The facts occurred in 1838 in Marie Galante: after 3 months of agony, the slave Sébastien died in a tomb-like cell where his master had thrown him, accusing him of poisoning oxen.
3 years later, a judge from France investigated and succeeded in bringing Vallentin to justice for the premeditated murder of Sébastien. 16 of his 75 slaves were called to testify at their master’s trial and their words were recorded by the clerc. The trial was serialised in the “Gazette de la Guadeloupe”. This is how their words reached us …
Judicial sources contain the only written record of words spoken by French slaves.