It's a long way from the rural Caribbean to Parisian high society. Arriving into this world on Christmas Day in 1745 in Guadeloupe, Joseph Bologne was born to an enslaved woman named Nanon who was the personal assistant of the wife of a local plantation owner. That plantation owner – Georges de Bologne Saint-Georges – was the baby's father.
However, despite being married and baby Joseph being born out of wedlock, Georges recognised the child as his and gave him his surname. He appeared to not be affected by
