THE PEARL OF THE ANTILLES:
A SERIAL HISTORY OF HAITI
PART II INSURRECTION TO
INDEPENDENCE
Michael S. VanHook International Strategic Alliances The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 2
THE PEARL OF THE ANTILLES: A SERIAL HISTORY OF HAITI
Michael S. VanHook, International Strategic Alliances
Copyright © 2019 by Michael S. VanHook All rights reserved. This resource is provided to give context and essential background information for those persons with an interest in serving the people of Haiti. It is made available without charge by the publisher, ISA Publishing Group, a division of International Strategic Alliances, Inc. Scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing is permitted. If you would like to use material from this book, please contact the publisher at [email protected].
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For more information about the work of International Strategic Alliances, contact us at [email protected].
For more information about the author or for speaking engagements, contact him at [email protected].
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 3
THE PEARL OF THE ANTILLES: A SERIAL HISTORY OF HAITI
Michael S. VanHook, International Strategic Alliances
INTRODUCTION 4
PART II: INSURRECTION TO INDEPENDENCE 7 1. BOIS CAÏMAN CEREMONY 8 2. REVOLUTION 12 3. “THE OPENER OF THE WAY” 18 4. NAPOLEON VS. TOUSSAINT 24 5. INDEPENDENCE 31
APPENDIXES 37 APPENDIX A: History of Haiti Timeline (1492 – 2010) 37 APPENDIX B: Tale of Two Revolutions (1789 – 1804) 38 APPENDIX C: Thomas Clarkson: Thoughts on The Haitian Revolution (1823) 39 APPENDIX D: Letter by the French Minister of the Marine to the Fort De Joux Commandant (1802) 49 APPENDIX E: Toussaint Louverture’s Letter to Napoleon Bonaparte 51 From Fort De Joux (1802) APPENDIX F: The History of Haiti’s Flag 52
BIBLIOGRAPHY 55 Resources 55 Images 60
AUTHOR 62 The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 4
INTRODUCTION
“Haiti is the hardest country in the world to help.” –Gerald A. Drew1
On a starlit night, Jean, Carlos, Denis, Keryl, and I stood on the water’s edge of the Bay of Cap-Haitien. We had just returned from Port-au-Prince after spending several days assessing the earthquake’s damage and searching for possible avenues to ship humanitarian aid. Everyone’s nerves sighed a great sense of relief for having safely returned from the aftershocks to our northern point of departure. All of us were still attempting to comprehend what we had just witnessed. As we talked, laughed, and even prayed, Jean said something to me that I’ll never forget. He remarked, “I consider you Haitian because you treat us as equals.”
My heart melted. This was the greatest compliment that I have ever received from all my years of working in Haiti. It resonated with my hopes that the Haitian people would know that I loved them and desired to serve them as my brothers and sisters. It also recognized to a small degree that our successful collaborations were accomplishing our vision.
Haiti is a land of distinct contrasts. Its beauty was once renowned as the “Pearl of the Antilles.” The first European visitors were captivated by Hispaniola’s lush forests and floral vegetation. Today with only one percent of the land forested, it stands on the brink of an ecological disaster as its mountains erode into the sea. The European powers once craved and bled for Haiti’s wealth as it produced nearly two-thirds of France’s commercial interests and forty percent of its foreign trade. Today, the lonely western half of Hispaniola is one of the poorest countries anywhere in the world and the most impoverished in the Western Hemisphere with eighty percent of its people living in abject poverty. Haiti’s independence was snatched from the cruelest forms of slavery instituted in the New World by a bloody revolution where unimagined atrocities were employed, and it yielded a government that has oppressed and brutalized its people for over 200 years. Yet the Haitian people are some of the most hospitable and kind people despite their suffering. They hold a deep place in my heart.
1 R. D. Heinl, N. G. Heinl, & M. Heinl, Written in Blood: The Story of the Haitian People 1492-1995 (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, Inc., 1996, revised and expanded edition), 586. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 5
I am constantly asked, “Why is Haiti like this, and what can be done?” I am convinced that the deep roots of many of these problems, and some of the plausible solutions, can best be understood by probing their historical lines into the present. Haiti’s history teaches us to appreciate its resilient heritage and its distinct culture. It also helps to recognize some of the “why’s” and the “what’s.”
John Chandler, a visiting Englishman, wrote in 1842 that. “The history of Hayti has yet to be written.”2 Until Written in Blood was penned by Robert and Nancy Heinl in 1978, no complete history of Haiti existed in any language. As noted in the revised introduction to their book, “The rebel slaves who founded Haiti were largely illiterate or semiliterate. They kept no public records.”3 Most of the national historical documents have been destroyed, dispersed, or stolen. Therefore, “documentation of Haitian history in the conventional way from internal primary sources and national archives is an impossibility.”4
Penning a history of Haiti presents unique challenges. I have written this serial history to educate individuals or groups who are traveling to Haiti with my organization, International Strategic Alliances, or other organizations serving the Haitian people. It is my hope that understanding their history will facilitate new perspectives and greater compassion and solution-building.
I have attempted to provide a document that is both readable and accurate. The content is presented in smaller narrative vignettes with accompanying images so that one can navigate easily through the various stages. Every attempt has been made to present data that has stood the test of time and historical scrutiny, though as previously noted, primary sources are in short supply.
This project comes from a deep place in my heart for Haitian people. They live inside of me every day, and because of them, I’ve changed. They have my sincerest gratitude for their years of friendship and service. Particular distinction goes to Pastor Bruno Cherenfant, my constant companion, advocate, and on-the-ground instructor. Without him, my work would not be as effective or joyful.
In addition, I appreciate those who have raised me for this work. Special recognition goes to Gregg Shaffer, who planted the seed and guided me on those initial, extraordinary journeys, David Michel, “my Jimo,” who continuously grows the vision and gently corrects my paths, and Wendell Mettey, who mentored me in non-profit leadership. The International Strategic Alliances Board of Directors has been
2 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 7. 3 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 7. 4 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 8. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 6
faithful to me even when they didn’t have a clue where I was taking them—thank you, David, Mark, Deb, Doug, Gregg, Keryl, and Jerry. All of this would not be possible without the financial contributions, encouragement, and prayers of our partners. Thank you for making my dreams come true.
Last of all to my wife, Luciana (“eu te amo”) and my daughters, Megan, Lauren, and Chelsea, I hope one day you’ll better understand my obsessions and join me in watching the sunset on the Bay of Fort-Liberte.
Michael S. VanHook, March 2010
Bay of Fort-Liberte
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 7
PART II INSURRECTION TO INDEPENDENCE
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 8
Chapter 1 BOIS CAÏMAN CEREMONY
August 1791
The giver of the blow forgets, the bearer of the scar remembers. -Haitian proverb
Bois Caïman Ceremony
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 9
A combustible mixture of racial hatreds, a burgeoning number of runaway slaves, and a growing independence movement in both Haiti and France needed only a spark to ignite a revolution. On August 14, 1791, the spark was lit.
Under the cover of night during a raging storm, hundreds of slaves stole away from their plantations to the remote wooded ground known as Bois Caïman (the Alligator Wood). Dutty Boukman, a marron and Vodou Houngan (High Priest), convened the slave rebellion leaders for a Petwo Vodou ceremony. With his giant, powerful build and a grotesque, terrible face that looked like an exaggerated African carving, Boukman exercised an undisputed influence and command over his followers. His fierceness made him a fearsome and inspiring leader.
