The Haitian Revolution And African Americans

The Haitian Revolution is recorded as the only known completely successful slave revolt in world history. Taking place from 1791 to 1804, the rebellion ended slavery in Saint Domingue, and rebirthed the area into the Republic of Haiti. The Revolution carried effects on a grand scale. Globally, other countries began to become fearful due to the rebellions, and this rage was voiced by citizens around the world. The French government’s political role in the lives of Haitians during the rebellion was expressed in numerous governing documents. The social impact of the revolution can be seen through the perspectives of slaves during the time period.

In the 18th century, Saint Dominigue, now known and Haiti, was France’s most profitable oversees colony. This was due to its large production of sugar, coffee, and cotton that was generated by the enslaved labor work force. When the French Revolution (1789) broke out, there are five different interest groups in the colony. They included white planters, petit blancs, and three groups of African descents. The white planters owned plantations and slaves. The petit blancs were artisans, shop keepers and teachers. The African groups comprised of free blacks, slaves, and escaped slaves. There were many whites that lived in Saint Dominigue that supported independence from France once France began to impose steep tariffs on many items that were imported

The Haitian culture it is somewhat like being Hispanic. Being eighteen doesn't mean a thing as long as you are living under your parents home you are expected to obey their rules. For example, my best friend received a full scholarship to an out of state college in North Dakota. Every semester break he has for school he always comes back to home to his parents house. Since he is back home his parent rules go back in action because he is technically back under their roof. I personally thought it was strange because normally when it come down to being Haitian. The parents are normally stricter on the daughters not giving them much freedom. So for them to be hard on him and give him a curfew and tell him what he can or can't do was surreal. Growing

Have you ever been beaten? Starved? Whipped? Denied your French Citizenship? Denied your rights as a human? WE ALL HAVE! But all slaves are treated this horribly, right? WRONG! If you think this is true then you are one ignorant one. Slaves in America are not treated as inhumanely and horribly as we are. American slaves are being threatened to be sent here, from fear of a revolution spark.This reinforces the idea that slavery in Haiti is horrible as the thought of being sent here horrifies the American slaves. We are forced to work long days filled with exhaustion and torture, yet american slaves have a bit more recognition. They are considered “valued” and we are nothing more than trash, we can always be replaced. Every slave works up to

Haiti splits the island of Hispaniola with its neighbor, the Dominican Republic in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea. Established by Spain in 1492, control of Haiti was ceded to the French and the island began to flourish under its new rulers. The slave trade played an enormous part of the country’s history, at the time accounting for nearly a third of the entire slave trade across the Atlantic. Controlled for years by the French, “Haiti – then called Saint-Domingue – was the Pearl of the Antilles, one of the richest islands in France's empire. In the 1780s, Haiti exported 60% of all the coffee and 40% of all the sugar consumed in Europe: more than all of Britain's West Indian colonies combined,” (Henley, 2010). It wasn’t until nearly

My thoughts on the Haitian revolution were that I love how it was the first country to fight for

Charles Deslondes; a mulatto from Saint Dominique, Haiti was most likely born in 1780. He was an overseer and driver of other slaves on the Deslonde plantation in New Orleans. Slave masters wanted overseers to break the independent spirits of enslaved africans because a significant percentage of the enslaved africans in New Orleans and surrounding areas possessed African cultural continuity, a firm grasp of their identities as African men, women and children with their historical, cultural and geographical roots intact. However, Deslondes was averse to slavery. Therefore, he came up with a tentative plan to liberate and establish a free black republic in New Orleans. The Haitian Revolution was an impetus for Deslondes and his followers since

The Haitian revolution took place in Saint-Domingue, a French colony and one of the richest of all European colonies in the Caribbean, on the western part of the island of Hispaniola, a major center of sugar production with hundreds of prosperous plantations. The population of the colony comprised of three groups, the white colonials, the gens de couleur, and the slaves. Many slaves ran away and established maroon communities that were self-sustained. As more and more slaves ran away, more and more slaves were being imported from Africa and other Caribbean islands, which resulted in the high prices of slaves. Since the French aided the North American colonists in their war for independence, they sent several hundreds of gens de couleur to the colonies. Once they returned to Saint-Domingue, they wanted independence themselves from the French.

