Haiti and New Orleans: Revolution, Migration, and Legacy
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Haiti and New Orleans: Revolution, Migration, and Legacy “It is the independence of Haiti that led to the emancipation of the slaves in the British colonies, to the foundation of Liberia, and the emancipation of the slaves in Martinique, and, later, in the United States it was the independence and the sovereignty of Haiti that put an advantageous pressure on … various governments and then led to the emancipation of slaves in Puerto Rico and Brazil.” - Louis Joseph Janvier, La République d'Haïti et ses Visiteurs (1883) Unit Overview The 1791 Haitian Revolution, the largest slave rebellion in history, established the first independent state in Latin America, and the first black-led nation in the world. It also fostered waves of migration to Louisiana, and established a cultural, political, and economic connection between Haiti and New Orleans. This unit explores the bond between Haiti and New Orleans, a nation and city bound by shared history of colonialism, slavery, and rebellion. It further examines the role of political history, cultural identity, and migration in shaping people and their societies. Sections Part I: Perspectives on the Haitian Revolution Part II: Legacy and Contribution Part III: Haitian Immigration and the Construction of Racial Identities Part V: Toussaint Louverture and the Memorialization of History Southern History Project 1 Essential Questions: ● What common experiences unite and define the Atlantic World? ● How should historians memorialize history? Should heroes be evaluated in the context of their time, or through the lens of modern times? ● To what extent is a host country transformed by migration? Is this a temporary or lasting change? ● How do ideas cross borders? Why might ideas born in one country affect the lives of people throughout the world? ● How are migrants perceived by host countries? To what extent is a person's identity and status changed by the crossing of borders? Is this a temporary or lasting change? ● How is racial identity constructed? How can the rules and politics governing our society determine our racial identities? Common Core State Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.7 Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.9 Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources. Southern History Project 2 Part I: Perspectives on The Haitian Revolution Part I Overview: In Part I, students will examine how ideas cross borders and the impact of revolution reverberates throughout the world. In particular, students will explore the interconnectedness of the French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, and American Revolution. Students will also analyze the influence of the Haitian Revolution on the making of Louisiana. Part I Essential Questions ● How do ideas cross borders? Why might ideas born in one country affect the lives of people throughout the world? ● How are migrants perceived by host countries? To what extent is a person's identity and status changed by the crossing of borders? Is this a temporary or lasting change? Vocabulary: Emancipation Colony Colonization Revolution Caribbean Border American Revolution Opening Discussion Questions: ● How do ideas cross borders? ● Why might ideas born in one country affect the lives of people throughout the world? ● Can you think of an event that took place in another part of the world and affected your beliefs? What was significant about this event? How did it change you? Southern History Project 3 Two Revolutions in the Atlantic World: Connections between the American Revolution and the Haitian Revolution by Laurent Dubois The late eighteenth century saw two successful anti-colonial revolutions unfold in the Americas. The first was in the United States, culminating in 1783. The second was in Haiti, then the French colony of Saint-Domingue. That revolution began with a mass insurrection by the enslaved in August 1791, which led first to the abolition of slavery in the colony in 1793, then to its abolition throughout the French empire in 1794, and finally to Haitian independence from France in 1804. What was the relationship between these two remarkable revolutions? The story of these revolutions is generally told in national terms. But we learn a great deal about both of them if we examine them as intertwined stories within the larger history of Atlantic revolutions, with particular attention to the United States, France, and Haiti. According to historian Robin Blackburn, as the three connected revolutions unfolded, they led to increasingly radical outcomes. While the American Revolution represented a profound challenge to imperial structures, it did not cause a true social revolution in North America, where colonial elites became the new national elite. And despite the offers of freedom put forth by the British to enslaved people who would fight for them, which many slaves took up, and the initiation of emancipation in many northern states, slavery ultimately survived that revolution and even expanded and thrived in its wake. The events in North America did have global ramifications, however. They helped set the stage for the French Revolution, both by putting forth powerful new political ideologies and through the debts contracted by the French king in his support of the North American rebels. The French Revolution ultimately led to a far-reaching social transformation within the country. Its unfolding was intricately tied to events in France’s most important colony, Saint-Domingue, where the weakening colonial governance and the emergence of new political language and new possibilities for mobilization—including the enslaved—set the stage for a profoundly radical revolution. Though the 1790s saw mobilization, revolt, and transformation throughout the French Caribbean, the changes that took place in Saint-Domingue were the most epochal. The contrast with the American Revolution is striking. In both places slavery was important, but in Saint-Domingue it dominated everything: 90 percent of the population was enslaved. As the year 1789 began, it would have been very difficult to imagine, for those both in the colony and outside of it, that the slave system would be completely overturned. And yet by 1793 there were no slaves in Saint-Domingue, and by 1804 it had become a new nation, led by an ex-slave general named Jean-Jacques Dessalines. The Haitian Revolution was the speediest and most successful abolitionist movement in history: it took a mere two years to go from revolt to universal and immediate emancipation. In recent years scholars have increasingly insisted that much of what we inherited from the Age of Revolution—especially ideas of universal rights—were in fact crucially shaped by the events in the Caribbean. As an anti-slavery revolution largely made by enslaved people of African descent, the Haitian Southern History Project 4 Revolution posed a direct threat to deeply entrenched interests throughout the world, including in the United States itself. Whereas the US relatively quickly found acceptance within the broader concert of nations, no foreign nation even acknowledged Haitian independence officially until France did so in 1825, and it took the US until 1862, in the wake of secession, to recognize the country. It was the last nation to do so. The very different trajectories the two nations have taken since independence sometimes obscure the extent to which the Haitian and American Revolutions were ideologically intertwined. Understanding the links in the pre-revolutionary histories of the US and Haiti is critical to understanding how the revolutions evolved. *** The economic geography of the Americas looked dramatically different in the eighteenth century than it does today. The Caribbean was an economic and strategic center, in many ways much more significant than North America from the perspective of European empires. The booming sugar and coffee plantations of colonies like Saint-Domingue and Jamaica were the motor of the broader Atlantic economy. Though only the size of Maryland, the French colony of Saint-Domingue created as much wealth for France as the thirteen colonies did for England. This economic configuration made North America dependent on the Caribbean. The North American colonies, especially New England, profited from extensive trade with Saint-Domingue. Merchants from the British colonies brought lumber and provisions to the French colony and came home with various goods, particularly molasses, which was turned into rum in New England refineries. The French and the English imperial governments sought to stamp out this contraband trade, but it was a hopeless task. Eventually, by the late eighteenth century, the French government grudgingly allowed some forms of intercolonial trade, establishing “free ports” where foreign merchants could bring in certain goods. But much of the trade continued illegally anyway. These patterns of exchange continued during the Haitian Revolution, when US merchants supplied not only provisions but crucial weapons and ammunition to the rebels. And in fact, except for a few years between 1806 and 1809, trade with independent Haiti continued essentially unabated throughout the early nineteenth century, despite the fact that the US hadn’t officially recognized the country. This trade relationship between the two colonies had political effects in both places. In North America, the lucrative trade with Saint-Domingue helped spur the demands for free trade that became part of the American Revolution.