I am t l my name is perhaps known to you he was called the black George Washington he fought off three Empires and enraged Napoleon the prospect of a black Republic is equally disturbing to the Spanish the English and the Americans he championed Liberty and eality for all to and the Haitian
Revolution Haiti is always described as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere but during its height at sandang it was the richest place in the Americas the thing about it though was that its richness was all rooted in slaves its wealth was based on human capital on owning that human Capital all day as long as the sun is shining the men are bending over and swaying a machete at the foot of the sugar cane the world as you know it disappear therefore you become an animal and you expect to live like an animal the Dominion of the master had to be absolute
But that absoluteness itself made the master into something other than human as well Liberty equality fraternity that was new for the world to s l is the epitome of humanity he realized early on that the condition he was in was totally insufferable to recruited about about 3
To 4,000 people trained them and they fought the French the British and the Spanish Army for 12 years they burned the mechanisms of their production they’re burning the plantation Fields Burning Down the houses it was a wholesale Massacre on a really really enormous scale it was a big big major payback
Time the Haitian we reolution is probably the most profound Revolution ever realized by human beings the only place where slaves created a nation in the summer of 1789 when Haiti was still the dormant colony of sandang it was France that grabbed the world’s attention Parisian mobs rioted against the French
King and against their own desperate poverty chanting slogans for Liberty equality and Brotherhood they sparked the revolution that would fill history books for centuries to come the trick about the French Revolution was that it meant a lot of different things to a lot of different People in the streets of Paris the French Revolution meant an end to the appalling privileges of wealth and France’s brand new Congress called the National Assembly it meant the ideas of Europe’s Most radical thinkers could be realized nobody knows exactly what’s going to come out of it but just the
Idea of of of having rights right the idea that all people have rights that those rights are inherent this was something that obviously philosophers had written about before but during the course of the French Revolution it was written down in a text called the Declaration of the rights of Man it’s a dangerous idea because the society is based on inequality that’s what makes it work because it was not supposed to work for everybody it was supposed to work for a Minority what was a dangerous idea in France was even more dangerous and its slaveholding colonies off the coast of Florida Martin quop and an island known as the pearl of the anes today the Western half is Haiti then it was the French colony of sand Doang we have to remember that the ocean was like a highway in the 18th century I mean the ships were constantly bringing news back and forth everyone was obsessed with news Sailors would would come off the ships they first people they would talk to the people they would work with as
They were unloading the ships were enslaved people so there reports who were describing the events that have been going on in Paris to to the enslaved that are working alongside of them sugar greased the wheels of the 18th century economy and sandang was the sugar capital of the World It was easy even for France’s political radicals to ignore the agony that made it all Possible the leaves of the sugar cane are just like minuscule saw if they cut you you may not even see it but when you perspire the sweat gets in it and it burns in The Roots there are ants they bite and when they bite you you will scratch yourself for half a Day if the worker refuse to work well there’s a law which you just shoot him that’s all a slave coming from Africa would not last 3 years the way the system was organized they did it very systematically and it was very Successful slavery in sang succeeded too on a foundation of Relentless Terror slave owner stanas seu explained it as rational management slow punishments make a greater Impressions than quick or violent ones other than 50 lashes administered in 5 minutes 25 lashes of the whip administered in a quarter of an
Hour this is far more likely to make an impression the account about the tortures inflicted on slaves are are often horrifying legs cut off or arms cut off amputations for runaways rubbing hot powder or or pepper and so forth into the wounds slaves actually hung and left to Die you can kind of imagine that this kind of world in which essentially human life was given so little value that these tortures were kind of refined to this incredible cruel effect despite the brutal tools of control some blacks managed to escape slavery many had been born free fed by white
Planter others had gained Freedom through their own wits or talents one such man was to L I was born in slave but nature gave me the soul of a free man T was a very determined man he was a very ambitious man and in my opinion he was a genius tan is I think one of the most incredible figures that I know about him in in many
