Little Known Black History Fact: General Alexandre Dumas

General Alexandre Dumas was a mixed-race Haitian slave and swordsman who had been nearly erased from history by his jealous rival, Napoleon Bonaparte.

General Dumas was born in 1762 to a slave mother and a white father in Haiti. His father was a fugitive. Though he could have taken his father’s respected last name, he chose his mother’s side as namesake. Born into bondage, Dumas was taken to Paris by his father, where he joined the French Army and rose through the ranks to General.