Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)
Alexandre Dumas was a prolific French playwright, historian, and author, and is best known today for his historical novels of high adventure. Translated into nearly 100 languages, these have made him one of the most widely read French authors in history. Many of his novels, including “The Count of Monte Cristo”, “The Three Musketeers”, “Twenty Years After”, and “The Vicomte de Bragelonne: 10 Years Later” were originally published as serials. His novels have been adapted since the early-20th century for nearly 200 films.
Dumas was born on July 24, 1802 in the village of Villers-Cotterêts, just outside of Paris, the third child born to Marie Louise Labouret, daughter of an innkeeper, and Thomas Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie a military General under Napoléon. Alexandre’s grandfather, the Marquis Alexandre Davy de La Pailleterie married an enslaved Black woman from San Domingo (now Haiti) named Marie Louise Césette Dumas. Thomas took her last name when he enlisted with the French army.