Ways he’s born on a plane Plantation in sandang he grows up on that Plantation that Plantation was owned by a man who was tolerant for the Times Tucan was taught to read and write as a child he eventually occupies a somewhat privileged role if you can say that on
Imp Plantation as a Coachman and and has a kind of relationship with the managers and Masters in some ways he becomes free in the 1770s so he’s somebody who kind of occupy different roles in society and I think that’s the key for understanding tant is that he saw possibilities where other people Didn’t T didn’t record his first reactions to the revolution in France but his fellow free Sans the white Colonials and the mixed race population were transfixed whites hoped for more control over the colony’s governance but the colony mixed race population hoped for more fundamental changes they had been born free but not
Equal the mixed race population of sandang decided their chance had come in 1791 they sent a petition to France’s new government asking for the rights of citizenship this is a powerful message to have been taking place in a society that was explicitly organized on inequality it’s like Dynamite the petition asked for civil protections and it enraged the Island’s white population workingclass colonists began a fullscale intimidation campaign they threatened beat and murdered MRE residents in the Capital but the petition met a different reception back in Paris the new breed of delegates in the National Assembly issued a landmark decree they extended equal rights to the small population of mixed red people born of two free Parents despite the reform’s limited extent the governor of sang refused to obey Colonial whites felt profoundly betrayed some such as a pl’s wife named Madame de began discussing radical thoughts of their own the National Assembly is committed to destroying our lives as Masters so much so that secession from France might be
Necessary the slave owners of America I I hope will band together to stop this contagion of Liberty bukman dati was a slave and a voodoo priest throw away the image of the god of the whites who thirst for our tears and listen to the voice of Liberty which speaks in the hearts of all of Us in August 179 1 as Sang’s white and mixed race population squared off for a showdown Bookman called together slaves from neighboring Plantations Bookman had called them to an area called Bima first on the agenda was strategy that ceremony OFA is the first Haitian Congress the beginning of the Revolution Haitian tradition says the slaves of sang planned that night to revolt they Ed their Uprising to start on multiple plantations in two weeks
Time and they swore each other to secrecy On the night of August 22nd 1791 a thousand enslaved Africans attacked their Masters for them to be free they have to have the same amount of violence that you exerted on them that’s why the Revolution was very brutal this is that hatred in the first day that came Out [Applause] the rebel numbers Grew From 1,000 to 20,000 as newly liberated slaves burned cane fields and refineries in order to destroy the system that had enslaved them within 3 days the most profitable plantations in the Americas had been laid waste 184 sugar plantations and a thousand coffee
Farms whites and mixed was people fled to the capital city for Mutual protection from there they watched firestorms on all Horizons the eruption of violin put to in a difficult position his own fortunes were tied to the plantation system and he had straddled the white and black worlds for some 15
Years tus was no longer a slave he didn’t have the mentality of a slave he was the owner of two or three plantations he was not of the same class anymore his interest were different from the interests of the masses But toan’s first reaction to the Raging violence was based neither on money nor race it was personal he went back to the plantation where he had been born to protect his former owners it’s true that tus did return to the plantation in the early days of the Insurrection and kind of maintained
Order there and there’s always there’s a question the question of why why would he do that back in the capital city as T helped his former Master flee the violence Sang’s whites repelled assault after assault they soon regrouped and launched their own offensive the bloodletting continued day
After day week after Soul numbing week Week 3 months after the revolution started the voodoo priest bukman duti was killed in battle white soldiers decapitated him and burned his body and view of the Rebel camp in the words of one Observer the conflict in sang had become an Exterminating War in the Autumn of
1791 Tu could no longer sit on the sidelines despite a wife and children despite the chance even of losing his own Freedom tcan didn’t hesitate long he left everything he dropped everything and he went to the Mountain it was an act of extraordinary risk the Island’s 500,000 slaves outnumbered Whites by 12 to1 but their ultimate prospects were poor few had experience in military strategy and they had no unifying history or long-term Vision as Rebel leaders struggled to forge a disciplined fighting force to sense talents and intellect set him
Apart then in December 1791 some 4 months after the Rebellion began black enthusiasm began to crumble the new French government in Paris sent more than 10,000 military reinforcements to help the colonists reestablish white rule supplies were scarce in the mountains and winter brought famine to the the rebel lines thousands began to