“A woman at the service was possessed by Ogoun, the Vodou warrior spirit . . . speaking the voice of the spirit, named those who were to lead the slaves and marrons to revolt and seek a stark justice from their white oppressors.”5 The ceremony was marked by flashes of lightning, incantations, and participants formally swearing death to all whites. As drums beat a hypnotic rhythm and worshippers supplicated, the Vodou priestess led them in chanting as she sacrificed a black pig, and everyone drank its warm blood. Then, Boukman, with his voice roaring above the storm, called upon the assembled slaves to rise up against their masters, saying:
The god who created the sun which gives us light, who rouses the waves and rules the storm, though hidden in the clouds, he watches us. He sees all that the white man does. The god of the white man inspires him with crime, but our god calls upon us to do good works. Our god who is good to us orders us to revenge our wrongs. He will direct our arms and aid us. Throw away the symbol of the god of the whites who has so often caused us to weep, and listen to the voice of liberty, which speaks in the hearts of us all.6
5 Robert Corbett, “The Haitian Revolution of 1791-1803: An Historical Essay in Four Parts,” http://www.websteruniv.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/revolution/revolution1.htm, 8-9. 6 “Boukman,” The Louverture Project, http://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Boukman,19 July 2009. “The Boukman Rebellion,” The Louverture Project, https://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=The_Boukman_Rebellion, 13 June 2011. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 10
Word spread rapidly of this historic and prophetic religious service and the maroons and slaves readied themselves for a major assault on the whites. This uprising which would not ever be turned back began on the evening of August 21st. The whole northern plain surrounding Cape Français was in flames. Plantation owners were murdered, their women raped and killed, children slaughtered and their bodies mounted on poles to lead the slaves. It was an incredibly savage outburst.7
Soon after the Revolution began, Boukman was captured; his body was burned and his head was publicly displayed on a pike, in an attempt to shrink his invincibility. However, his influence remained strong, and Haitians later honored him by admitting him into the pantheon of loa (Vodou spirits).
Dutty Boukman and the Bois Caïman ceremony have had an enduring influence as it has become a dominant motif forming Haiti’s national identity. An iron statue of a marron summoning the slaves to revolution stands in Port-au-Prince to commemorate the “Boukman Contract.” Conversely, some Christian sources have characterized the event as a “pact with the devil,” and even many Haitians believe the country is “cursed” because of it.
7 Corbett, Part 1, 8-9. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 11
Late Night Campfire Song of Weary Slaves
“Eh! Eh! Bomba! Heu! Heu! Canga, bafio te! Canga, do ki la! Canga, li!”
“We swear to destroy the whites and all they possess; let us die rather than fail to keep this vow.”8
8 Elizabeth Abbott, Haiti: The Duvaliers and Their Legacy (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988), 12-13. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 12
Chapter 2 REVOLUTION
1791-1803
The dead do not know the value of white sheets. –Haitian proverb
“A bloody, thirteen-year revolution ensued, a complex web of wars among and between slaves, whites, free people-of-color, France, Spain and Britain that would eventually create the first independent black nation in the Western world.”9
9 “Africans in America: The Haitian Revolution,” WGBH PBS Online, Assessed May 9, 2009. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p2990.html. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 13
In the initial days after the Boukman ceremony, slaves seized control of the northern half of Saint-Domingue and laid siege to Cape Français (present day Cap-Haitien). The prosperous, beautiful colony now burned in flames and more than a thousand whites were killed. Slaves and marrons across the land quickly joined the revolution, and their attacking ranks swelled to approximately 100,000 combatants. The whites were left in control of only a few isolated, fortified camps.
Barbarism became the order of the day as all sides committed atrocities. Plantation owners retaliated by massacring and torturing black prisoners. Cape Français became a place of execution with gallows and wheels erected to administer gruesome retribution and torture. The British historian, Bryan Edwards, saw two slaves being broken by the executioner.
One of them expired on receiving the third stroke on his stomach, each of his legs and arms having first been broken in two places . . . The other had a harder fate. When the executioner lifted the instrument to give the finishing stroke on the breast . . . the mob, with the ferociousness of cannibals, called out “arretez” and compelled him to leave his work unfinished. In that condition, the miserable wretch, with broken limbs doubled up, was put on a cart-wheel, which was placed horizontally, one end of the axle-tree being driven into the earth. At the end of some forty minutes, some English seamen, who were spectators of the tragedy, strangled him in mercy.10
Boukman was succeeded by Jeannot, a ferocious man known for the ghastly torture that he administered on his victims. Sickened by his savageries the other two slave commanders, George Biassou and Jean-François Papillon, executed him and displayed his corpse on a meat hook. Biassou in his own manner was renowned for collecting skulls, cats, snakes, and other African fetishes in his camp.
As the violence between whites and blacks erupted, the deep racial hatred of the mulattoes against both races was ignited. In the West, the mulatto armies massacred whites for not supporting the Republic’s granting of political rights. “White ears were sliced off and worn as cockades; live infants were thrown as food to hogs; and the bellies of pregnant women were ripped open.”11 The notorious, northern mulatto commander, Candy, plucked out his victims’ eyes with a corkscrew.
10 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 44. 11 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 50. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 14
Within a couple of months, the slaves had killed 2,000 whites and burned or destroyed over 180 sugar, coffee, and indigo plantations. An estimated 10,000 slaves were killed through fighting and executions.
In the south and west. . . . there was a union of people-of-color and slaves, and they were menacing the whole region. A contingent of white soldiers marched out of Port-au-Prince, but they were soundly defeated. Then, the revolutionaries marched on Port-au-Prince. However, the free people-of-color did not want to defeat the whites; they wanted to join them. And, more importantly, they didn't want to see the slaves succeed and push for emancipation. Consequently, they offered a deal to the whites and joined forces with them, turning treacherously on their black comrades in arms.12
The leader of the petit whites extended a hand of friendship to the free mulattoes:
We bring you finally words of peace; we come no longer to bargain with you, we come only to accord to you your demands, we come animated by the spirit of justice and peace to give authentic recognition of your rights, to ask you to see in the white citizens only friends and brothers whom the colony in danger invites you, begs you, to unite with, in
12 Corbett, 9. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 15
order to bring prompt assistance to our troubles. . . . our courage has broken all obstacles, and we have imposed silence on all mean prejudices, on the petty desire for domination. . . . Let us henceforth be combatants only in zeal for the public welfare.13
Across the Atlantic, the French National Assembly and King Louis XVI responded by granting full and equal political rights to the free persons-of-color and free blacks, as well as dispatching three Commissioners and 6,000 soldiers to Saint-Domingue to enforce the decree. As a result, the whites broke their alliance with their mulatto allies.
The plantation owners made agreements with Great Britain to declare British sovereignty over the islands. Spain, which still controlled the eastern domain Hispaniola, also joined the conflict with Great Britain against France. The Spanish invaded Saint-Domingue and were joined by the slave forces.
The beheading of Louis XVI was a catalyst to precipitate several simultaneous events. When the Republic declared “war of all peoples on all kings,” the other nations were ready to respond. France found itself embroiled in conflicts against Britain, Spain, Holland, Prussia, Austria, and Portugal. Saint-Domingue would be left to determine its fate. The slave officers did not trust the French; and consequently, they pledged alliance to the King of Spain. Biassou and Jean-François were given fancy dress uniforms and commissioned into the Spanish military. As the blacks were being armed by the Spanish for an attack upon loyal French forces, the whites divided into independent and royalist factions. With foreign support, they re- opened their struggle against France's newly formed Republic, which had granted citizenship to the people-of-color. With France pre-occupied with the war in Europe, the British forces in Jamaica prepared to invade. Saint-Domingue would not be re-supplied or reinforced from France, leaving the colony isolated to resolve the outcome of their numerous conflicts with bloodshed and deception.
13 C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution (New York: Vintage Books, 2nd ed. 1989), 98-99. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 16
Britain and Spain reached an understanding to divide the island between them. The British invaded and captured Port-au-Prince and most of the other strategic ports. The Spanish attack captured much of the North and the Upper Artibonite.
