Freedom Papers Hidden in His Shoe

The 1830 July Revolution brought a series of laws facilitating manumission and equal rights for free men of color. In Isle Bourbon, Joseph Lory expanded his sugar production with two large plantations in the parish of Saint-Benoît. Constance died of unknown causes in 1838. As a free man, Furcy continued to live in Port Louis, Mauritius, as a candy maker. He saved his money, bought a store in Port Louis and a farm in Moka, learned to sign his name, and eventually contacted allies in Paris, who arranged for him to travel to Paris to appeal his wrongful enslavement in French courts. In 1835, the Court of Cassation’s Petition Chamber allowed Furcy’s appeal to advance to the Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, which decided in 1840 that Furcy had been born free due to his mother’s early sojourn on the free soil of France.