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AUGUSTE LACAUSSADE (1815-1897) was born on the French Indian Ocean possession of Bourbon, later named Ile de la Réunion, which was a slave colony until 1848. The poet's mother, a freed slave, and his white father, a lawyer whose family was from Bourdeaux, were unable to marry due to the island's ban on mixed marriage. Refused entry into Royal College/ Bourbon College because of his illegitimacy, Lacaussade was sent to school in Nantes, France, from 1827 through 1834, and later studied medicine in Paris, dropping out in 1839 to focus on writing poetry. Lacaussade published his first volume of poems in 1839, Les Salaziennes, named after one of the island's mountains and dedicated to Victor Hugo, one of the most prominent young French authors. Poèmes et Paysages followed in 1852 and Les Épaves in 1861.
Lacaussade also pursued a journalistic career, and joined the...