The names of the communities listed below were influenced by or named after Nèg Mawon.
Fond Gens Libre
(Valley of the Free People)
A photo of the Fond Gens Libre Community stluciastar.com
Fond Gens Libre was a remote Nèg Mawon community situated on a plateau on one of the twin peaks, Gros Piton. It was under the command of “a coloured woman”, the notorious Flore Bois Gaillard. The strategic location of this camp aided the Nèg Mawon in weakening the British advance up the West Coast through targeted ambushes. Their efforts aided the subsequent victory at the Battle of Rabot on 22 April 1795. Flore Bois Gaillard remained a central figure in the revolution until the Nèg Mawon surrendered in 1797. Fond Gens Libre is the most preserved Nèg Mawon site and could prove instrumental in gaining more insight into its previous inhabitants. The community of Fond Gens Libre still exists today but at the foothills of Gros Piton.
See Piton Flore
La Croix
An artistic illustration of La Croix ‘Commandant de L’Armée dans les Bois’
There are several places in Saint Lucia called La Croix (The Cross). The prevalence of this name appears to be attributed to a principal Nèg Mawon leader, La Croix ‘Commandant de L’Armée Française dans les Bois’ (Commander of the French Army in the woods). It appears that any area where La Croix established a camp was named after him, such as Morne La Croix. He is one of the few Nèg Mawon leaders to have had written correspondences with the British, evidenced by mention of letters received from him by John Moore in 1796. His name lingers as the signifier for certain places to this day.
SOURCES:
Devaux, Robert J. They Called Us Brigands: The Saga of St. Lucia’s Freedom Fighters. Optimum Printers, 1997.
Harmsen, Jolien et al. A History of St Lucia. Lighthouse Road, 2012, pp. 60-88.
Sylvia Wynter's Dream 
Leave a comment