Marie Rose Cavelan

Marie Rose Cavelan (c. 1752 – fl. 1795) was an Afro-Grenadian planter and revolutionary. A free woman of color, she married Julien Fédon, a French Catholic, like herself of mixed ancestry. Together, she and her husband bought a plantation and engaged as planters and slave owners in the colonial period.

Grenada alternated between French and British rule several times during the couple's life, causing persecution for the couple when the British were in authority. Cavelan was arrested in 1787 and forced to provide evidence of her free status, although she was well known to the British, having conducted numerous business transactions with British business men. Although large landowners, Cavelan and her husband were increasingly denied the right to engage in public affairs. In the 1790s they began manumitting their slaves and in 1795 staged a revolt against British rule. Branded traitors, they led a revolt which lasted nearly two years, but were never captured by the British. Cavelan's whereabouts after the rebellion ended are unknown.