Introduction: Postcolonial realms of memory in the francophone world

Abstract

In September 2020, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, announced plans to unveil a statute of Solitude, a former slave who fought against the French reinstatement of slavery in Guadeloupe in 1802. Solitude was arrested during the revolt, sentenced to death, and hanged. The inauguration of a statue in her memory would constitute the first statue of a black woman to be put up in the French capital.