Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas was born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie on 24 July 1802, in Villers-Cotterêts, France. His father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, was the first person of colour to hold various important ranks within the French army; several of Dumas’s adventure novels are known to have been based on his father’s exploits. In some of his writings, he also meditated on the experience of being mixed-race.

After a number of his short plays were performed at the time to considerable acclaim, Dumas turned his hand to writing the historical novels that remain the most enduring part of his legacy.

On 5 December 1870, Alexandre Dumas died in Normandy, at the age of sixty-eight.