The Hussards noirs, builders of a republican people

At the end of the 19th century, the French Third Republic introduced several educational reforms under the impetus of Jules Ferry. Schoolteachers were entrusted with an unprecedented civic and secular mission. 

The «black hussars». The expression evokes a curious blend of Prussian soldier and missionary. Coined by Charles Péguy, it appeared when he recounted his childhood in L'Argent (1913): «Our young masters were as handsome as black hussars. Slender, severe, strapped, serious and a little trembling with their precociousness, their sudden omnipotence.» Péguy pays homage to these figures who helped him overcome his modest condition. Beyond their literary imaginations, these teachers represented a very real ambition to create a republican people. 

Behind this project is one man, Jules Ferry. Mini