Inspiring Life of General Alex Dumas

The following excerpt is from the prologue of an incredible book that I highly recommend called, “The Black Count: Napoleon’s Rival, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo – General Alexandre Dumas” by Tom Reiss, who won the Pulitzer Prize for  Biography in 2013. [click here for Amazon.com]

“The original Alexandre Dumas was born in 1762, the son of “Antoine Alexandre de l’Isle, in the French sugar colony of Saint-Domingue [modern day Haiti]. Antoine was a nobleman in hiding from his family and from the law, and he fathered the boy with a black slave [Marie Cessette Dumas]. Later Antoine would discard his alias and reclaim his real name and title – Alexandre Antoine Davy, the Marquis de la Pailleterie – and bring his black son across the ocean to live in pomp and luxury near Paris. But the boy would reject his father’s name, along with his noble title. He would enlist in the French army at the lowest rank, taking the surname “Dumas” from his mother for his enlistment papers. Once he’d risen by his merits to higher rank he would not even sign his name “Alexandre,” preferring the blunt and simple form “Alex Dumas”.

Alex Dumas was a consummate warrior and a man of great conviction and moral courage. He was renowned for his strength, his swordsmanship, his bravery, and his knack for pulling victory out of the toughest situations…He was a soldier’s general, feared by his enemy and loved by his men, a hero in a world that did not use the term lightly…

The story of General Dumas is a shining example of the first true age of emancipation, albeit short. For one decade during which the French Revolution, these idealists ended slavery in 1794 and offered Jews full civil and political rights. They introduced the world to the ideas of human freedom and equality, regardless of color or religion.

Dumas rank of four-star General and command of entire armies would not be matched by another black officer in the western world for 150 years!” [click here to read more]

Crochet d’Artagnan Keychain
(Item no longer available)

I have always been a huge fan of Alexandre Dumas’ books. I can read them over and over again an still enjoy every minute. After reading Tom Reiss’ book, I was unabashedly in awe of the life of General Alex Dumas. And thinking of Alexandre Dumas, having lost his larger than life father at the tender age for four, it became most clear why his heroes are so incredibly intoxicating.

This Crochet d’Artagnan is a small tribute to Alexandre Dumas and his father General Alex Dumas. I think he more accurately depicts how the real d’Artagnan and Edmond Danté would have looked if people were more accepting of African heroes.