Surrender toel was asked to write up a settlement offer in exchange for the freedom of 200 slave leaders and better working conditions on the plantations The Proposal offered to send most of the rebels back to the plantation it was a stark recognition of 18th century realities new French Commissioners had just
Arrived from Paris to restore order more liberal than the Planters they urged cang’s whites to accept the rebels offer and they called slave leaders to the capital of lucap for Negotiations so Tusa is sent to negotiate with the Planters with the idea that in a sense a settlement can be reached the settlement is not only for the freedom of some of the Insurgent leaders but also for some reforms on the plantation small reforms but reforms that at least in the letters they
Describe their followers really want whether the small group of leaders actually would have had the power to say to all of these people that they taken out okay we’re going back to work now here’s your chains I don’t know as it happened the white people were so shortsighted that
They didn’t even give them the opportunity to try the white said no they said no because at that time they were the one who wanted Revenge they forget about what they have done for three centuries and they think that they were the victims in that thing so they have to avenge themselves so
They’re not going to forgive or forget anything they refused of course he’s taken up arms against them but at the same time he’s made a made a lot of concessions and he struggled against his own followers to say look we’re going to treat the prisoners well we’re going to trade with
Them we’re willing to make a deal and to have that refused by the planter class I think certainly must have had a radicalizing effect to sense support first settlement abruptly ended and with it the best deal the whites would ever See one of the biggest ripples from France that washed into Sang’s Shores was a commissioner named Le felic sonx he was a French Revolutionary with radical ideas about life in the colony sanx arrives in sandang having already had bad words said about him there are people who’ve actually written
From from France to to the colonist in cining saying watch out for this guy he’s an abolitionist he wants to abolish slavery Sang’s mixed was population had so far retained its fragile alignment with the whites to ensure that continued sonx created a representational council on the island and invited mix TR
Citizens to serve he even brought mixed R men into the colonial government and a lot of white Planters are really really uh upset about that and and see him as as that as a really destructive force the white Planters had cause for worry less than two years after joining
The Rebellion telur had risen to the top of the Rebel Army I am telu my name is perhaps known to you in 1793 he wrote an open letter to the islands disenfranchised I have undertaking Vengeance I want Liberty and equality to reign in saning I work to bring them
Into existence unite yourselves to us brothers and fight with us for the same cause with his letter he announces two things he announces first of all his commitment to the process to the project of emancipation and he announces his presence as a leader maybe even the leader he has gained great respect from
His followers and with his Proclamation he’s essentially saying you want freedom and I’m the one who’s going to bring you that freedom so I’m the person to follow in this regard but T say at this time was addressing the wider world too he was particularly focused on
Spain the Spanish wanted to wrestle The Colony away from France for two reasons first the colony was very very prosperous in spite of the war and second that Prosperity was used by the French Revolution to combat them in Europe Spain controlled Sang’s neighboring Colony so in June of
1793 to S struck a deal Spanish garrisons just over the Border provided guns and ammunition to the slave Army and tipped the balance their way to S Forces captured three cities within 8 Months Sang’s white Planters were desperate many hated the New Order in France in a treasonous move they invited the British to help put down the slave rebellion now the empires of France Spain and England along with a vast Army of former slaves were fighting for control of the small island
Colony then in early 1794 events in Paris caused another explosion in the colony a multi-racial delegation from sang had appeared in Fr ‘s National Assembly they had been sent by commissioner sonx with a dramatic message he had pledged freedom to send omang slaves for fighting the armies of
Britain and Spain the emissaries made a compelling argument these are the principles and the ideas of France and we fully represent them and we want wish to continue to represent them on our Island and so we’ve come to present our arguments about why we are in fact truly
Committed to those ideas and principles and how we epitomize these principles of the French Revolution I think it was very powerful for the representatives of France to hear essentially that what had happened in the Caribbean is that the white slave owners had deserted France they had gone
