Thomas-Alexandre Dumas

Who was Thomas-Alexandre Dumas?

Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, also known as Alexandre Dumas, was a general in Revolutionary France; he is the highest-ranking person of color of all time in a continental European army. He was the first person of color in the French military to become brigadier general, the first to become divisional general, and the first to become general-in-chief of a French army. Dumas shared the status of the highest-ranking black officer in the Western world only with Toussaint Louverture until 1975, when the American Daniel "Chappie" James Jr became a four star General in the United States Air Force, the closest American equivalent of Général d'Armée, Dumas' highest rank.

Born in Saint-Domingue, Alexandre Dumas was of mixed race, the son of a white French nobleman and an enslaved mother of African descent. He was born into slavery because of his mother's status but was also born into nobility because of his father's. His father took the boy with him to France in 1776 and had him educated. Slavery was illegal in metropolitan France and thus any slave would be freed de facto by being in the country. His father helped Thomas-Alexandre enter the French military.