By August 1793, French control over Saint-Domingue was precarious, at best. There were only 3,500 French soldiers on the island. To prevent a military disaster, French commissioner Leger Felicite Sonthonax promised freedom to the blacks who would fight for the Republic. On August 29, 1793, he “unilaterally decreed the emancipation of slavery in Saint-Domingue. Robert Stein, Sonthonax’s biographer, calls this “’the most radical step of the Haitian Revolution and perhaps even of the French Revolution.’”14 In response, the National Assembly formally abolished all slavery and granted civil and political rights to blacks in their colonies in 1794. These actions were repulsive to both the whites and persons- of-color as they demanded the continuation of slavery with their rule of Saint-Domingue.
As the French grip on Saint-Domingue appeared hopeless, it presented a tempting prize for the enemies of France. But shortly thereafter, other forces intervened to determine the island’s fate. The British forces were dreadfully decimated not by military might, but from yellow fever. The disease annihilated entire units killing most and rendering soldiers and sailors unfit for service. Before terminating their campaign, British losses amounted to a number greater than those who perished at Waterloo, exceeding 14,000.
The colony was devastated by 12 years of civil and foreign war. Of the 30,000 whites in the colony in 1789, only 10,000 remained. The rest had been killed or had emigrated. Of the 40,000 free Mulattoes and free blacks there were still about 30,000, while of the 500,000 Negro slaves perhaps one-third had perished. Plantations and cultivation had been destroyed far and wide. For nearly ten years the population, corrupt enough before, had been trained in bloodshed and soaked in violence. Bands of marauders roamed the countryside.15
14 Corbett, 15. 15 James, 241-242. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 17
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 18
Chapter 3
“THE OPENER OF THE WAY”
1743 – 1803
Brothers and Friends, I am Toussaint Louverture.
My name is perhaps known to you. I am bent on vengeance. I desire the establishment of Liberty and Equality in St. Domingue. I strive to bring them into being. Unite with us, brothers, and fight with us in the common cause.
Your most obedient and humble servant, Toussaint Louverture (August 29, 1793)
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 19
The preeminent Haitian leader and one of the most intriguing figures to emerge during the Revolution was Toussaint Louverture.16 Louverture means, “The Opener of the Way.” Social historian James G. Leyburn has said that “what he did is more easily told than what he was.”17 Without question, his momentous accomplishments stand as a testament to his consummate abilities as a brilliant military general, a diplomatic strategist, and the liberator of the Saint-Dominique. A question worthy of further consideration is what kind of nation Haiti would have become if his reign and grand plans had continued for years beyond.
As a literate former slave who practiced herbal and African healing, though he was not a Vodou houngan, Toussaint joined the rebels as a medical officer, shortly after the rebellion began. Before he joined, he secured the safe expatriation of his master’s family for the humane treatment he had received. With his ability to organize, train, and lead men, Toussaint quickly rose in the ranks to become a general. A contemporary Haitian source benevolently describes him as:
A brilliant general and capable administrator, defeating British, Spanish, and French troops, emancipating the slave population, and overseeing the country's initial attempts at reforming its political and social structure. His extraordinary efforts at reaching across lines of race and class set him apart from his contemporaries, and his vision of a race-blind, independent country of equals was ahead of his time. As skilled as he was on the battlefield, Toussaint was equally at ease manipulating the machinery of politics and diplomacy. Wise, intelligent, tireless, ascetic, pragmatic, opportunistic, fond of aesthetic pleasures, the man many called “Papa Toussaint” grew up taking care of plants and animals, and the theme of Toussaint as “father” or “caretaker” runs throughout his life story.18
French General Kererseau reinforced the accolades,
He is a man of great good sense, whose attachment to France cannot be doubted, whose religion guarantees morality, whose firmness equals his prudence, who enjoys the confidence of all colours, and who has on his own an ascendancy which nothing can counter-balance. With him you can do all; without him you can do nothing.19
16 There are two spellings of his surname, Louverture and L’Ouverture. For most of this document, the former is written except when quoting directly from a source that uses the latter. As is common in Haiti, the given name, Toussaint, is most often spoken and written. 17 James G. Leyburn, The Haitian People (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1941, out of print), 26. 18 “Toussaint Louverture,” The Louverture Project, https://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Toussaint_Louverture, 2009. 19 James, 203. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 20
“His Spanish superior officer had said that ‘God in this terrestrial globe could not commune with a purer spirit’; the Frenchman, Lacroix, remarked, ‘No one approaches him without fear, and no one leaves him without respect.’”20
Clearly the turning point in this war and in all Haitian history was the return to the French side of Toussaint Louuverture and eventually all his black and mulatto forces. . . . His change . . . made all the difference. His army fought a guerrilla war and he was known for his lightning attacks, covering territory at seemingly impossible speeds. He attacked both Jean-François and Biassou, his former associates, and defeated them. He harassed the British, though he could not dislodge them from the coastal towns they held. One chronicler says: ‘He disappears—he has flown—as if by magic. Now he reappears again where he is least expected. He seems to be ubiquitous. One never knows where his army is, what it subsists on, how he manages his supplies and his treasury. He, on the other hand, seems perfectly informed concerning everything that goes on in the enemy camp.21
Scholars have generated a great deal of speculation regarding Toussaint’s genuine motives for making an abrupt “about face” in allegiance from the Spanish to the French. He did not leave a record. Two factors seem plausible. First, a secret communiqué was held between Toussaint and the French general, Etienne Laveaux. Laveaux had promised Jean-François and Biassou that they would become French generals. Conceivably, he made a similar promise to Toussaint. Toussaint’s personal ambition would lead him to eventually surpass these two former comrades in arms as he consolidated his power.
Secondly and most importantly, Toussaint was fighting for the emancipation of Haiti’s slaves. Britain and Spain were seeking to restore slavery. On August 29, 1793, French Commissioner Sonthonax decreed an end to slavery and on February 4, 1794, the National Convention affirmed the decree and pronounced the abolition of slavery throughout the Republic and demanded “that all men be free without distinction as to color.”22 Cognizant of this decree, it had to be a major influence to induce his pivot in loyalties.
20 Leyburn, 26. 21 Corbett, 15-16. 22 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 58. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 21
On May 6, 1794 in Marmelade, Toussaint joined the Spanish commandant for an early mass. When devotions concluded, he mounted his horse, drew his sword, unfurled the Tricolor of France, and his regiment cut the throats of the Spanish garrison.23
When the French defeated the Spanish in Europe, a peace treaty was signed ceding Santo Domingo over to them. Toussaint was promoted to a French brigadier general.
Over the next several years, an internal power struggle for Saint-Domingue commenced. Toussaint defeated the mulatto forces at Cap-Français and freed the French General Laveaux, who returned the favor by making him lieutenant governor. Through political maneuvering, he isolated his opponents and became governor-general and commander-in-chief. Only the British, suffering an increasing death toll from yellow fever, the Spanish in neighboring Santo Domingo, and Andre Rigaud, the mulatto general in the south, remained as threats to his absolute power.
On October 2, 1798, the British survivors left Haitian soil for the last time. Before departing, an agreement was made, whereby, Britain would not again attack Toussaint’s Saint-Domingue and he would not meddle in Jamaican affairs. With the British departure and the French authority over Hispaniola in name only, civil war commenced between the noir forces of Toussaint and the mulattos loyal to Rigaud.
French General Laveaux observed,
An abominable jealousy exists here among the gens de couleur against whites and blacks . . . the gens de couleur are in despair at seeing Toussaint Louverture, a noir, become brigadier general . . . All the gens de couleur and black affranchise [freedmen] are enemies of emancipation and equality. They cannot conceive that a former black slave can be the equal of a white man, a mulatre, or a black affranchi.24
On two separate occasions in Cap-Français and Les Cayes, Toussaint had the mulatto prisoners brought before him in the cathedrals. Mounting the pulpits, he preached a sermon of forgiveness, proclaimed amnesty, and had their fetters removed.
