A Hymn for the Citizens of Color. Parody-Song, the French Revolution, and the Abolition of Slavery

Abstract

With the abolition of slavery in France and its colonies in 1794, ensuing from the abolition of slavery in Saint-Domingue 1793, free people of color and enslaved Africans reached their goal in the struggle for emancipation. Throughout the early French Republic, people gathered to celebrate this milestone of revolutionaries’ ideals: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. People of color took part in the festivities as well. One woman of color, Marie-Thérèse Lucidor Corbin, created a hymn for the people of color, to honor the struggle for emancipation, and to celebrate the abolition of slavery. This hymne des citoyens de couleurs was sung during the festivities to the melody of the well-known song “La Marseillaise”, which today is France´s national anthem, making the hymn a musical parody of the original song. In this article, I combine findings from musicology and sound history with sources and research results from the Age of Revolutions as well as the History of free people of color and women of color in particular, while examining the practice of creating parody-songs during the French Revolution. I argue that Corbin´s parody of the Marseillaise is a way to link people of color's struggle with the ideals of the French Revolution and their fight for the human rights that the French Revolution in principle guaranteed them.