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Al Pouessi, baptized Marthe Adélaïde Modeste Testas and known under the name of Modeste Testas (1765 – 1870) was an Ethiopian woman who was enslaved, purchased by Bordeaux merchants and subsequently freed after living on three continents. One of her grandsons is a former president of Haiti, François Denys Légitime.
/ref> She was purchased between 1778 and 1781 by Pierre and François Testas, who were merchants and slave-traders from Bordeaux, and owners of a sugar plantation on the island of
One of Testas' grandsons, François Denys Légitime, who was the son of Tinette Lespérance, became President of the Republic of Haiti from 1888 to 1889.
On 10 May 2019, a statue of Testas was unveiled in 
Modeste Testas ou l’histoire d’Al Pouessi
{{Authority control 1760s births 1870 deaths Former slaves Haitian slaves 18th-century Ethiopian women 18th-century Ethiopian people Haitian women 18th-century slaves Haitian women centenarians Haitian people of Ethiopian descent Haitian emigrants to France French people of Ethiopian descent Ethiopian emigrants to France
Biography
Testas was born with the name Al Pouessi, and was originally fromEthiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
in East Africa. She was captured in a raid at the age of fourteen, following a dispute with another tribe. She was taken to West Africa from where she was sold.La mémoire de l’esclavage et de la traite négrière à Bordeaux/ref> She was purchased between 1778 and 1781 by Pierre and François Testas, who were merchants and slave-traders from Bordeaux, and owners of a sugar plantation on the island of
Haiti
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
.
She travelled to Bordeaux, where she was baptized by the Testas brothers in 1781, giving her the name Marthe Adelaïde Modeste Testas. The same year, she was transported with François Testas to their plantation in Haiti. As an enslaved person, Testas could not consent to a relationship or sex and the circumstances under which she had two children with her owner are not known.
In 1795, François Testas left Haiti for New York, travelling with his enslaved servants, who included Modeste Testas and Joseph Lespérance. After moving to Baltimore, François died in Philadelphia. However, in his will he freed the slaves he owned. For Testas, however, one of the conditions of her emancipation was that she would marry Lespérance. The couple returned to Haiti, where Testas inherited fifty-one tiles of land. She and Lespérance had a number of children.
In 1870, Testas died on the ''Testas'' estate, located near to Jérémie
Jérémie (; ) is a commune and capital city of the Grand'Anse department in Haiti. It had a population of about 134,317 at the 2015 census. It is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. The Grande-Anse River flows near the city.
...
, at the age of 105.
Legacy
One of Testas' grandsons, François Denys Légitime, who was the son of Tinette Lespérance, became President of the Republic of Haiti from 1888 to 1889.
On 10 May 2019, a statue of Testas was unveiled in Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
, which was created by the Haitian sculptor Woodly Caymitte. The bronze statue is 1.7m high and was made at the Fonderie des Cyclopes, and is located on the banks of the Garonne, Quai Louis XVIII. It is a figurative sculpture and is notable as a representation of the body of an enslaved woman. An explanatory plaque on the ground evokes the story of Modeste Testas.
See also
*Slavery in Africa
Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa. Systems of servitude and slavery were once commonplace in parts of Africa, as they were in much of the rest of the Ancient history, ancient and Post-classical history, medieval world. When t ...
References
External links
* TeaserModeste Testas ou l’histoire d’Al Pouessi
{{Authority control 1760s births 1870 deaths Former slaves Haitian slaves 18th-century Ethiopian women 18th-century Ethiopian people Haitian women 18th-century slaves Haitian women centenarians Haitian people of Ethiopian descent Haitian emigrants to France French people of Ethiopian descent Ethiopian emigrants to France