Over to the British they had fought against the Republic and the true people the true Republicans in sandang were these enslaved people who just wanted their freedom the French National Assembly in endorsed the emancipation of sangan slaves but that was not all the delegates freed slaves throughout the entire Empire
Too and there’s rejoicing and celebration there’s an older woman a free woman of color who’s traditionally gone to the debates who sort of sheds tears and is brought down and celebrated as part of this moment and there are speeches in Paris celebrations of this event throughout France it’s really seen
As a kind of Triumph for the French Revolution for the ideals of the French Revolution that this worst form of of hierarchy enslavement and oppression has been abolished um in the Caribbean it was utterly unprecedented in a stroke nearly a million black slaves had become French citizens Word that the French Revolutionary government had freed its slaves reached sandang quickly it was one of History’s great watersheds emancipation changed everything they quickly Trimm their CES to the new new order to realized that Spain had a king England had a king and France was talking about Liberty equality fraternity all men
Equal so he realized that although the Revolt started by fighting the French the French right now could be the best help they could receive so he rejoin the French after 3 years in opposition T was once again a loyal friend citizen so were his followers it tipped the balance before
Long T deine and the army of EX slaves pushed the Spanish out of tendang the British soon followed word of tuan’s astonishing string of Victories against white armies was spreading across the European World they didn’t like it they didn’t like it at all that there was a black
General beating white armies they didn’t like it slave holders everywhere were stunned and were worried in the United States for instance and in Cuba they didn’t want even white Frenchmen to come because they would tell the story why are you running away from San domain they would
Answer that and no matter what they answer it would be known that there was a black Revolt we confronted dangers in order to gain our Liberty and we will be able to confront death in order to keep it slaves had once accepted their chain because they had not experienced a state
Happier than slavery but those days are over the people of sandang will rather be buried in the ruin of their country than suffer the return of Slavery tuan’s ringing language showed his profound attachment to democratic ideals but there was another side to tentu anybody who looked like they threatened to S either ended up dead or deported Tusan had already been appointed Brigadier General and then governor of sandang no black man had ever risen so far in the
Colonies in 1798 as TTU was evicting the last of the British from his Island another French General battled British interest Halfway Around the World in Egypt his name was Napoleon bonapart well toan Napoleon in many ways are are similar both were a little bit from the margins of French society they
Succeeded through military Brilliance and they’re both incredible military leaders and they became political leaders as a result of their military experience but Napoleon’s victories would put Tans at risk just months after conquering Egypt Napoleon marched into Paris akuda toled the Revolutionary government and Napoleon took the Reigns of power the
Revolution is over he declared I am the revolution as Napoleon is rising to power in France tan is watching closely about what’s going on he knows several things he knows first of all that there are very powerful proslavery voices in France who are ad who are agitating against him attacking him and proposing
That slavery actually be recreated in some form in sendang Tuan believe Sang’s survival and the survival of Freedom itself depended on his ability to mobilize people to rebuild the devastated economy and in tuan’s mind that meant one Thing his black followers should return to the cane Fields there were some compelling reasons for this I mean mainly in tense situation he was really in a bind at that point uh in the sense that his Hope For Peace was restoring prod productivity on the plantations recreating the sugar trade in
Particularly but nobody wanted to go back to that kind of work so he pretty well had to force them and then the people began to think H this is a lot like slavery he was strong maybe a little too strong with the blacks in several
Occasions but he had to do it he had to do it to be a leader you got to know where to lay back and we have to know when to say okay guys go ahead let’s do it if you don’t do it hell whatever the consequences you’ll pay for
It most newly freed slaves didn’t see it that way they wanted to work for themselves growing crops for food rather than export to send luster began to tarnish Napoleon on the other hand was riding high he restructured the government and proclaimed a new constitution for France far from enshrining black
Emancipation it opened the door for France to reinstitute slavery and its Colonies when lure heard that he really understood that something was changing and more ominously he understood that he didn’t have any way to influence Napoleon and so what he did and kind of typical to San fashion is responded by saying okay sananga is going to have its
