Joseph Anténor Firmin, defender of racial equality, was born 176 years ago.

From Cap-Haïtien to Paris

Coming from a modest family, he completed his secondary education at the Lycée Philippe-Guerrier in his hometown. He worked as a clerk, teacher, then school inspector, and founded the newspaper Le Messager du Nord in Cap-Haïtien. In 1883, he represented Haiti in Caracas for the centennial of Simón Bolívar. On July 17, 1884, he was admitted to the Paris Society of Anthropology.

The Response to Gobineau

In 1885, he published "De l'égalité des races humaines. Anthropologie positive," which refuted Arthur de Gobineau's racial theories. In it, he defended the idea that all human races are equal in dignity and capacity.

Minister and Diplomat

In 1889, President Florvil Hyppolite made him his minister of Finance and Foreign Relations. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he opposed the American request to establish a naval base at Môle-Saint-Nicolas in 1891. He became Haiti's ambassador to France in 1900. In 1905, he published "Mr. Roosevelt, President of the United States and the Republic of Haiti," then "Letters from Saint-Thomas" in 1910. He died on September 19, 1911, in Saint-Thomas.