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She didn't deny starting the fire. Marie-Joseph Angélique, a Black enslaved woma
1734 Event

June 21

First Known Enslaved Person Executed in Canada: Montreal, 1734

She didn't deny starting the fire. Marie-Joseph Angélique, a Black enslaved woman from Portugal via Madeira, allegedly burned nearly 50 buildings in Montreal trying to escape her owner, Thérèse de Couagne. The plan failed. She was caught, tortured into confession, had her hand severed, and was hanged in June 1734. But historians still argue whether she actually did it. The evidence was thin. The motive was real — she was about to be sold. A woman desperate for freedom became the city's greatest villain. Or its most convenient scapegoat.

June 21, 1734

292 years ago

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