Rigaud's resistance ended with the fall of Jacmel on March 11, 1800, under assault from Jean- Jacques Dessalines, the besieging general loyal to Toussaint. These names would later become prominent in Haitian history. Rigaud fled to France.
Upon conquering Saint-Domingue, Toussaint’s first order of business was to order the executions of rebels, prisoners, and Rigaud’s loyal sympathizers. Dessalines complied by the
23 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 66. 24 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 69. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 22
wholesale slaughter of 5,000 to 10,000 predominate mulattoes through mass tortures and executions. Toussaint responded, “’I told him to prune the tree, not to uproot it.’”25
On January 26, 1801, Toussaint entered the capital city of Santo Domingo and consolidated his power emerging as the undisputed leader to reign over the entire island of Hispaniola.
A monumental undertaking was before him. In the wake of ten years of war, Saint-Domingue was in utter ruins. A French staff officer calculated that the white population of the colony had been reduced by at least two-thirds, the persons-of-color by one quarter, and the blacks by over a third. The plantations and the irrigation system, upon which the economy once flourished, were wretched. The trained population, who possessed technical skills and knew how to manage the economy, had long since fled to safer lands. As for the labor force, the noir slaves upon whose backs the colony prospered fled to freedom as maroons. Toussaint recognized that the salvation of Saint-Domingue lay in the restoration of agriculture. To restart the economic production of sugar, coffee, cotton, and indigo, he imposed a system where the state assumed control over abandoned plantations and leased them to senior army officers and public officials. “’Work is necessary,’ he proclaimed, ‘it is a virtue, it is for the general good of the state.’”26 Similar to the medieval feudal system, workers became tenants and were paid a quarter of the revenue and the state received the rest. When Governor General Laveaux visited Toussaint in the Petite-Riviere parish he saw “the satisfying spectacle of more than 15,000 laborers back to work, all full of gratitude to the Republic: blacks, whites, Mulattoes, laborers, proprietor—all blessing the virtuous chief whose care maintained among them order and peace.”27
Racial tensions still bred mistrust and bitter hatreds. Toussaint’s gracious manner and policies of reconciliation sought to unite the island’s peoples. Once when some blacks came to him saying they did not wish to obey either the whites or Mulattoes, “Toussaint took a glass of wine and a glass of water, mixed them together and showed the result. ‘How can you tell which is which? We must all live together.’ They went away satisfied.”28
On July 26, 1801, Toussaint Louverture published a constitution for Saint-Domingue. The principle articles centralized all power in him and named Toussaint governor-general for life, abolished slavery and color lines, accepted Roman Catholicism as the state religion, recognized the centrality of sugar plantations to the Saint-Domingue’s economy, proclaimed loyalty to France, and ascribed to himself the right to name his successor (something Napoleon was unable to due at the time).
25 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 84. 26 James, 155-156. 27 James, 157-158. 28 James, 252. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 23
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 24
Chapter 4 NAPOLEON VS. TOUSSAINT
1801 – 1803
A lovely smile may not be that of a friend. –Haitian proverb
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 25
First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte was infuriated that Toussaint published his constitution without his prior approval. He personally despised Toussaint, calling him “this gilded African,” and feared that he would lead Saint-Domingue away from France and the island’s wealth that he desperately needed. Historians have speculated that Napoleon required Hispaniola as a base for operations into the rest of the Caribbean and possibly Louisiana. For these reasons, he launched an invasion in 1801 to annihilate the government of the blacks in Saint-Domingue.
Napoleon dispatched General Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc, his brother-in-law, with over 20,000 troops carrying secret orders to arrest Toussaint and the other black leaders by deception, to reinstate slavery, and to restore absolute French rule. As bait, Napoleon sent Toussaint’s two sons, from school in France, bearing a congratulatory letter. The large and experienced invading force also included former mulatto leaders Alexander Pétion and Andre Rigaud.
When Toussaint first laid eyes on the immense armada arrayed against him, he said, “We are lost, all France has come to Saint-Dominique.”29 His military strategy would be “simple and ruthless . . . burn the towns, lay waste to the habitations, kill the blancs, fall back into the mountains, wait for climate to cripple the French, and massacre the survivors.”30
Upon Leclerc’s arrival at Cap-Français, Henri Christophe torched the city and retreated to the interior countryside to carry out a guerilla war. Toussaint's forces put up fierce resistance, ultimately causing Napoleon to commit an additional 40,000 troops.
Burning of Cap-Français
29 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 97. 30 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 98. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 26
The conflict’s decisive battle occurred from March 4-24, 1802, at the Battle of La Crete-a- Pierrot, in the Upper Artibonite Valley. General Dessalines concentrated his forces in a fort built by the British, while Toussaint and Christophe harassed Leclerc in the rear. At one point, Dessalines spread a trail of gunpowder up to the first gate and seizing a torch threatened his troops, “’I will blow up the fort if you do not defend it!’”31
A French division bravely assaulted through a murderous fire of grapeshot and musketry that slaughtered 400 attackers along with two generals. Forced to retreat, the French resumed their frontal attacks a week later with repeated day and night assaults but were repulsed each time, losing two more generals. “As the night fell and the French again pulled back, mongrel dogs ranged the field, tearing the flesh of over 700 dead and wounded Frenchmen.”32
Eventually, more than 12,000 French troops surrounded the fort, and their bombardment took its toll on the defenders as casualties amounted to over 400 as their ammunition and supplies ran low. On a daring nighttime move, 600 able-bodied Haitian troops slipped through the French lines, leaving only their dead and wounded behind.
Ultimately, the French took the fort, but they lost twice as many men. They were shocked by the blacks’ battle skills. La Crete-a-Pierrot marked the end of organized resistance.
La Crete-a-Pierrot
31 “Jean-Jacques Dessalines,” The Louverture Project, https://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Jean-Jacques_Dessalines, 1 March 2012. 32 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 101. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 27
Several of Toussaint’s generals recognized their untenable position, including Dessalines and Christophe. They convened secret rendezvouses with the French and conceded to transfer their allegiance. Recognizing his vulnerable situation, Toussaint surrendered to Leclerc on May 5, 1803.
Later, Leclerc wrote to the colonial minister in Paris, “Toussaint must not be free and should be imprisoned in the interior of the Republic. May he never see Saint-Domingue again. You cannot hold Toussaint far enough from the ocean or put him in a prison that is too strong.”33
The French assured Toussaint that he could retire quietly to civilian life at his plantation in Ennery. A month later, on June 7, 1802, Toussaint was summoned by General Brunet to a conference. The trap was set. Upon his arrival, Toussaint was arrested, driven through the night to the coastal city of Gonaives, and placed on a waiting ship. His wife and boys had also been seized. Once across the Atlantic, he was transported to a damp, frigid dungeon in Fort- de-Joux in the French Alps. On April 7, 1803, a guard discovered his lifeless body hovered over the ashes of his cold fireplace. Toussaint was unaware that the army he formerly commanded would one day vanquish Napoleon’s army and win Haiti’s coveted independence.
33 Farmer, Paul, “Who Removed Aristide?”, http://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n08/paul-farmer/who-removed- aristide, (2009). The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 28
Upon boarding the ship, Toussaint told the captain: "In overthrowing me, you have cut down in Saint-Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty. It will spring up again by the roots, for they are numerous."34
Death certificate of Toussaint Louverture
Toussaint’s legacy lived on. In 1863, John Relly Beard released his American edition of Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography, which had been released previously in England, in the “hope of affording some aid to the sacred cause of freedom, specially as involved in the extinction of slavery.”35
British poet William Wordsworth was deeply influenced by Toussaint during his early years. His 1802 sonnet while Toussaint laid freezing in a dungeon, “To Toussaint L’Ouverture,” illustrated how the Haitian leader’s legacy and imprisonment were followed around the world.
