Alexandre Dumas is born in Villiers-Cotterets to a Haitian mulatto, Thomas Alexandre Dumas, and Marie Labouret Dumas, a French woman. He will become an acclaimed author of the French classics The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Corsican Brothers.

Dumas wrote hundreds of plays, novels and travel diaries. He wrote several children's stories, and a culinary dictionary. He started several magazines and wrote in them weekly. He was one of the most prolific writers ever, and did not shy away from collaborating with others or rewriting older stories.