What was Jean Baptiste Belley best known for?

Belley fought in the American War of Independence and served as a captain in the French army during the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) fighting to abolish slavery on the island of Saint-Domingue (now Hispaniola). In 1793 he was elected to the National Convention in Paris, becoming its first black deputy.

Who was Jean Baptiste Belley and why was he important?

Jean-Baptiste Belley (1746–1805) was a representative of the National Convention in Paris from 1794 and was one of its first three Black deputies (Popkin 327). He had been born in Senegal but was sold into slavery as a small child and taken to Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), a French colony in the Americas (Halliday 107).

When did Anne Louis Girodet paint Jean Baptiste Belley?

1797 – Anne-Louis Girodet, Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley This important painting of a Black Haitian deputy, once enslaved, commemorates his participation in the assembly that abolished slavery in France in 1794. He wears the tricolored uniform of a deputy of the French National Convention and only his gold earring speaks to his Colonial ties.

Who was behind the bust of Jean-Baptiste Belley?

The marble bust behind him is that of the Abbé Raynal, a priest and prominent 18th century abolitionist. There is no doubt that both Belley and Girodet were making an anti-slavery statement here, and a powerful one. Then in 1799 Bonaparte seized power.

Who was Girodet and what did he do?

Girodet (1767-1824) was a French painter in the Neoclassical and Romantic styles, originally trained in architecture (Brown). He was a Republican and painted scenes of the fall of the Bastille and other events of the Revolution in the 1790s, but became famous initially for his deeply erotic mythological scenes like Endymion (Fig. 2).

When did Jean Baptiste Belley become a citizen?

When elections were held in Saint-Domingue in 1792, Belley was elected as a Representative to the Convention Nationale for the island. He became the first man of African descent to hold national elective office in the new French Republic.