Zamor

Zamor was born in 1762[1] at the town of Chittagong in the Principality of Bengal (now Bangladesh). In 1773, when he was eleven years old, he was captured by British slave traders, who trafficked him into France via Madagascar and sold him to Louis XV of France. The king gave the young boy to his mistress Countess du Barry, and he was christened Louis-Benoit. The countess developed a liking for the boy and educated him.[3] Zamor developed a taste for literature and was inspired by the works of Rousseau.

Records of the period suggest that Zamor was extremely mischievous as a child.[4] She noted in her memoirs:

The second object of my regard was Zamor, a young African boy, full of intelligence and mischief; simple and independent in his nature, yet wild as his country. Zamor fancied himself the equal of all he met, scarcely deigning to acknowledge the king himself as his superior.

When the French Revolution broke out, Zamor took the side of the revolutionaries and joined the Jacobins. He detested Countess du Barry and deplored her lavish lifestyle and cruel enslavement. He protested her repeated visits to England with the intention of retrieving her lost jewelry and warned her against protecting aristocrats. As an informant to the Committee of Public Safety, Zamor got the police to arrest the Countess in 1792 on her return from one of her many visits to England. The Countess, however, secured her release from jail and discovered the arrest was the handiwork of her slave, Zamor. She promptly dismissed Zamor from her household. In his freedom, Zamor was more vocal in his support for the revolution. He brought further charges against the Countess, which eventually led to her arrest, trial and execution by guillotine. At the trial, Zamor stated Chittagong was his birthplace.

Soon after the execution of the countess, Zamor was arrested by the Girondins on suspicion of being an accomplice of the countess and a Jacobin. He was tried and imprisoned, but was able to secure his release. He then fled from France, reappearing only in 1815 after the fall of Napoleon. Zamor bought a house in Rue Maître-Albert, near the Latin Quarter of Paris, and spent a few years as a schoolteacher.

Zamor died in poverty on 7 February 1820[4] and was buried in Paris.

Zamor aged 12 appears in Alexandre Dumas's novel Joseph Balsamo.

A two-page comic strip, La rue perdue (The Lost Street), was published in 1978. This strip features Gil Jourdan, a detective created by Maurice Tillieux. Set in 1953, Detective Jourdan tries to find out why a fake guillotine blade is hanging outside the door of a friend. The person responsible turns out to be a racist man obsessed with Madame du Barry, seeking to avenge her death through the life of Jourdan's friend who looks like Zamor. The story is set in rue Maître Albert, where Zamor resided before his death.

In Sofia Coppola's 2006 film Marie Antoinette, Madame du Barry (portrayed by Asia Argento) was shown in the company of an enslaved Black boy, who most likely represents Zamor. He is portrayed by Ibrahim Yaffa and Djibril Djimo in the 2023 film Jeanne du Barry.[5]

• Jean Amilcar

• Gupta, Abhijit (March 11, 2008). "Child from Chittagong". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009.
• Sundarrajan, Saroja (January 18, 2003). "For liberty and fraternity". The Hindu:Young World. Archived from the original on March 14, 2003.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)