Jean-Baptiste Belley, from Slavery to the National Convention

Jean-Baptiste Belley holds a unique place in the history of the French Revolution. Born in Africa, deported as a child to Saint-Domingue and enslaved, he went on to become a free man, a soldier and then a representative of that colony at the National Convention. Admitted as a deputy in January 1794, he is considered the first Black deputy in French history.

His journey is also inseparable from the contradictions of his time: the assertion of the rights of man, the continuation of colonial slavery, the uprising in Saint-Domingue and then the abolition of 1794. It ended in a prison on Belle-Île-en-Mer, where Belley died after being arrested under the Consulate.

From Gorée to Saint-Domingue: a childhood marked by the slave trade

Jean-Baptiste Belley was born between 1746 and 1747 on the island of Gorée, Senegal. Some documents also refer to him as “Jean-Baptiste Belley, known as Timba Bazé.” This designation has been interpreted either as the trace of an African name or as a nickname.

At around the age of two, he was deported to Saint-Domingue, a territory corresponding to present-day Haiti. This French colony was then one of the most prosperous in the Atlantic world, particularly because of sugar and coffee. That wealth rested on the forced labour of hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans.

The crossings aboard slave ships took place in extremely violent and deadly conditions. Belley’s survival until he reached Saint-Domingue was therefore the first stage of an exceptional destiny, without erasing the reality of the system that tore him from his birthplace.

To better understand the links between European expansion, colonial slavery and the economic formation of the modern world, also read how capitalism emerged through expropriation, colonial expansion and racialization.

A free man of colour in an unequal society

At around the age of 17, Jean-Baptiste Belley bought his freedom. Records from Cap-Français in the 1770s describe him as a free man of colour and a wigmaker. This freedom, however, did not mean equality with white people.

In Saint-Domingue, free people of colour could practise certain trades, own property, become wealthy and even own enslaved people. Yet they remained subject to legal discrimination based on the colour of their skin. The colonial hierarchy thus separated white people, free people of colour and the vast majority of enslaved people.

Belley later joined the Saint-Domingue volunteer chasseurs, a unit that included free men of colour. In 1779, he took part in the French expedition against Savannah, Georgia, then occupied by the British. The assault failed, but this military experience marked his path. He was then given the nickname “Mars,” after the Roman god of war.

The French Revolution and the struggles in Saint-Domingue

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted in 1789, stated that men are born free and equal in rights. In the colonies, this proclamation immediately exposed a profound gap with reality. In Saint-Domingue, around 500,000 people were still enslaved.

At first, the demands of free people of colour chiefly concerned equal political rights with white people. After the failure of the movement led by Vincent Ogé, who was executed in 1791, an initial law granted limited rights in May 1791 to some free people of colour. On 4 April 1792, another law granted them the same political rights as white people.

At the same time, the enslaved people’s uprising broke out in northern Saint-Domingue in August 1791. The revolt quickly spread. The available sources do not make it possible to reconstruct Belley’s precise role at the beginning of this rebellion. However, he reappeared in official documents in 1793 as an infantry captain supporting the Republic’s civil commissioners, Léger-Félicité Sonthonax and Étienne Polverel.

During the conflict between these commissioners and Governor François Thomas Galbaud, along with white colonists, Sonthonax sought the support of insurgent Black people by promising them freedom. Belley joined these forces. Following the clashes at Cap-Français, the colony’s political balance was profoundly transformed.

The abolition of 1793 and entry into the Convention

Faced with the uprising, Spanish and British threats, and the need to keep Saint-Domingue within the French sphere, the commissioners made a decisive decision. On 29 August 1793, Sonthonax proclaimed the abolition of slavery in the north of the colony. Polverel then extended emancipation to the other provinces.

To have this transformation recognized by the Republic, Saint-Domingue elected a delegation made up of Jean-Baptiste Belley, Louis-Pierre Dufay and Jean-Baptiste Mills. The three elected representatives reflected the diversity of the colony: Belley was Black, Dufay was white and Mills was mixed-race.

