Marie-Joseph AngéliqueMarie-Joseph Angélique (died June 21, 1734) was the name given by the French authorities to a Portuguese-born black slave in New France (later Quebec, Canada). She set fire to her owner's home, burning much of what is now referred to as old Montreal. Owned by François Poulin, Angélique was expected to fill her role as a slave by breeding with other slaves and servicing her master. She, however, was adamantly opposed to this and devoted to her own lover, a white servant named Claude Thibault. On April 10, 1734, after Poulin threatened to sell her, the terrified girl set fire to his home and tried to escape. She was captured shortly after, but not before the fire she started devastated much of Montreal (no one was killed by the fire). Tried and tortured, Angelique confessed to the crime and was sentenced to death by being burned alive. However, the sentence was reduced, and instead, she was hanged in a public ceremony that involved her being driven though town tied in the back of cart wearing a sign reading arsonist which included a stop at the church where she was made to kneel and beg for forgiveness from the King, God, and her fellow citizens. Before the execution, she was made to suffer the amputation of the hand with which she set the fire. Once dead, her body was burned and her ashes, scattered. Her death stands today as a harsh condemnation of the excesses of slavery, even when relatively benign, as the French institution has claimed to be.
See alsoCategory:Canadian history |
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