If we created a ranking of books determined by the ratio of their historical, cultural and literary value on the one hand

to the degree to which they been unjustly forgotten by posterity on the other, then certainly De lgalit des races humaines by the Haitian anthropologist and statesman Antnor Firmin (1850-1911) would finish near the top of the list. This 660-page tome was published in Paris in 1885. Though some recent scholars have come a long a way towards restoring Firmin to his rightful place in a global intellectual history, notably Carolyn FluehrLobban for an Anglo-American academic readership and Ghislaine Gloine for our French counterparts, along with scholars such as Daniel Desormeaux, more work needs to be done to restore Firmin to his rightful place. (It should be said however, that Haitians have never neglected their august countryman and that the lions share of essays and biographies about Firmin are indeed written by Haitians, such as Jean Price-Mars and Pradel Pompilus.) The understood interlocutors of Firmins book were the members of the Socit danthropologie de Paris that included among its ranks two Haitians, Firmin, (exiled in Paris from the government of Lysius Salomon), and Louis-Joseph Janvier, a Haitian doctor who studied medicine in Paris and who introduced Firmin to the Socit. The Socit published an annual Bulletin that included a directory of its members, the proceedings of their bi-monthly meetings including a transcription of the keynote addresses along with a summary of the discussion that followed. Firmins name is first mentioned in the Bulletin in the 1884 edition, under the subheading, Candidatures:

et Firmin (Anthnor) [sic], avocat au cap hatien (Hati), prsent par MM. de Mortillet, Aubertin et Janvier, demandent le titre de membres titulaires (574) In the 1885 meetings Bulletin that appear subsequently, Firmins name appears in the directory of the socit under the heading membres titulaires, or permanent or tenured members with the appropriate academic credentials: Firmin (Anthnor [sic]), avocat au cap Hatien, 5, rue de Feuillantines. (17 juillet 1881). In the same year, in the meeting of October 1, the Bulletin notes the reception of Firmins book by the Socit. In the years immediately following the notice of the books reception, there are no interventions by Firmin or any other member regarding De lgalit des races humaines, nor are there any reviews, acknowledgment, or mention of De lgalit des races humaines, despite the central thematic relevance of the books topic and the substantial interlocution that Firmin proffers to some of the most notable of the Socits luminaries, such as Paul Broca, the director of the Bulletin and one of its most visible members Jean-Louis Armand de Quatrefages. This is surprising indeed and in fact a mystery in the historical record. One might contrast the silence enveloping Firmins book with Louis-Joseph Janviers intervention on his own behalf on April 17, 1884, in which he actually read aloud the conclusion of his article, M. Renan et lgalit des races, a rebuttal to the racist views of the French philosopher and linguist Ernest Renan. (Bulletin, 1884, 283-284).1 If the Socit dAnthropologie de Paris, would admit Firmin, a black The resemblance of Janviers discourse to that of Firmins makes it worthy of citing at length: Au fond, quoi quen dise M. Renan, toutes les race sont gales; et sil y a eu des vnements dplorables qui ont pu retarder lclosion et la croissance
1

Haitian, as a full-fledged member, despite the deeply-rooted anthropological conviction of the time that the black race was inferior to the white one, why would Firmins book elicit no response, review or commentary for the Societys members? Especially when we consider the very first article listed under the Titre Premier-But et Organization De La Socit, a list of guiding principles and procedural norms that appeared in the opening pages of every publication of the Bulletin: ARTICLE 1ER.La Socit danthropologie de Paris a pour but ltude scientifique des races humaines. Given the interventions, debates and discussions that took place during the Socits meetings, the absolute silence that greeted Firmins book, and the silence of Firmin himself in the 1880s is surprising. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobbanl, echoing Jean Price Mars, juxtaposes the icy reception of Firmin in a causal relationship with the roar of the Berlin Congress 1884-1885, in which the neo-imperial powers of Europe parceled up Africa for their civilizing missions and colonial conquest. (FluehrLobban, xxxv). Firmins arguments, especially the long chapter arguing for the specifically Black African racial demographic of ancient Egyptian civilization, had provoked a scandal, according to Price-Mars, thought it appears that he is speaking conjecturally (Price-Mars, 155). In the historical record encapsulated by the Bulletins, the scandal is one of silence. While no doubt the vast majority of the members of the Socit dAnthropologie de Paris, and Ernest Renans views on this subject can be viewed as representative, would have approve of these so-called intellectuelle de lune delles, tandis quils favorisent le rapide essor dune autre, il est aussi des circonstances inluctables qui prsident { lvolution graduelle des nations, leur ascension vers la civilisation et leur avnement successif la direction du monde. 284.

civilizing excursion into Africa, since they were convinced of the racial inferiority of its inhabitants, it seems unlikely to me that any of them saw in Firmins study a threat to the impending neo-colonial order and would have therefore plotted to relegate Firmin to oblivion with a conspiratorial silence. A more likely explanation for the dearth of formal responses to Firmins arguments were the almost violent manner in which they discursively disruptedthe real scandalthe established tenets of anthropological thought. In his apotheosis of black ancient Egypt, his patient and rigorous debunking of the pseudo-scientific conclusions stemming from craniometrythe gauging, measuring and classifying of skulls as indicators of racial superiority or inferiorityand above all, in his insistence on the evolutionary, mutable and changing nature of the worlds civilizations and ethnicites; the impact of environment and historical circumstances on their degree of development and not their inherent superiority or inferiority, Firmins arguments, had they received the attention of which they were unquestionably deserving from his fellow members of the Socit de Anthropologie de Paris, would have undoubtedly shaken the foundations of anthropological knowledge in the 1880s and 90s.

In his Preface De Lgalit des races humaines, Firmin reflects on his state of mind as became a member of the Socit and encountered that his despised notion of the inequality of the human races was in deeply ingrained in a society of such learned men and women: Devenu membre de la socit danthropologie de Paris, la chose ne devaitelle pas paratre encore plus incomprhensible et illogique? Est-il naturel de

voir siger dans une mme socit et au mme titre des homes que la science mme quon est cens reprsenter semble dclarer ingaux? IX

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, who is almost single-handedly responsible for introducing Firmin to a North American academic readership when she edited a new translation of The Equality of the Human Races (translated by Asselin Charles) in 2000, relates an anecdote about Firmin encountering Clemence Royer, a fascinating woman who was the French translator of Charles Darwin but who, unfortunately, was convinced of the inferiority of the Black race. Face to face with Firmin, who was obviously an extraordinary individual, Royer, according to FluerhLobbans source, attributed Firmins brilliance to the blood of his white ancestors.