Whatever the arrangement with Navarre, Osifekunde appeared to have changed his mind in Paris as he did not return to Brazil with his enslaver and was left to fend for himself. Was the enslaver ignorant of French laws and did he not expect Osifekunde to claim his freedom? Did he abandon Osifekunde in Paris? Did Osifekunde become a freedom seeker by escaping as the family prepared to return to Brazil in 1839? D'Avezac claimed that Osifekunde became a "free" man and changed his name to "Joseph", ${ }^{31}$ hence Europeanizing his name and dropping "Joaquim," an aspect of his Brazilian and servile identity, and giving himself a degree of anonymity, self-worth, and also making it difficult for Navarre to find him. Was he indeed free when many French continued to believe in slavery, engage in the slave trade, and had overseas slave estates? ${ }^{32}$ And how much obscurity had he, living in France when his French was sub-par, as we will see below?  
Perhaps because he was old (at around 40 years) and certainly due to incompetence in the French language, Osifekunde had a chequered work history in France. He worked for more than one employer, including the owner of a rooming house where he had stayed with his enslaver. ${ }^{33}$ It did not take long before Osifekunde began to regret his decision and have second thoughts about his freedom. First, the French winter was too cold, unlike the tropical weather he knew in Africa and Brazil. D'Avezac said, "the winter [of 1839/40] brought back his homesickness. ${ }^{334}$ There was a long stretch of cold seasons  
[^0]
[^0]:    29 Lawrence C. Jennings, 2000, French Anti-Slavery: The Movement for the Abolition of Slavery in France, 1802-1848, Cambridge University Press.
30 Jennings, French Anti-Slavery, p. 47.
31 D'Avezac, Notice, p. 23 and Lloyd, "Osifekunde," p. 237.
32 See Sue Peabody and Tyler Stovall, eds. 2003, The Color of Liberty: Histories of Race in France, Durham, NC, Duke University Press.