A Sanctuary for the Rights of Mankind: Lafayette and Human Rights

The Marquis de Lafayette is best known in America for his role in the American Revolution—from his arrival in 1777 as a nineteen-year-old volunteer to his pivotal contributions to the successful culmination of the Yorktown Campaign in 1781. What is less well known is Lafayette’s remarkable role as an advocate for human rights on three continents. This talk will take an in-depth look at Lafayette’s championship of the antislavery movement growing out of his experiences in the American Revolution and continuing throughout his life. His efforts in the years preceding the French Revolution for the restoration of civil rights to French Protestants and Jews, his friendship for Native Americans, his support for women writers and reformers, and his opposition to solitary confinement and the death penalty will all be discussed.