I’ve seen a lot of comments suggesting that casting a black actor to play what is effectively a senior French police officer at the start of the 1800s is patently ridiculous. However, I vaguely know that French revolutionary politics had been quite progressive, and that at least at some points, France viewed their whole empire as being equally French. Further, Javert is meant to have been born in jail, rising from a low-key station.

So in short my question is: could a black former prisoner have reached Javert’s station, or is the casting effectively ahistorical?