Victor Sejour was born in 1817 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His parents were free colored, father was from Santo Domingo and mother, of mixed race, was from New Orleans, Louisiana. They owned property and slaves in Louisiana. Sejour's parents were financially stable enough to send him to private school, where he became under the influence of a black journalist who wrote for the French newspaper in New Orleans. .
Sejour went to Paris to further his education at the age of nineteen. He stayed in Paris and became fairly well known dramatist and wrote eight plays, between the period of 1848 - 1858. All of his plays were written in the same styles of Victor Hugo and Shakespeare. .
Victor Sejour wrote, Les Retour de Napoleon, which expressed his admiration for Napoleon. Les Cenelles, the first anthology of African American poetry, which was written in French, was also known as a great collection of Creole literature, Jew of Seville (1844), and The Fortune-Teller (1859). Sejour also wrote a drama, Richard III (1852) and a short story called, Le Mulatre ("The Mulatto," 1837), which was known to be the earliest known short story to be published in English, by an African American. .
The Mulatto begins with a man telling a story about his friend Georges. A Senegal woman, named Laisa, is sold to a man named Alfred. The woman was beautiful and had flawless skin. The woman was then brought to Alfred house. For almost a year she had shared the bed with Alfred and became pregnant. She gave birth to a son which she named Georges. Alfred refused to recognize him and moved Laisa to a wooded hut on the far end of his land. .
Georges grew up not knowing who his father was. He once asked his mother about it and she stated, "My son, you shall learn of your name only when you reach twenty-five, then you will be a man; you will be better able to guard its secret. You don't realize that he has forbidden me to speak to you about him and threatens you if I do And Georges, don't you see, this man's hatred would be your death.
