dc.contributor.author	Fralin, Scott	en
dc.contributor.author	Thorp, Dan	en
dc.contributor.author	Agmon, Danna	en
dc.contributor.author	Boutier, Jeremy	en
dc.contributor.author	Peabody, Sue	en
dc.date.accessioned	2026-05-12T15:26:15Z	en
dc.date.available	2026-05-12T15:26:15Z	en
dc.date.issued	2026-01-05	en
dc.description	This traveling exhibit recounts a 19th-century legal battle for freedom, revealing both the brutality of colonial systems and the determination of the wrongly enslaved Furcy Madeleine. Born enslaved in 1786 on Bourbon Island, now La Réunion, Furcy Madeleine endured years of hardship and learned at age 31 that he should never have been enslaved at all. His mother, an Indian woman, briefly set foot on French soil in 1772. This was an act that, under French law, should have secured her freedom and, by extension, his. What followed was a 27-year legal battle that spanned the Indian Ocean and Paris, ultimately reaching the French Supreme Court. Furcy’s determination and unexpected ability to build a network of allies reveal both the brutality of colonial systems and the extraordinary persistence of those who challenged them. Despite its significance, Madeleine’s story was largely forgotten because colonial officials feared it would encourage others to rebel. In 2005, key papers belonging to Gilbert Boucher, the island’s former general prosecutor who had quietly helped Furcy, were purchased at auction and made available to the public. The exhibition was designed by the Villèle Historical Museum, in partnership with the Departmental Archives of Reunion Island.	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10919/143075	en
dc.rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International	en
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/	en
dc.title	The Strange Story of Furcy Madeleine: traveling exhibit	en

The Strange Story of Furcy Madeleine: traveling exhibit

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