To Toussaint L’Ouverture William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
Toussaint, the most unhappy man of men! Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough Within thy hearing, or thy head be now Pillowed in some deep dungeon’s earless den;— O miserable Chieftain! where and when Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow: Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
34 “Toussaint Louverture,” The Louverture Project, 13 January 2010, https://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Toussaint_Louverture 35 J. R. Beard, Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography. iii. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 29
Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies; There’s not a breathing of the common wind That will forget thee; thou hast great allies; Thy friends are exultations, agonies, And love, and man’s unconquerable mind.
Toussaint Louverture’s cell in Fort de Joux36
36 See APPENDIX D: Letter by the French Minister of the Marine to the Fort De Joux Commandant (1802) and APPENDIX E: Toussaint L’Ouverture’s Letter to Napoleon Bonaparte from Fort De Joux (1802). The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 30
Toussaint Louverture’s statue in front of the National Palace
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 31
Chapter 5 INDEPENDENCE
1803
Damn sugar! Damn coffee! Damn colonies! –Napoleon Bonaparte
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 32
Napoleon’s hubris produced unintended consequences that he would ultimately regret. The betrayal, arrest, and deportation of Toussaint Louverture, and his mandate to restore slavery to the colonies reignited a firestorm that destabilized the collaboration of leaders such as Dessalines, Christophe, and Pétion. Realizing that if Toussaint could be abducted and extradited, everyone was vulnerable. The French had to be defeated and expelled.
For the first and only time, the noirs and mulattoes set aside their racial and social agendas for self-preservation. In March of 1802, all the rebel commanders gathered at a coastal plantation north of Port-au-Prince to approve a formal act of unification that became known as the Congress of Arcahaie. Mulatto General Alexander Pétion and noir General Jean-Jacques Dessalines agreed to combine their forces and form a single revolutionary army against the French. Dessalines was selected as the new supreme commander-in-chief.
Toussaint had fought with the French tricolor—blue, white, and red—as his standard. Tradition says that in dramatic fashion Dessalines ripped the band of white from the tricolor, ground it under his boot, and declared to the cheering crowd that he would drive the whites from the land. His goddaughter, Catherine Flon, stitched the blue and red together as a symbol of their union, the blue representing the noirs and the red for the mulattos.37
1822 painting by the Guadeloupian painter Guillaume Guillon Lethière, depicting the union of Alexandre Pétion and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and the stitching of the new flag by Catherine Flon.
37 See APPENDIX F: The History of Haiti’s Flags. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 33
The resumption of conquest cost the French heavily. As with the British, yellow fever ravaged the French legions in horrific numbers and scenes—up to eighty percent perished. In one year alone, 50,000 men perished at a rate of 30 to 50 a day at a cost of several million dollars to the national treasury. General Leclerc himself died of yellow fever. His replacement was General Rochambeau of the American Revolutionary War distinction. Rochambeau waged a bloody campaign against the uprising; hanging, shooting, drowning, and burning every noir he could find, tracking them with the 1,500 man-eating bloodhounds he purchased from Cuba. His orders forbade feeding the dogs so they would more aggressively pursue and eat the blacks.
The atrocities of Rochambeau, the noirs’ fear of re-enslavement, the despair of the homes de couleur again stripped of their rights—all these accomplished what no ruler or regime in Haiti ever again achieved. For the first and last time in the history of the country, Haitians of all colors spontaneously united in a single cause.38
Each side was under the leadership of a capable and ruthless leader. Each side traded atrocity with atrocity, the particular description of which are sickening and defy credulity of even those used to human inhumanity to humans. Torture, rape, brutal murders, mass murders of non-combatants, mutilation, forcing families to watch the torture, rape and death of loved ones and on and on. The last year of the Haitian Revolution was as savage as any conflict one can read of in human history. Thomas Ott says this had become a war of racial extermination on both sides.39
Events beyond the shores of Saint-Domingue doomed the campaign to failure. By 1803, war resumed between France and Britain, and Napoleon once again concentrated his energies on the struggle in Europe. Rochambeau's army would not be reinforced or resupplied in sufficient numbers; therefore, they were left alone and outnumbered to fend for themselves. In April of that year, Napoleon signed a treaty with the United States for the purchase of Louisiana, thus ending his ambitions of conquest in the Western Hemisphere.
38 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 109. 39 Corbett, 24. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 34
Battle of Vertières
In November of 1803, the Battle of Vertières, the final battle of a long and brutal revolution commenced in Cap-Français. Troops led by rebel General Capoix-la-Mort mounted fearless frontal attacks on the city’s forts. His bravery was formally saluted by Rochambeau during a cease- fire amid of the battle. In a final desperate act reminiscent of French Grenadiers of Napoleon’s European campaigns, Rochambeau launched a counterattack which was repulsed in hand-to-hand combat.
Napoleon's forces were defeated; Saint-Dominique was lost. Dessalines’ terms of surrender gave Rochambeau and his army ten days to depart and a promise of safe-conduct to the wounded until they were able to return to France. Rochambeau chose to surrender to British authorities rather than face the retribution of the liberated. He fled to Jamaica. Eight hundred of the remaining French sick and wounded were loaded onto barges, taken out to sea, and drowned, on orders from Dessalines.
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 35
When Napoleon learned of the defeat on Saint-Domingue at the cost of over 50,000 soldiers and sailors, he burst out, “Damn sugar! Damn coffee! Damn colonies!” Later reflecting while in exile on St. Helena, he said, “I must reproach myself for the attempt on Saint-Domingue during the Consulship. It was a grave mistake. I should have been satisfied to govern by means of Toussaint L’Ouverture.”40
“After 13 years of revolutionary activity, France was formally removed from the island and Haitian independence declared, only the second republic in the Americas. The country was in ruins, the masses mainly uneducated and struggling for survival.”41
In 1789, the population of the colony, not counting whites, numbered at least 700,000. The first census of free Haiti in 1824 numbered 351,819 persons. It thus appears (no historian can ever know with certainty) that the revolution in Saint-Dominque devoured at least 50 percent of its children.42
On January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared the nation independent, and named it Haiti after its indigenous Arawak name, making it the first black and former slave republic in the world. The legacy of the revolution lives strong in the hearts of the Haitian people. It is their source of pride that stands as an enduring testament to their struggle and triumph over oppression and racism. Statues and tributes stand throughout the nation as a constant reminder to a once glorious moment. Through the ages, Haiti’s liberation has reverberated throughout the world.