Own laws well here they are I’m in charge here I might as well write the Constitution to say’s Constitution decreed slavery would never exist in sendang again and it was the first in history to prohibit discrimination based on skin color a milestone that US law would not guarantee for another 150 years The Constitution had troubling elements too it made T governor for life with sole authority to designate his successor T say great hero to me but this was not a good idea I mean he basically with that gesture installed permanent military dictatorship which has remained a problem in Haiti for for two centuries
He could have done what he needed to do without that I think I’m not quite sure why he did it but that was enough to uh to send Napoleon over the edge Napoleon bonap had had enough of Revolution and according to Napoleon the US president Thomas Jefferson shared his
View the prospect of a black Republic is equally disturbing to the Spanish the English and the Americans Jefferson has promised that at the instant the French army has arrived all measures will be taken to starve tan tuent tried urgently to show Napoleon that military logic if nothing else proved the Merit of black
Ambitions Tusa was writing Napoleon he wanted so much to be recognized as saving this land for France his efforts failed in 1802 Tain was stunned to see the largest French expeditionary Force ever assembled entering Sang’s Harbor its mission was simple Napoleon wanted to turn back the clock my decision to destroy the
Authority of the blacks in sandang is not so much based on consideration of Commerce and money as on on the need to block forever the march of the blacks in the world Tel fought the invading French army for three grueling months but the Island’s black population now disenchanted with his leadership offered lackluster
Support on May 6 1802 to surrendered at first he was allowed to retire from the army with full honors but a month later he was called to a meeting with the French Commander if I wanted to count all the services that I have rendered to the French government I will need several
Volumes and still I wouldn’t finish it all Tuan was arrested on charges of conspiracy he rub some stuff that’s very eloquent saying I rather suspect that it’s because of my color that you’re treating me like a common criminal although I prefer not to believe this and to
Compensate me for all the services they arrested me arbitrarily in sanding they choke me and drag me like a criminal without any decorum or concern for my rank is that the recompense do my work normally a mutinous French officer would have been brought before a Military Tribunal so he comports himself
As if he’s going to have a military trial tu’s Sons had been educated in France they had even met Napoleon hoping again that Napoleon would understand his thinking to S peacefully boarded a ship for France sandang remained mostly calm and S wake J de saline and the other black officers continued cooperating with
French General Victor ler but then news arrived from the nearby colony of guad loop Napoleon had reinstated slavery sandang erupted in anger and fear theine quickly broke from France one more time the former slaves of sang took to the field against European armies dine is a no holes bar no
Compromising leader and figure who is going to eradicate anything that stands in the way of what the people have been mobilizing towards it’s generally reported that they sine killed all the white people a massacre of all white people race war no not really there’s one report by a
Survivor who managed to get out to escape by masquerading as an American one fleeing white Pier chazot paused on a Mountaintop to observe the devastation no less than 10 square leagues of country burning like volcanoes the rapidity of the conflagration was such as to make the beholder believe that large and thick TR
Of gunpowder had previously been laid Down the war becomes this extreme scorched Earth kind of campaign in which desalene and others burn the towns in order to basically leave the French with little with no choice but to Depart desalin scorched Earth tactics worked in in 1803 the French army was finally driven out 50,000 French soldiers had died and sendang Haiti became the world’s first black Republic this is a powerful story it wasn’t just an anti-colonial Revolution but it was also an anti-slavery revolution in that it said your economy
And Your Privilege which is based on forc labor cannot stand it will not stand it’s a message that translates Through Time Independence is the strongest feeling of human being I think we all in some ways have inherited something from this revolution because it’s really the first place that people insisted absolutely that human
Rights were for all people it’s something that everybody should know about it to know exactly what our species not black people but our species can realize but to never lived to see Victory by the time Haiti attained the goal he fought so hard to achieve the imprisoned revolutionary had died in a freezing
Cell in the mountains of France and overthrowing me lelu wrote as he left for France you have only cut down the trunk of the Liberty Tree of the blacks and sendang it will spring back from the roots for they are numerous and Deep Egalite for all tant lure and the Haitian revolution is available on DVD the companion book is also available to order visit shop pbs.org or call us at 1800 play PBS
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