M   A   R   T   I   N   I   Q   U   E
HOME JOSEPHINE AIR BAIE FREGATE BLEUE END


Josephine was the daughter of white parents of Martinique. In 1806 she persuaded her husband, Napoleon, to rescind a decree outlawing slavery -- no slaves, no money from Martinique. It took another seventy years before the island was free of slavery.

She went to Paris during The Revolution to be with her first husband. Her husband was beheaded. She was freed two days before she was scheduled to lose her head, too.

In 1991 Carnivale revelers decapitated this statue of her in the center of La Savane in Forte-de-France.