Introduction The purpose of this essay is to explore the sociolinguistic factors and issues that

In the 19th century, Enlightenment ideas were spreading all over Europe and Latin American which influents the white elites in Haiti to want a capitalist market and control of it own resources. Latin America’s elite class became anti-imperialist and favored exportation based on capitalism. Also, the white elites in Haiti saw that France was fully engaged in the Napoleonic Wars and seized the

Most Haitians are Christians who practice within the catholic faith, 7th day Adventist, Protestants, Jehovah witnesses and more. In contrast to being Christians, many Haitians practices Voodoo. Within this belief, they practice rituals to help bind the body and the soul. Voodoo is a form of magic described by many Haitians as a former form of healing and meditation of the troubled spirit. Many Haitians also proceed to explain that the magic of voodoo have evolved to a form of black magic, where those who practices it take haughtiness aim to cause harm to their enemies. The native language of Haiti is Haitian Creole. This is a language that was created from the different tribes in Africa that was brought to Haiti as slaves. To communicate with each other, they were left with no choice but to create a common way understanding. In the Haitian Creole language, there is a vast number of different sounds within the dialect. The sounds are used as an exaggeration to the meaning of the word. An example of this is saying “anmey”, which is usually screamed out as a cry for help.

The success and vigorous pursuit of freedom from oppression in the French Revolution inspired the Haitians to believe that they were capable of doing the same; the Haitians, being treated like animals, wanted their inherent rights. The overbearing French governing body had collapsed and the Third Estate was likely to receive a brighter future. The Haitians were still locked down as property and animals, but they craved to have the inherent rights that all men are privileged to. The French got their rights while the Haitians did not; this was quite the volatile scenario ready to fall off the self and spark revolution.

The Haitian idea of the revolution originated with the hearing of the success of the French Revolution and the creation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (Doc 2). Since Haiti was under the rule of France, word broke out to the slaves that the French overcame the government, giving hope for the slaves under their rule. The revolution leaders “gathered to affirm their commitment to one another at a voodoo ritual,” (Doc 5) as voodoo was a combination of African and Haitian culture. This meeting occurred on August 14, 1791 and a week later, the revolution against the French began. After their success of the battle against the French, the Haitian leader, Jean Jacques Dessalines, spoke to the Haitian people on January 1st, 1804 on the gain of their independence. Jean Jacques Dessalines states “we must at last live independent or die” and to renounce France (Doc

Thesis: In order to explain Haiti’s history I will discuss its location, when and how it became independent and Haiti today and also its early history

In order to understand Haiti we must first put ourselves in their shoes. At one stage or another, every man, woman, or child will be faced with at least one issue that is now happening in Haiti. The issues involving Haiti has been a popular topic for the past two years. Since January twelfth two-thousand and ten. There are many factors which influenced the development of Haiti. Many people have abandoned Haiti over the past years. They have also given up hope for Haiti. Haiti is heralded by economic issues both political and social, foreign issues, military issues (minustah), presidential issues, and the recent earthquake. I plan to explain each of these factors in detail and give

The culture of Haiti is a various mix of African and European elements due to the French colonization of Saint Dominguez. I chose to research this culture for two reason one reason being that I have a friend who is Haitian and I never understood why she did what she did, or even her mother. The second reason is because many people in Haiti is associated with voodoo, and that’s something I personally wouldn’t get to involved with due to my religious views. Throughout this essay we will see in detail the differences in culture from ours to theirs. We will learn about their primary language, religion, their different values and beliefs and last but not least their social practices. While reading on Haiti I started to appreciate their culture more due to the fact that know.

This minority was mostly bound by race, although class was important to a lesser extent. This created a society where it was favorable to be lighter skinned since it opened the doors for better social status in the colony. Although, because of the unique inheritance laws of the colony which allowed for blacks the opportunity to inherit the large estates of their white fathers there were a large amount of wealthy mulattos. Still, rich blacks and mulattos had nearly the same rights in the colony as their slaving counterparts. Knowing this it is clear that the social structure of the colony had a great impact on the development of the Haitian revolution.

The french, under Napoleon’s rules took over saint-domingue after he sent his sadistic brother to take back the plantations, reinstate slavery, and take away the rights the free blacks had recently gained for themselves. After the haitians killed his brother and 25,000 french soldiers, Napoleon, embarrassed by being beat by “barefoot slaves,” claimed many of his troops had been killed by yellow fever instead. This still wasn't the end, but these were the most important events that happened during haiti’s fight for independance. They were the first slave revolt, and the most successful. The eventually gained their rights and became independent, but never returned to the economy they once had under French

There were no more slaves in Haiti. Nationalism changed in Haiti because François-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture the leader, did not want any slaves in Haiti. Louverture knew what it felt like to be a slave and would

1. Creoles became aware of their power, and formulated their own political and social ideas.

Today, the Haitian’s consider Creole as a co-official language along with French. Creole is used in mass media and education more often now. Haitian Creole also finally has a written language. This shows how they can participate in their country’s economic and political life. There is starting to be an increase in people speaking the French language due to schools getting penalized for teaching Creole instead of French, even though the Haitian Constitution says that Creole and French are the two official languages of Haiti.

The Haitian Revolution is based on the political purpose that France had when they fought to possess Saint-Domingue (now called Haiti). France, like other empires at the time, was trying to extend its wealth and power. Therefore, possessing Haiti, having a lot of gold, sugar, coffee, indigo and others were one way to be strong and powerful. Being driven by the profits that Haiti were emanating, African slaves were continuously brought to Haiti, first to replace the Aboriginals that had died previously, but also to increase their profits. This led to the slaves outnumbering the French colonizers. Later on, the free people of color were demanding more right to the French government and after their refusal, the slaves and the free people of color revolted which led to the Haitian revolution (Simpsons 1942, 487). The French colonizers were already struggling about the equality between themselves because there was a hierarchy present within the White community. Moreover, what created a reaction to help slaves to revolt was the “religious ceremony performed at Bois Caïman by the Maroon voodoo priest Dutty Boukman, which was attended by representative slaves from several plantations” (Laguerre 1989, 1). Boukman called the help of the spirits to revolt against the white colonists. The revolution of Haiti in 1804 was a social and political uprising in the French Colony of Saint-Domingue. Voodoo rapidly became Haiti’s way out of slavery, as it helped them reunite together and gain the

Beginning with the Haitians, the French’s social system in Haiti was solely based on race, gender, and wealth which imposed a tight and rigid social structure and the majority of the Africans living there became slaves. In one article, it was stated that “Haitian society was deeply fragmented by skin colour, class, and gender”. This racial segregation may have occurred due to a slave movement occurring around the 17th century to 18th century where wealthy landowners would buy slaves in order to increase the production of goods at a low cost. A book called Avengers of the New World by Laurent Dubois which details the events of the Haitian Revolution mentions, “Free people of color, many of them wealthy planters, others serving in colonial military or police units, had proven their value and loyalty to the French regime… And yet they were being prevented by whites from participating in the political assemblies of the colony”.

The article explains where the Haitian Creole language comes from and by which dialects was it inspired. When African slaves were imported on the island they had no effective method to communicate between them. People spoke different languages since the slaves were form different part of West Africa, and so they had to create their own system of communication. The article also gives the main languages that influence Haitian Creole and how it finally became a nationally recognized language, in