The Haitian Revolution was a remarkable phenomenon, which is of great importance for many people concerned with revolutionary class struggles, colonialism, black history, Latin American and the Caribbean, particularly with the country of Haiti.43 44
40 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 111. 41 Corbett, 24. 42 Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 114. 43 “Country Studies: Haiti,” United States Library of Congress, data file, Assessed December 4, 2008, http://countrystudies.us/haiti/39.htm. 44 For an extended and contemporary commentary on the Haitian Revolution and the policies of Toussaint Louverture, see APPENDIX C: Thomas Clarkson: Thoughts on The Haitian Revolution (1823). The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 36
Battle of Vertières monument, Cap-Haitien
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 37
APPENDIX A: A HISTORY OF HAITI TIMELINE (1492 – 2010)
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 38
APPENDIX B: TALE OF TWO REVOLUTIONS (1789 – 1804)
Napoleon sells Louisiana Territory First Consul- Napoleon Napoleonic Wars begin National Convention dissolved; Executive Directory established Napoleon's "grape shot" Robespierre executed Committee of Public Safety & the Reign of Terror; Marie Antoinette guillotined Louis XVI guillotined; War with Britain, Holland, Spain Tuileries Palace stormed- Louis XVI arrested; National Convention-royalty abolished Paris food riots: guillotine adopted as official means of execution Louis XVI flees but returned to Paris; Legislative Assembly meets Constitution accepted "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" adopted Fall of Bastille; Women's March on Versailles- Louis XVI moves to Paris Estates General convened; National Assembly- Tennis Court Oath 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 FRENCH REVOLUTION HAITIAN REVOLUTION 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 People of color delgation sent to National Assembly; Oge & Chavennes (people of color) revolt & executed National Assembly gives full political rights to people of color & free blacks Bois Caiman Ceremony: Haitian Revolution begins Legislative Assembly revokes the political rights of the people of color Legislative Assembly grants freedom to mulattos & free blacks; France sends 6000 troops Toussaint begins fighting for Spain; British invade & reinstitutes slavery Sonthonax emancipates the slaves French National Convention abolishes slavery in the colonies Toussaint changes allegiance to France Treaty of Basil- Spains cedes western third of the island to France Toussaint named Lieutenant Governor Toussaint appointed Commander-in-Chief British leave Saint-Dominigue Napoleon issues Proclamation of Saint-Domingue Toussaint conquers Saint Domingo Toussaint publishes a constitution Toussaint abolishes slavery Napoleon's Invasion Napoleon reinstitutes slavery Toussaint betrayed & deported Battle of Vertieres Independence
2017 © Michael S. VanHook The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 39
APPENDIX C: THOMAS CLARKSON: THOUGHTS ON THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION (1823)
The following is an excerpt from the 1823 book by Thomas Clarkson, Thoughts on the Necessity for Improving the Condition of the Slaves in the British Colonies. It illustrates the importance many observers gave to the Haitian Revolution.
Clarkson, a British abolitionist, was not only a contemporary of Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Toussaint Louverture but was also directly involved in the struggle in Saint- Domingue, for example through his support of Vincent Ogé in the years leading up to the start of the Haitian Revolution after the 1791 Vodou ceremonies of Bois Caïman.
To do justice to this case [the end of slavery in Haiti], I must give a history of the different circumstances connected with it. It may be remembered, then, that when the French Revolution, which decreed equality of rights to all citizens, had taken place, the free People of Colour of St. Domingo, many of whom were persons of large property and liberal education, petitioned the National Assembly, that they might enjoy the same political privileges as the Whites there. At length the subject of the petition was discussed, but not till the 8th of March 1790, when the Assembly agreed upon a decree concerning it. The decree, however, was worded so ambiguously, that the two parties in St. Domingo, the Whites and the People of Colour, interpreted it each of them in its own favour. This difference of interpretation gave rise to animosities between them, and these animosities were augmented by political party-spirit, according as they were royalists or partizans of the French Revolution, so that disturbances took place and blood was shed.
In the year 1791, the People of Colour petitioned the Assembly again, but principally for an explanation of the decree in question. On the 15th of May, the subject was taken into consideration, and the result was another decree in explicit terms, which determined, that the People of Colour in all the French islands were entitled to all the rights of citizenship, provided they were born of free parents on both sides. The news of this decree had no sooner arrived at the Cape, than it produced an indignation almost amounting to phrensy among the Whites. They directly trampled underfoot the national cockade, and with difficulty were prevented from seizing all the French merchant ships in the roads. After this the two parties armed against each other. Even camps began to be formed. Horrible massacres and conflagrations followed, the reports of which, when brought to the mother-country, were so terrible, that the Assembly abolished the decree in favour of the Free People of Colour in the same year. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 40
In the year 1792, the news of the rescinding of the decree as now stated, produced, when it reached St. Domingo, as much irritation among the People of Colour, as the news of the passing of it had done among the Whites, and hostilities were renewed between them, so that new battles, massacres, and burnings, took place. Suffice it to say, that as soon as these events became known in France, the Conventional Assembly, which had then succeeded the Legislative, took them into consideration. Seeing, however, nothing but difficulties and no hope of reconciliation on either side, they knew not what other course to take than to do justice, whatever the consequences might be. They resolved, accordingly, in the month of April, that the decree of 1791, which had been both made and reversed by the preceding Assembly in the same year, should stand good. They restored therefore the People of Colour to the privileges which had been before voted to them, and appointed Santhonax, Polverel, and another, to repair in person to St. Domingo, with a large body of troops, and to act there as commissioners, and, among other things, to enforce the decree and to keep the peace.
In the year 1793, the same divisions and the same bad blood continuing, notwithstanding the arrival of the commissioners, a very trivial matter, viz. a quarrel between a Mulatto and a White man (an officer in the French marine), gave rise to new disasters. This quarrel took place on the 20th of June. On the same day the seamen left their ships in the roads, and came on shore, and made common cause of the affair with the white inhabitants of the town. On the other side were opposed the Mulattos and other People of Colour, and these were afterwards joined by some insurgent Blacks. The battle lasted nearly two days. During this time the arsenal was taken and plundered, and some thousands were killed in the streets, and more than half the town was burnt. The commissioners, who were spectators of this horrible scene, and who had done all they could to restore peace, escaped unhurt, but they were left upon a heap of ruins, and with but little more power than the authority which their commission gave them. They had only about a thousand troops left in the place. They determined, therefore, under these circumstances, to call in the Negro Slaves in the neighbourhood to their assistance. They issued a proclamation in consequence, by which they promised to give freedom to all the Blacks who were willing to range themselves under the banners of the Republic. This was the first proclamation made by public authority for emancipating slaves in St. Domingo. It is usually called the Proclamation of Santhonax [Sonthonax], though both commissioners had a hand in it; and sometimes, in allusion to the place where it was issued (the Cape), the Proclamation of the North. The result of it was, that a considerable number of slaves came in and were enfranchised.
Soon after this transaction Polverel left his colleague Santhonax at the Cape and went in his capacity of commissioner to Port au Prince, the capital of the West. Here he found everything quiet, and cultivation in a flourishing state. From Port au Prince he visited Les Cayes, the capital of the South. He had not, however, been long there, before he found that the minds of the slaves began to be in an unsettled state. They had become acquainted The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 41
with what had taken place in the north, not only with the riots at the Cape, but the proclamation of Santhonax. Now this proclamation, though it sanctioned freedom only for a particular or temporary purpose, did not exclude it from any particular quarter. The terms therefore appeared to be open to all who would accept them. Polverel therefore, seeing the impression which it had begun to make upon the minds of the slaves in these parts, was convinced that emancipation could be neither stopped nor retarded, and that it was absolutely necessary for the personal safety of the white planters, that it should be extended to the whole island. He was so convinced of the necessity of this, that he drew up a proclamation without further delay to that effect and put it into circulation. He dated it from Les Cayes. He exhorted the planters to patronize it. He advised them, if they wished to avoid the most serious calamities, to concur themselves in the proposition of giving freedom to their slaves. He then caused a register to be opened at the Government house to receive the signatures of all those who should approve of his advice. It was remarkable that all the proprietors in these parts inscribed their names in the book. He then caused a similar register to be opened at Port au Prince for the West. Here the same disposition was found to prevail. All the planters, except one, gave in their signatures. They had become pretty generally convinced by this time, that their own personal safety was connected with the measure. It may be proper to observe here, that the proclamation last mentioned, which preceded these registries, though it was the act of Polverel alone, was sanctioned afterwards by Santhonax. It is, however, usually called the Proclamation of Polverel or of Les Cayes. It came out in September 1793. We may now add, that in the month of February 1794, the Conventional Assembly of France, though probably ignorant of what the commissioners had now done, passed a decree for the abolition of slavery throughout the whole of the French colonies. Thus, the Government of the mother- country, without knowing it, confirmed freedom to those upon whom it had been bestowed by the commissioners. This decree put therefore the finishing stroke to the whole. It completed the emancipation of the whole slave population of St. Domingo.
