Anna Colas Pépin or ''Anne-Nicolas "Annacolas" Pépin'' (1787–1872), was a Euro-African ''

signare Signares were black and mulatto Senegalese women who had an influence via their marriage with European men and their patrimony. These women of color managed to gain some individual assets, status, and power in the hierarchies of the Atlantic sl ...

'' businesswoman.Lorelle Semley,
To be Free and French: Citizenship in France's Atlantic Empire
' She belongs to the most famous examples of the signares of

Gorée (; "Gorée Island"; ) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an island located at sea from the main harbour of Dakar (), famous as a destination for people interested in the Atlantic slave trade. Its populatio ...

, but has often been confused with her paternal aunt

Anne Pépin Anne Pépin (c. 1747–1837) was the richest and most celebrated woman on the West African island of Gorée in History of Senegal, French Senegal. Pepin’, born to a European man and African woman, was born into the Afro-European class known as ...

. She was the daughter of Nicolas Pépin (1744–1815) and Marie-Thérèse Picard (d. 1790), married François de Saint-Jean and became the mother of Mary de Saint Jean (1815–1853), wife of the first Senegalese member of the French Parliament, Barthélémy Durand Valantin (1806–1864): the famous painting made by Édouard Auguste Nousveaux could depict either Anna Colas Pépin or her daughter. Pépin was described as a leading and influential member of the Signare community, and invested in land and buildings on Gorée in cooperation with the French authorities. As a leading member of the local elite, she famously received

François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville François d'Orléans, Prince de Joinville (14 August 1818 – 16 June 1900) was the third son of Louis Philippe I, Louis Philippe, List of French monarchs, King of the French, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. An admiral of t ...

on his visit to Gorée in 1842, a scene depicted by Édouard Auguste Nousveaux.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepin, Anna Colas 1787 births 1872 deaths Senegalese women 19th-century African businesspeople Signare 19th-century slave traders Women slave owners Women slave traders African slave traders 19th-century businesswomen