Gabriel Darriulat, specialist in political philosophy in the Age of Enlightenment, is organizing a study day on Monday 16 June 2025 at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (BnF) entitled " Le Fonds Grégoire à la lumière de l'étude des réseaux abolitionnistes transnationaux (1789-1831) ". Gabriel Darriulat is a beneficiary of the Collège de France-Bibliothèque nationale de France postdoctoral contract, under the joint scientific responsibility of Pr Antoine Lilti, historian and professor at the Collège de France, and Olivier Bosc, director of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal.
The importance of transnational networks in the fight to abolish the slave trade and slavery has been the subject of extensive historiography. A study of the Grégoire collection held at the BnF (Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal) - - which includes a significant proportion of Henri Grégoire's papers on the issue of slavery, as well as his entire library compiled throughout his fight for Blacks, from 1789 until his death in 1831 - invites us to revisit this theme. This collection bears witness to the rich ties the Lorraine abbot forged with abolitionists in various parts of the world. It includes extensive correspondence with Haiti, as well as numerous anti-slavery pamphlets in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Yet the role played by these transnational relationships in Grégoire's fight for the Black cause, and the influence his writings may have had abroad, remain largely unknown.
This study day has set itself three objectives. Firstly, it will shed light on the role played by transnational networks in Grégoire's abolitionist writings and political struggles. Papers will focus on his contacts with Germany, to better understand the drafting phase of his major text De la littérature des Nègres (1808), on Grégoire's correspondence, to shed light on his Haitian writings of the years 1820, and on the influence that contemporary black writers may have exerted on his conception of racial prejudice. The workshop will also look at the reception of Grégoire's abolitionist writings abroad, from his Apologie de Las Casas in South America to De la littérature des nègres in the United States. Finally, a broader perspective will allow us to present two little-known histories of transnational abolitionist networks : on the one hand, the role played by Italian states in the struggle to abolish the slave trade ; on the other, the central place occupied by Haiti in the abolitionist struggle.
