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Teaching the Haitian Revolution

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Teaching the Haitian Revolution Social Education 84(6), pp. 355–361 ©2020 National Council for the Social Studies Teaching the Haitian Revolution Jennifer Pontius-Vandenberg American students are used to learning about slavery. Elementary school teachers people lived on Saint-Domingue. About read picture books about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. Middle half of the free population was white, the school students learn about the brutality of slavery. High school students study the other half were free people of color.3 Atlantic Slave Trade in World History and discuss the legacy of slavery in U.S. History. Slavery in Saint-Domingue But beyond a mention of Nat Turner, the Spaniards settled the island, they Often, U.S. students only learn about the students rarely learn about slave revolts decimated the original Taíno people slave system in the United States and and rebellions. The Haitian Revolution either in conflict or by forced labor and assume practices were the same every- seldom shows up in curriculum guides or disease. After annihilating the native where. It is important for them to learn standardized tests. Picture books on the population, the Spanish brought kid- about slavery in Saint-Domingue. revolution’s leader, Toussaint Louverture, napped Africans to the island to be Remind students that in the Southern are scarce, and information about Haiti slaves. By the mid-1500s, over 10,000 U.S. states, anyone born to an enslaved in World History textbooks is minimal.1 enslaved people lived on Hispaniola. woman was enslaved (even if the bio- Luckily, students tend to be skepti- The colony’s prosperity fell through- logical father was white). It was difficult cal. My high school students refused out the 1600s because of maritime piracy. for enslaved people to legally acquire to believe that enslaved people never Many Spanish colonists re-settled in the their freedom. When Quakers and other resisted. Their skepticism and ques- eastern part of Hispaniola, leaving the religious activists “purchased” enslaved tions led me to research the people in order to set them free, slave revolt in Saint-Domingue, Southern states banned the the former French colony that practice.4 There were also strict became Haiti. Spurred by my rules forbidding the education students who were tired of hear- of those enslaved. ing a one-sided story about slav- Things were different in Saint- ery and submission, I created a Domingue. Not all people of unit on the Haitian Revolution. African descent were slaves. A Using an Inquiry Design child born to an enslaved mother Model, the unit plan engages and a white father could be born students in the history of the free. Enslaved people more fre- Haitian Revolution and asks quently bought or earned their them to consider why this freedom, resulting in a large momentous event is often left Image 1: Outline Map of Colonial Haiti, or Saint-Domingue. population of affranchis, free out of the Western historical nar- people of color. Many affranchis rative.2 In this article, I provide historical relatively unsettled west to French and had plantations and power in the colony. background and offer suggestions and British colonists. France gained full con- Agostino Brunias’s painting (see p. 356) resources for student learning about the trol of the western third of the island in depicting Africans in obvious positions Haitian Revolution. the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick and named of wealth illuminates this for students. its new colony Saint-Domingue. However, French laws ensured that white Historical Background French sugar plantations soon covered colonists maintained status and privilege European Colonization of Hispaniola the colony. By the mid-1700s, Saint- in Saint-Domingue. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed Domingue was the wealthiest island in Also, unlike the United States, most on an island in the Caribbean, named the Caribbean. That wealth, however, Africans that ran away from plantations it La Española (Hispaniola to English depended on captive labor. In 1789, in Saint-Domingue did not travel hun- speakers), and claimed it for Spain. As some 450,000 enslaved and 55,000 free dreds of miles to find freedom. Instead, November/December 2020 355 Image 2: Agostino Brunias (Italian, ca. 1730–1796). Free Women of Color with Their Children and Servants in a Landscape, ca. 1770–1796. