Ismael Urbain
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Ismael Urbain, also Ismayl Urbain (born Thomas Urbain, 31 December 1812 – 28 January 1884) was a French journalist and interpreter.
Born in Cayenne, French Guiana, Urbain was the illegitimate son of a merchant from Marseille named Urbain Brue and a free colored woman from French Guiana named Appoline. Ismael, who bore his father's first name as his surname, was brought by him to Marseille when he was eight, and there he received an education. In 1830, his father returned him to French Guiana where he hoped that he would turn to business. However, with the pitiful state of his father's affairs, Urbain wasn't allowed back, and the following year he again returned to Marseille.[1]
After having discovered
Back in Paris he worked for a time at Édouard Charton's Le Magasin pittoresque, Le Temps, la Charte de 1839 and la Revue du XIXe siècle.
After learning
In 1845, Urbain was summoned to the Ministry of War and he returned to France where his wife was to follow. Unable to conjoin the Muslim family with the French family he resolved to marry his wife before civil status on 20 May 1857; the next day his daughter, who was constantly being teased by her schoolmates at the private school run by Sœurs de la Doctrine Chrétienne in
Urbain has been largely attributed as the source of the arabophilia of
Urbain died in Algeria. On his death Émile Masqueray rejoined the fight for the rights of the Algerians against the repressive behavior of the colonists.
Publications
- Lettres sur la race noire et la race blanche, with Gustave d'Eichthal, Paris, Paulin, 1839
- Algérie. Du gouvernement des tribus. Chrétiens et musulmans, Français et Algériens, Paris, J. Rouvier, 1848
- De la Tolérance dans l’islamisme, Paris, Pillet fils aîné, 1856
- L’Algérie pour les Algériens, Paris, Michel Lévy frères, 1861
- L’Algérie française. Indigènes et immigrants, Paris, Challamel aîné, 1862
References
Bibliography
- Michel Levallois, Ismaÿl Urbain (1812–1884) : une autre conquête de l'Algérie, ed. Maisonneuve & Larose, 2001, ISBN 2-7068-1533-7