La Mulâtresse Solitude (circa 1772 – 1802) was a historical figure and heroine in the fight against slavery on French Guadeloupe. She has been the subject of legends and a symbol of women's resistance in the struggle against slavery in the history of the island. 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.
Many sources hypothesize about the unknown early life of the girl who became Solitude. While it is only speculation, it is widely believed that she was the product of a rape by a Frenchman on a slaveship that brought her mother to the Caribbean. Her mother is said to have died when she was only eight years old.[1] It has been said that she escaped slavery together with her mother while she was still alive, joining a maroon community in the hills of Guadeloupe with other Black people who had escaped their captors.[2]
She was called "La Mulâtresse" ('Female Mulatto') because of her origin, which had some importance for her in the racial hierarchy of the society of the time: because she was noted to have pale skin and pale eyes, she was given domestic work rather than being forced to work in the fields.
Napoleon Bonaparte, having come to power in late 1799, decided to reinstate slavery abolished by the Convention, and enacted the Law of 20 May 1802, reinstating slavery in the French colonies.[3] The Guadeloupeans, having tasted freedom, put up resistance. An officer named, having organized resistance in Pointe-à-Pitre, joined his men with those of another insurgent, Louis Delgrès, a free mulatto officer. She was among those who rallied around Louis Delgrès and fought by his side for freedom.[4]
On May 21, 1802, General Richepance stormed the fort where refugees Delgrès, Ignace, and their men were. On May 22, before the bombing, Ignace and Delgrès exited by the postern gate of Galion. The bridge over the river Galion was to become a marking point of this fight. Ignace, having gone on the road to Pointe-à-Pitre, died in battle. Delgrès went to Matouba, on the way to Saint-Claude.
On May 28, along with 400 others Delgrès and Solitude were in a losing battle against the French armies and decided to blow themselves up with gunpowder in efforts to kill as many French soldiers as possible.[5]
Solitude survived the battle and bombing of May 28, 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.
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:
Solitude's story, though not formerly recorded, inspired Andre Schwarz Bart to expand on the tale in a novel entitled, La Mulatresse Solitude. The novel is not considered a historical resource, but rather a work of historical fiction, hypothesizing and detailing the lives of Solitude and her mother, Bayangumay. This novel has been the source of much of the information people know and accept about Solitude and her story.[6]
Solitude's story is widely known throughout the Caribbean and France, inspiring many different artists and institutions to pay homage to her life. She represents the greater women's struggle against slavery, and for that she is commemorated in many different ways.
In 1999, a statue by 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 Hauts-de-Seine in the Île-de-France region, for the celebration of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. The statue is made of iroko, a kind of African hardwood. According to its sculptor Nicolas Alquin, it is the first memorial to all "enslaved people that resisted."[7]
In 2008, Pascal Vallot was inspired by her life for a musical comedy.[8]
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.
A street is inaugurated in her name in the town of Les Abymes in Guadeloupe: the mulatto street Solitude
The 46th class of the Nantes Regional Institute of Administration bears her name.
In 2019, Solitude is the main character in the novel Spigaoù by Frédéric Lesgrands-Terriens.[9]
On September 26, 2020, Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, and Jacques Martial, former director of Mémorial ACTe and Paris Councillor Delegate in charge of Overseas Territories, inaugurate the “Jardin Solitude” (Solitude Garden) (north lawns of the Place of Général-Catroux - 17th district). They announced the project to eventually install her statue in this garden. This would be the first statue of a black woman in Paris - which only counts 40 historical women among the thousand or so statues in Paris.[10]
Guadeloupe Solitude, as she is also known, is being currently considered for inclusion in the French Panthéon that celebrates the memory of distinguished French citizens.[11]
In May 2022, the French Post released a postal stamp labelled "Solitude v.1772-1802" to commemorate Solitude.