Nationwide Celebrations Set to Honor Marquis de Lafayette, Hero of the American Revolution Who Wanted to End Slavery
"At some point, late in the American Revolution, Lafayette ceased to regard slaves as chattel, and embraced what was to become his lifelong commitment to equality for all men, regardless of race."
(Lafayette, Louisiana)—Newswise reports that September 6, 2007, marks the 250th birthday of the Marquis de Lafayette, and more than a dozen French and American communities—including the Pennsylvania college that bears his name—will hold celebrations honoring the life and legacy of the French citizen and hero of the American Revolution.
"There are more than two-dozen cities and towns named after Lafayette," says Diane Windham Shaw, Lafayette College's archivist, "as well as a river in Virginia and a mountain in New Hampshire." She also is quoted as saying there are also many U.S. communities named LaGrange, in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette's ancestral home. (Portrait: earlyamerica.com)
What few people know, says Shaw—who has studied letters the Marquis sent to his close friend, George Washington—is Lafayette's commitment to ending slavery in America. One particular letter written in 1783 contains Lafayette's proposal to Washington about freeing slaves.
"At some point, late in the American Revolution," she says, "Lafayette ceased to regard slaves as chattel, and embraced what was to become his lifelong commitment to equality for all men, regardless of race."
