Colour Prejudice from the Perspective of a French 18th Century Brunette

​In 1788, despairing that her play on slavery, Zamore and Mirza, would never be produced – the ComédieFrançaise had taken it on two years previously, but were holding it hostage for obscure reasons – Olympe decided to publish it on her own account. The title page announces that the book was printed in Paris, and that it may be bought at the author’s own house, rue du ThéâtreFrançais. At the end of the book, she added a short (7 pages) essay, entitled: “Réflexions sur les hommes negres.” In this piece she gives an account of how she first became interested in the fate of slaves in the colonies, and what she sees as a fundamental flaw in pro-slavery arguments : namely, there are no natural differences between human beings based on their skin colour. 

Here are extracts from her argument:
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“As soon as I began to acquire some knowledge, and at an age where children do not yet think, the first sight of a negro woman led me to reflect, and to ask questions about colour. 
 
Those I was able to interrogate then did not satisfy my curiosity nor my reason. They called these people brutes, creatures damned by God. But as I advanced in age I saw clearly that it was force and prejudices that had condemned them to this horrible slavery, that Nature had no part in it, and the unjust and powerful interest of the Whites had done everything. 
 
[...] A commerce of men!... great God! And nature does not tremble! If they are animals, are we not too? In which way do the Whites differ from their species? In their colour... So why doesn’t the dull Blonde claim preference over the Brunette, who is closer to the mulatto? This sensation of difference is just as striking as that between the negro and the mulatto. Our colour is nuanced, as it is in all the animals nature produced, as well as plants and minerals. Why does Day not compete with Night, the Sun with the Moon, the Stars with the Firmament? Everything is variety, and this is nature’s beauty. Why destroy its work?