On April 26, 1785, John James Audubon was born in Les Cayes, Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), to a French naval officer and an African Caribbean mother. Though best known for his influential work in ornithology and natural illustration in the United States, Audubon’s origins reflect a complex heritage often omitted from mainstream history. His mother, Jeanne Rabine, was a Creole woman of African descent who died shortly after his birth. Audubon would later emigrate to France, then to the U.S., where he became famous for The Birds of America, one of the most celebrated natural history books ever published. His story complicates traditional narratives of race, art, and science in the early Americas.
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