Vincent Ogé

c. 1757–1791 ✕ Executed

Saint-Domingue merchant who rose near Cap-Français in 1790 demanding voting rights for free people of colour and was broken on the wheel

Born around 1757 at Dondon to a free coloured planter family, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith in Bordeaux and returned in 1775 to become the richest merchant of African descent in Cap-Français. He went to Paris in 1788, joined the revolutionaries and with Julien Raimond demanded representation and voting rights for free people of colour from the National Constituent Assembly, while as a slaveholder supporting the continuation of slavery. After the Assembly passed an ambiguously worded law in March 1790 he returned secretly in October, and when the colonial authorities refused to implement it he and Chavannes gathered about 300 men and rose. Defeated, he fled to Spanish territory, was captured and handed over, and on 6 February 1791 was broken on the wheel at Cap-Français. His execution was later cited by the slave rebels as a reason to keep resisting.

Also known as: Vincent Oge