The Haitian Revolution has been known as one of the largest and most successful slave rebellion in all of the Western Hemisphere. The revolution was a long struggle for the slaves. The slaves caused the rebellion in 1791. Slavery ended in 1803 and the French control over the colony. The revolution was one of the only slave uprisings that led to the founding a state that was free from all slavery that was ruled by non-white people.

My thoughts on the events that led to the Haitian Revolution are that it was very cruel and needed to happen to help the Black people in Saint Domingue gain freedom. The slaves rounding up in the woods in the middle of the night using voodoo and voodoo priest Boukman to help start the very first attack on the White slaves masters that eventually to them burning some sugar cane plantations and killing their masters. Three months later voodoo priest Boukman was decapitated and his body was burned as a sign to the other negroes. That is when Toussaint L’ouverture decided that it was time for freedom with the knowledge he had of military

The enslaved Africans of Saint Domingue had an unwavering desire for freedom. They burnt cane fields and refineries in order to destroy the system that had held them captive. John K. Thornton believes that the contribution of African soldiers was the main reason for the success of the Haitian Revolution. In his article, “African Soldiers in the Haitian Revolution”, he noted that, ‘the rebellious slaves of Haiti inflicted grievous military defeat on all who opposed them.’ The majority of the enslaved persons in Saint-Domingue were not simply just agricultural workers, but from whence they came, they were soldiers, merchants and even kings. The African-born enslaved persons, who made up the majority of the masses, were able to use their prior military experience to assist them in their victory and some even participated in the Congolese wars. They were skilled in Guerilla Warfare which they used to defeat all the forces which they fought. Thornton noted, from an eye-witness’ account, that when the ex-enslaved persons engaged in battle ‘they never massed in the open or waited in line to charge.’ And these tactics ‘made them appear to be six times as numerous’ than they were. Thornton stated that if persons view the enslaved people of Haiti as people with strong militaristic backgrounds and not just agricultural labourers, the question as to what was the main reason for the success of Haitian Revolution may be answered.

In 1791 revolution broke out in the French colony of Saint Domingue, later called Haiti. The Haitian Revolution resounded in communities surrounding the Atlantic Ocean. One of the wealthiest European outposts in the New World, the Caribbean island's western third had some of the largest and most brutal slave plantations. Slave laborers cultivated sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton, and they endured horrible death rates, requiring constant infusions of slaves from Africa. In 1789 roughly 465,000 black slaves lived in the French colony on the island, along with fewer than 31,000 whites. In addition, there were about 23,000 free blacks and mixed-race people called gens de couleur, who might own land and accrue wealth but had no political

“Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent” (Locke Second Treatise of Government). Even as early as 1690, philosophers like John Locke have been preaching ideals that influenced the French and Haitian Revolutions. Some of the enlightened ideals are liberty; the state of being free from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority, equality; state of being equal in rights, status, and/or opportunities, fraternity; a state of brotherhood, and self-government; a government ruled by the people. During the French and Haitian Revolutions, most of the ideals were at least acknowledged, and some, like equality, were achieved during different events and time periods but in the end, these ideals was not maintained throughout the whole revolution. Equality, self-government, and fraternity have been attained during parts of the French and Haitian Revolutions but was not fully sustained.

Resistance is commonly known as a fight or the opposition of the system of slavery, whereas, revolt is the refusal to obey or confirm to a certain order. One of the main resistance and revolt that occurred in the Caribbean was the Haitian Revolution. This School Based Assessment (SBA) is aimed at identifying the main causes and effects of the Haitian Revolution.

American slavery is often thought of as a static institution, one which did not undergo much change from its conception to its death. Slavery in the Americas existed over a long period of time, and during this period of time, much social change occurred in society at large. Slavery differed immensely as time progressed, beginning with the inception of slavery in the United States in 1619, when the Dutch brought the first slaves to Jamestown, Virginia. The next major event which had a profound impact on the institution of slavery was the American Revolution, which ideologically and pragmatically transformed the presence of slavery in the United States. Two closely linked events which had a major impact on slavery were the French and Haitian Revolutions, unique in that the French Revolution acted as a catalyst for the Haitian Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution affected the institution in areas geographically distant from the locus of conflict. Another important event for the development of slavery in the Americas was Nat Turner’s slave revolt, which had enormous effects on the social aspects of slave society in America. In America, changes in slavery coalesced at several major turning points, the most important of which are the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions and Nat Turner’s Revolt, and these changes are important in characterizing the changing nature of the North American and Caribbean slave society.