée de la mulâtresse Solitude" which was inaugurated in 2014.