Having now given a concise history of the abolition of slavery in St. Domingo, I shall inquire how those who were liberated on these several occasions conducted themselves after this change in their situation. It is of great importance to us to know, whether they used their freedom properly, or whether they abused it.
With respect to those emancipated by Santhonax in the North, we have nothing to communicate. They were made free for military purposes only; and we have no clue whereby we can find out what became of them afterwards.
With respect to those who were emancipated next in the South, and those directly afterwards in the West, by the proclamation of Polverel, we are enabled to give a very pleasing account. Fortunately for our views, Colonel Malenfant, who was resident in the island at the time, has made us acquainted with their general conduct and character. His account, though short, is quite sufficient for our purpose. Indeed, it is highly satisfactory The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 42
6. "After this public act of emancipation," says he, (by Polverel,) "the Negroes remained quiet both in the South and in the West, and they continued to work upon all the plantations. There were estates, indeed, which had neither owners nor managers resident upon them, for some of these had been put into prison by Montbrun; and others, fearing the same fate, had fled to the quarter which had just been given up to the English. Yet upon these estates, though abandoned, the Negroes continued their labours, where there were any, even inferior, agents to guide them; and on those estates, where no white men were left to direct them, they betook themselves to the planting of provisions; but upon all the plantations where the Whites resided, the Blacks continued to labour as quietly as before." A little further on in the work, ridiculing the notion entertained in France, that the Negroes would not work without compulsion, he takes occasion to allude to other Negroes, who had been liberated by the same proclamation, but who were more immediately under his own eye and cognizance 7. "If," says he, "you will take care not to speak to them of their return to slavery, but talk to them about their liberty, you may with this latter word chain them down to their labour. How did Toussaint succeed? How did I succeed also before his time in the plain of the Cul de Sac, and on the Plantation Gouraud, more than eight months after liberty had been granted (by Polverel) to the slaves? Let those who knew me at that time, and even the Blacks themselves, be asked. They will all reply, that not a single Negro upon that plantation, consisting of more than four hundred and fifty labourers, refused to work; and yet this plantation was thought to be under the worst discipline, and the slaves the most idle, of any in the plain. I, myself, inspired the same activity into three other plantations, of which I had the management."
The above account is far beyond anything that could have been expected. Indeed, it is most gratifying. We find that the liberated Negroes, both in the South and the West, continued to work upon their old plantations, and for their old masters; that there was also a spirit of industry among them, and that they gave no uneasiness to their employers; for they are described as continuing to work as quietly as before. Such was the conduct of the Negroes for the first nine months after their liberation, or up to the middle of 1794. Let us pursue the subject and see how they conducted themselves after this period.
During the year 1795 and part of 1796 I learn nothing about them, neither good, nor bad, nor indifferent, though I have ransacked the French historians for this purpose. Had there, however, been anything in the way of outrage, I should have heard of it; and let me take this opportunity of setting my readers right, if, for want of knowing the dates of occurrences, they should have connected certain outrages, which assuredly took place in St. Domingo, with the emancipation of the slaves. The great massacres and conflagrations, which have made so frightful a picture in the history of this unhappy island, had been all effected before the proclamations of Santhonax and Polverel. They had all taken place in the days of slavery, or before the year 1794, that is, before the great conventional decree of the mother country was known. They had been occasioned, too, not originally by the slaves themselves, but by quarrels between the white and coloured The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 43
planters, and between the royalists and the revolutionists, who, for the purpose of reeking their vengeance upon each other, called in the aid of their respective slaves; and as to the insurgent Negroes of the North, who filled that part of the colony so often with terror and dismay, they were originally put in motion, according to Malenfant, under the auspices of the royalists themselves, to strengthen their own cause, and to put down the partizans of the French revolution. When Jean François and Biassou commenced the insurrection, there were many white royalists with them, and the Negroes were made to wear the white cockade. I repeat, then, that during the years 1795 and 1796, I can find nothing in the History of St. Domingo, wherewith to reproach the emancipated Negroes in the way of outrage 8. There is every reason, on the other hand, to believe, that they conducted themselves, during this period, in as orderly a manner as before.
I come now to the latter part of the year 1796; and here happily a clue is furnished me, by which I have an opportunity of pursuing my inquiry with pleasure. We shall find, that from this time there was no want of industry in those who had been emancipated, nor want of obedience in them as hired servants: they maintained, on the other hand, a respectable character. Let us appeal first to Malenfant. "The colony," says he 9, "was flourishing under Toussaint. The Whites lived happily and in peace upon their estates, and the Negroes continued to work for them." Now Toussaint came into power, being general-in-chief of the armies of St. Domingo, a little before the end of the year 1796, and remained in power till the year 1802, or till the invasion of the island by the French expedition of Buonaparte [Bonaparte] under Leclerc. Malenfant means therefore to state, that from the latter end of 1796 to 1802, a period of six years, the planters or farmers kept possession of their estates; that they lived upon them, and that they lived upon them peaceably, that is, without interruption or disturbance from anyone; and, finally, that the Negroes, though they had been all set free, continued to be their labourers. Can there be any account more favourable to our views than this, after so sudden an emancipation.
I may appeal next to General Lacroix, who published his "Memoirs for a History of St. Domingo," at Paris, in 1819. He informs us, that when Santhonax, who had been recalled to France by the Government there, returned to the colony in 1796, "he was astonished at the state in which he found it on his return." This, says Lacroix 10, "was owing to Toussaint, who, while he had succeeded in establishing perfect order and discipline among the black troops, had succeeded also in making the black labourers return to the plantations, there to resume the drudgery of cultivation."
But the same author tells us, that in the next year (1797) the most wonderful progress had been made in agriculture. He uses these remarkable words: "The colony," says he 11, "marched, as by enchantment, towards its ancient splendour; cultivation prospered; every day produced perceptible proofs of its progress. The city of the Cape and the plantations of the North rose up again visibly to the eye." Now I am far from wishing to attribute all this wonderful improvement, this daily visible progress in agriculture, to the The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 44
mere act of the emancipation of the slaves in St. Domingo. I know that many other circumstances which I could specify, if I had room, contributed towards its growth; but I must be allowed to maintain, that unless the Negroes, who were then free, had done their part as labourers, both by working regularly and industriously, and by obeying the directions of their superintendants or masters, the colony could never have gone on, as relates to cultivation, with the rapidity described.
The next witness to whom I shall appeal, is the estimable General Vincent, who lives now at Paris, though at an advanced age. Vincent was a colonel, and afterwards a general of brigade of artillery in St. Domingo. He was stationed there during the time both of Santhonax and Toussaint. He was also a proprietor of estates in the island. He was the man who planned the renovation of its agriculture after the abolition of slavery, and one of the great instruments in bringing it to the perfection mentioned by Lacroix. In the year 1801, he was called upon by Toussaint to repair to Paris, to lay before the Directory the new constitution, which had been agreed upon in St. Domingo. He obeyed the summons. It happened, that he arrived in France just at the moment of the peace of Amiens; here he found, to his inexpressible surprise and grief, that Buonaparte was preparing an immense armament, to be commanded by Leclerc, for the purpose of restoring slavery in St. Domingo. He lost no time in seeing the First Consul, and he had the courage to say at this interview what, perhaps, no other man in France would have dared to say at this particular moment. He remonstrated against the expedition; he told him to his face, that though the army destined for this purpose was composed of the brilliant conquerors of Europe, it could do nothing in the Antilles. It would most assuredly be destroyed by the climate of St. Domingo, even though it should be doubtful, whether it would not be destroyed by the Blacks. He stated, as another argument against the expedition, that it was totally unnecessary, and therefore criminal; for that everything was going on well in St. Domingo. The proprietors were in peaceable possession of their estates; cultivation was making a rapid progress; the Blacks were industrious, and beyond example happy. He conjured him, therefore, in the name of humanity, not to reverse this beautiful state of things. But alas! his efforts were ineffectual. The die had been cast: and the only reward, which he received from Buonaparte for his manly and faithful representations, was banishment to the Isle of Elba.
