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Black and STEMbruary, Day 13
Feb. 13th, 2025 02:37 pmEdmond Albius
This is a sad one.
Albius was an enslaved 12 year old boy when he changed the cultivation of vanilla forever.
Albius was born and lived in Reunion, a small Island near Madagascar, and worked on a plantation. The French colonists on Reunion and Madagascar were interested in cultivating vanilla, but had difficulty getting the plants to grow. Albius developed a technique for hand fertilizing vanilla plants, a technqiue that is still used today.
Despite the French vanilla growers gaining vast profits and dominating the vanilla trade, Albius was never given any compensation for his discovery. He was given his freedom at age 19, but could only find work as a laborer. He died destitute at the age of 51.
This is a sad one.
Albius was an enslaved 12 year old boy when he changed the cultivation of vanilla forever.
Albius was born and lived in Reunion, a small Island near Madagascar, and worked on a plantation. The French colonists on Reunion and Madagascar were interested in cultivating vanilla, but had difficulty getting the plants to grow. Albius developed a technique for hand fertilizing vanilla plants, a technqiue that is still used today.
Despite the French vanilla growers gaining vast profits and dominating the vanilla trade, Albius was never given any compensation for his discovery. He was given his freedom at age 19, but could only find work as a laborer. He died destitute at the age of 51.
