"Slavery and Freedom: Journeys Across Time and Space" originated from an exhibit, "The Surprising Story of Furcy Madeleine (1786-1856)," created by the Museum of Villèle in Réunion, France. It features the story of Furcy Madeleine, a man of South Asian descent who was kept enslaved illegally for forty years on the French colony of Isle Bourbon, today known as Réunion Island, and the English colony of Mauritius, in the southwest Indian Ocean. The exhibit tells the story of Furcy’s long struggle for legal freedom. A tale of family secrets and lies, this captivating drama feels like fiction but is entirely true – and yet it was all forgotten for nearly two centuries.
Furcy Madeleine’s story and the work of the Museum of Villèle inspired a team of undergraduate students from Duke to examine how North Carolina history connected with the histories of slavery and freedom in the Indian Ocean World. In the fall 2024 semester, they researched the history of slavery in North Carolina and Historic Stagville (Durham, NC) under the supervision of Prof. Mélanie Lamotte. The students who contributed to this exhibit are: Joel Balogun, Fehintoluwa Benson, Maya Bragg, Joel Hernandez, Henry Morrison, Frederico Schmaltz de Rezende Ribeiro, and Diana Villa-Segura.
Mélanie Aimée Marie Lamotte served as the Faculty Advisor for this exhibit.
Cecilia Marquez served as the Faculty Advisor for this exhibit.