Upon their arrival in France, they were arrested and imprisoned amid hostility from colonial interests opposed to abolition. They managed to write to the Convention on 31 January 1794. Following the intervention of the Committee of Public Safety, they were released.

On 3 February 1794, their elections were validated and they were admitted to the National Convention. Jean-Baptiste Belley thus became the first Black deputy in French history. The following day, Louis-Pierre Dufay defended before the deputies the general freedom proclaimed in Saint-Domingue. The Convention then voted to abolish slavery in the French colonies, at least in principle.

A deputy committed to equality

On 8 February 1794, Belley spoke from the rostrum. He accused representatives of the colonial lobby of acting against the Saint-Domingue delegation and called for legal proceedings following their arrest. His role was therefore not limited to his presence at the abolitionist vote.

He continued his parliamentary activity after 1794. He sat in the Convention and then in the Council of Five Hundred under the Directory. There, he defended equality between citizens of the colonies and those of mainland France.

A portrait painted in 1797 by Anne-Louis Girodet gave lasting significance to his public image. Belley is shown standing, dressed as a representative of the Republic and leaning on a bust of Guillaume-Thomas Raynal, an Enlightenment philosopher known for denouncing slavery and colonial violence. The composition portrays him as a French political leader, rather than as a subordinate or exoticized figure.

Return to Saint-Domingue, arrest and death in detention

In Saint-Domingue, Toussaint Louverture gradually emerged as the colony’s leading figure. Slavery remained abolished and the colony officially remained French, but its autonomy grew. In 1801, a Constitution appointed Toussaint Louverture governor for life.

Jean-Baptiste Belley did not initially support Toussaint Louverture. He too believed that Louverture’s power had become excessive and recommended a military expedition to Bonaparte. In 1801, the Consulate entrusted him with a mission to reorganize the Saint-Domingue gendarmerie. He then returned with the expedition led by Charles Leclerc.

Secret instructions nevertheless provided for the gradual disarmament of the Black population and for Black officers who had reached certain ranks to be removed from Saint-Domingue. In April 1802, Belley was dismissed and then arrested. Sent back to France, he was held in the citadel of Belle-Île-en-Mer.

On 20 May 1802, a new colonial law maintained slavery in the colonies where the 1794 abolition had not been implemented. In Saint-Domingue, this law did not legally restore slavery, but fighting resumed. After the defeat of the French army, Haiti proclaimed its independence on 1 January 1804.

Jean-Baptiste Belley never regained his freedom. He died in detention after around three years of imprisonment, at approximately 58 years of age, without being able to return to Saint-Domingue.

Why Jean-Baptiste Belley remains a major historical figure

Jean-Baptiste Belley’s life brings together several central issues in revolutionary and colonial history: the transatlantic slave trade, the discrimination suffered by free people of colour, the uprisings in Saint-Domingue, the abolition of 1794 and the political reversals of the early 19th century.

It also shows that the Black populations of Saint-Domingue were not merely spectators of revolutionary upheaval. They took part in military struggles, political mobilizations and the concrete redefinition of citizenship. Belley’s path, from slavery to national representation, remains one of the most powerful testimonies to this unfinished struggle for equality.

FAQ about Jean-Baptiste Belley

Who was Jean-Baptiste Belley?

Jean-Baptiste Belley was a former enslaved person deported to Saint-Domingue who became a free man, soldier and deputy to the National Convention. He is considered the first Black deputy in French history.

What role did he play in the abolition of slavery?

Elected to represent Saint-Domingue alongside Louis-Pierre Dufay and Jean-Baptiste Mills, he entered the Convention on 3 February 1794. The delegation helped secure recognition of the changes that had taken place in the colony, before the vote to abolish slavery in the French colonies on 4 February 1794.

How did Jean-Baptiste Belley die?

Arrested in 1802 after returning to Saint-Domingue with Charles Leclerc’s expedition, he was imprisoned in the citadel of Belle-Île-en-Mer. He died there after around three years in detention.