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2010.59_PS6.jpg) Image 3: “Incendie du Cap” (Burning of Cape Français). (General revolt of Blacks. Massacre of Whites) they lived in nearby mountain com- brutal Caribbean conditions is necessary. population would grow. They worked munities with others who had escaped. Half of all enslaved people who arrived their slaves to death, and replaced them Known as maroons, those who ran away from Africa in the late 1700s died within by purchasing new ones.”5 to escape slavery became leaders in a few years. Unlike the United States, revolts and revolutions. “managers in Saint-Domingue coldly The 1791 Slave Rebellion Students often make the problematic calculated that working slaves as hard Enslaved people and maroons on Saint- statement that slavery was “better” in as possible … was more profitable than Domingue spent 1791 planning a rebel- Saint-Domingue, so a discussion about managing them in such a way that their lion that unfolded under the guidance of Social Education 356 Boukman Dutty, an African brought to Haiti by way of Jamaica. On August 22, 1791, over 100,000 people collectively rose up against white colonial masters. They torched plantations, dismantled sugar factories, and killed slave owners. In Europe, the French Revolution and Congress) Library of the of (Courtesy resulting wars were underway. British, French, and Spanish colonies in the Caribbean were all swept up in the fight. Toussaint Louverture, born into slavery but free by the time of the rebellion, joined the fighting and quickly became a leader. Initially, Louverture and the rebel troops fought for the Spanish, who promised land and freedom. When the French National Convention freed slaves in France’s colonies in 1794, Louverture switched sides and fought for the French. Spain quickly surrendered. In 1799, Saint-Domingue was immersed in rebuilding the French colony, now with newly freed black women and men at the helm. The Leadership of Toussaint Louverture After the initial rebellion, the newly free took over abandoned plantations and cultivated land for personal use and profit, planting vegetable gardens and building homes. This was not nearly as profitable as cultivating sugar, and Louverture was desperate to bring Saint- Domingue back to its previous levels of prosperity. He supported white French Image 4: Toussaint Louverture writes a Constitution for Saint-Domingue, declaring himself planters as they tentatively returned. He Governor for life, July 1801. Lithograph possibly by Eugène Marie François Villain. coaxed and forced laborers back to the sugar fields that they had run from. Committed to defending lib- wasn’t convinced. He couldn’t accept a General André Rigaud rose up erty at all costs, Louverture had Black leader running his colony and writ- against Louverture, starting a civil war. turned himself into a dictator, ing a constitution without his approval. In Louverture and his northern army and the colony he ruled over into 1802, Bonaparte sent General Leclerc to fought against Rigaud’s army of mostly a society based on social hier- Saint-Domingue to capture Louverture affranchis. By 1800, Louverture had archy, forced labor, and violent and disarm Black troops. He later sent defeated Rigaud, taken over Spanish repression…[Louverture failed] orders to reestablish slavery, undoing the Santo Domingo, written a Constitution to find a middle way by which French National Assembly’s abolition proclaiming himself governor of Saint- a true liberty could coexist with of slavery eight years prior. Predictably, 6 Domingue for life, militarized the planta- the plantation economy. war broke out in Saint-Domingue once tion system, and (again) forced workers more Men and women again picked up back to the sugar fields. Coffee and sugar War with France their weapons and torched the cities. exports rose, but many on the island Despite Louverture’s attempts to prove The French captured Louverture and wondered if Louverture’s “freedom” was the value of Saint-Domingue, the new worth working in slave-like conditions. leader of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, continued on page 361 November/December 2020 357 The Haitian Revolution: An Inquiry for High School Students Compelling Question What should we know about the Haitian Revolution, and why don’t we know it? The Haitian Revolution is often overlooked in World History studies. After informing students that the Haitian Revolution was the largest and most successful slave revolt in the world, ask them to hypothesize why it is rarely discussed or taught today. Have students gather data: Staging the Question After searching through their textbook, students can make a bar graph showing how many pages are dedicated to the French, the American, and the Haitian revolutions. Complete an Amazon.com search: How many books in English are written about the French Revolution? How many are written about the Haitian Revolution? Supporting Question 1 Supporting Question 2 Supporting Question 3 What unique conditions made the Why were nations reluctant to How did the Haitian Revolution affect Haitian Revolution a success? acknowledge the Republic of Haiti? the world? Formative Performance Task Formative Performance Task Formative Performance Task Students complete reading guides, Student participate in a Socratic Students research historical events or video notes, and analyze images. Seminar movements that were influenced by the Haitian Revolution Featured Sources Featured Sources Featured Sources Documentary Excerpts from: List of world events and political Egalité for All: Toussaint Louverture and movements for student groups to the Haitian Revolution • Frederick Douglass’s 1893 speech research • Images on Haiti • Books: Freedom Soup • David A.
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