Wonderful essay in three parts, very informative about A. Dumas (pere): grandson of a French nobleman & a Haitian slave; son of a French General and white French mother; had four children by four different mistresses; and "the author (sometimes with collaborators) of over 700 works."
This play, though not his most famous or most popular, directly addresses Dumas' feelings about slavery. That he lays it out so plainly in 1831 is historic in itself. The essay also suggests how his feelings about being an outsider bleed through into his other writing, even when it's not obvious to the casual reader.