Anna Colas Pépin or ''Anne-Nicolas "Annacolas" Pépin'' (1787–1872), was a Euro-African ''

signare Signares were the Mulatto French-African women of the island of Gorée and the city of Saint-Louis in French Senegal during the 18th and 19th centuries. These women of color managed to gain some individual assets, status, and power in the hi ...

'' businesswoman.Lorelle Semley,
To be Free and French: Citizenship in France's Atlantic Empire
' She belongs to the most famous examples of the signares of

Gorée (; "Gorée Island"; Wolof: Beer Dun) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an island located at sea from the main harbour of Dakar (), famous as a destination for people interested in the Atlantic slave trade ...

, but has often been confused with her paternal aunt

Anne Pépin Anne Pépin (1747–1837) was an Afro-French Signare, signara. She belonged to the more famous of the so-called signare on the island Gorée in French Senegal, and was known for her relationship with the then governor Stanislas de Boufflers. She ...

. She was the daughter of Nicolas Pépin (1744–1815) and Marie-Thérèse Picard (d. 1790), married François de Saint-Jean and became the mother of Mary de Saint Jean (1815–1853), wife of the first Senegalese member of the French Parliament, Barthélémy Durand Valantin (1806–1864): the famous painting made by Édouard Auguste Nousveaux could depict either Anna Colas Pépin or her daughter. Pépin was described as a leading and influential member of the Signare community, and invested in land and buildings on Gorée in cooperation with the French authorities. As a leading member of the local elite, she famously received

François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville François d'Orléans, Prince de Joinville (14 August 1818 – 16 June 1900) was the third son of Louis Philippe, King of the French, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. An admiral of the French Navy, François was famous for bri ...

on his visit to Gorée in 1842, a scene depicted by Édouard Auguste Nousveaux.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepin, Anna Colas 1787 births 1872 deaths Senegalese women 19th-century French businesswomen 19th-century French businesspeople French slave traders 19th-century African people Signare Women slave owners