Having carried my examination into the conduct of the Negroes after their liberation to 1802, or to the invasion of the island by Leclerc, I must now leave a blank for nearly two years, or till the year 1804. It cannot be expected during a war, in which every man was called to arms to defend his own personal liberty, and that of every individual of his family, that we should see plantations cultivated as quietly as before, or even cultivated at all. But this was not the fault of the emancipated Negroes, but of their former masters. It was owing to the prejudices of the latter, that this frightful invasion took place; prejudices, indeed, common to all planters, where slavery obtains, from the very nature of their situation, and upon which I have made my observations in a former place. Accustomed to The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 45
the use of arbitrary power, they could no longer brook the loss of their whips. Accustomed again to look down upon the Negroes as an inferior race of beings, or as the reptiles of the earth, they could not bear, peaceably as these had conducted themselves, to come into that familiar contact with them, as free labourers, which the change of their situation required. They considered them, too, as property lost, but which was to be recovered. In an evil hour, they prevailed upon Buonaparte, by false representations and promises of pecuniary support, to restore things to their former state. The hellish expedition at length arrived upon the shores of St. Domingo—a scene of blood and torture followed, such as history had never before disclosed, and compared with which, though planned and executed by Whites 12, all the barbarities said to have been perpetrated by the insurgent Blacks of the North, amount comparatively to nothing. In fine, the French were driven from the island. Till that time, the planters retained their property, and then it was, but not till then, that they lost their all; it cannot, therefore, be expected, as I have said before, that I should have anything to say in favour of the industry or good order of the emancipated Negroes, during such a convulsive period.
In the year 1804, Dessalines was proclaimed emperor of this fine territory. Here I resume the thread of my history, (though it will be but for a moment,) in order that I may follow it to its end. In process of time, the black troops, containing the Negroes in question, were disbanded, except such as were retained for the peace-establishment of the army. They, who were disbanded, returned to cultivation. As they were free when they became soldiers, so they continued to be free when they became labourers again. From that time to this, there has been no want of subordination or industry among them. They or their descendants are the persons, by whom the plains and valleys of St. Domingo are still cultivated, and they are reported to follow their occupations still, and with as fair a character as other free labourers in any other quarter of the globe.
We have now seen, that the emancipated Negroes never abused their liberty, from the year 1793 (the era of their general emancipation) to the present day, a period of thirty years. An important question then seems to force itself upon us, "What were the measures taken after so frightful an event, as that of emancipation, to secure the tranquillity and order which has been described, or to rescue the planters and the colony from ruin?" I am bound to answer this, if I can, were it only to gratify the curiosity of my readers; but more particularly when I consider, that if emancipation should ever be in contemplation in our own colonies, it will be desirable to have all the light possible upon that subject, and particularly of precedent or example. It appears then, that the two commissioners, Santhonax [Sonthonax] and Polverel, aware of the mischief which might attend their decrees, were obliged to take the best measures they could devise to prevent it. One of their first steps was to draw up a short code of rules to be observed upon the plantations. These rules were printed and made public. They were also ordered to be read aloud to all the Negroes upon every estate, for which purpose the latter were to be assembled at a particular hour once a week. The preamble to these regulations insisted upon the The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 46
necessity of working, without which everything would go to ruin. Among the articles, the two the most worthy of our notice were, that the labourers were to be obliged to hire themselves to their masters for not less than a year, at the end of which (September) [the start of the year in the French Republican Calendar], but not before, they might quit their service, and engage with others; and that they were to receive a third part of the produce of the estate, as a recompense for their labour. These two were fundamental articles. As to the minor, they were not alike upon every estate. This code of the commissioners subsisted for about three years.
Toussaint, when he came into power, reconsidered this subject, and adopted a code of rules of his own. His first object was to prevent oppression on the part of the master or employer, and yet to secure obedience on the part of the labourer. Conceiving that there could be no liberty where any one man had the power of punishing another at his discretion, he took away from every master the use of the whip, and of the chain, and of every other instrument of correction, either by himself or his own order: he took away, in fact, all power of arbitrary punishment. Every master offending against this regulation was to be summoned, on complaint by the labourer, before a magistrate or intendant of police, who was to examine into the case, and to act accordingly. Conceiving, on the other hand, that a just subordination ought to be kept up, and that, wherever delinquency occurred, punishment ought to follow, he ordained, that all labourers offending against the plantation laws, or not performing their contracts, should be brought before the same magistrate or intendant of police, who should examine them touching such delinquency, and decide as in the former case: thus, he administered justice without respect of persons. It must be noticed that all punishments were to be executed by a civil officer, a sort of public executioner, that they might be considered as punishments by the state. Thus, he kept up discipline on the plantations, without lessening authority on the one hand, and without invading the liberty of individuals on the other.
Among his plantation offences was idleness on the part of the labourer. A man was not to receive wages from his master, and to do nothing. He was obliged to perform a reasonable quantity of work or be punished. Another offence was absence without leave, which was considered as desertion.
Toussaint differed from the commissioners, as to the length of time for which labourers should engage themselves to masters. He thought it unwise to allow the former, in the infancy of their liberty, to get notions of change and rambling at the end of every year. He ordained, therefore, that they should be attached to the plantations, and made, though free labourers, a sort of adscripti glebae [being tied to the soil/ a serf] for five years.
He differed again from the commissioners, as to the quantum of compensation for their labour. He thought one-third of the produce too much, seeing that the planter had The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 47
another third to pay to the Government. He ordered, therefore, one-fourth to the labourer, but this was in the case only, where the labourer clothed and maintained himself: where he did not do this, he was entitled to a fourth only nominally, for out of this his master was to make a deduction for board and clothing.
The above is all I have been able to collect of the code of Toussaint, which, under his auspices, had the surprising effect of preserving tranquillity and order, and of keeping up a spirit of industry on the plantations of St. Domingo, at a time when only idleness and anarchy were to have been expected. It was in force when Leclerc arrived with his invading army, and it continued in force when the French army were beaten, and Negro-liberty confirmed. From Toussaint it passed to Dessalines, and from Dessalines to Christophe and Petion, and from the two latter to Boyer; and it is the code therefore which regulates, and I believe with but very little variation, the relative situation of master and servant in husbandry at this present hour.
But it is time that I should now wind up the case before us. And first, will anyone say that this case is not analogous to that which we have in contemplation? Let us remember that the number of slaves liberated by the French decrees in St. Domingo was very little short of 500,000 persons, and that this was nearly equal to the number of all the slaves then in the British West Indian Islands when put together. But if there be a want of analogy, the difference lies on my side of the question. I maintain that emancipation in St. Domingo was attended with far more hazard to persons and property, and with far greater difficulties, than it could possibly be, if attempted in our own islands. Can we forget that by the decree of Polverel, sanctioned afterwards by the Convention, all the slaves were made free at once, or in a single day? No notice was given of the event, and of course no preparation could be made for it. They were released suddenly from all their former obligations and restraints. They were let loose upon the Whites, their masters, with all the vices of slavery upon them. What was to have been expected but the dissolution of all civilized society, with the reign of barbarism and terror? Now all I ask for with respect to the slaves in our own islands is, that they should be emancipated by degrees, or that they should be made to pass through a certain course of discipline, as through a preparatory school, to fit them for the right use of their freedom. Again, can we forget the unfavourable circumstances, in which the slaves of St. Domingo were placed, for a year or two before their liberation, in another point of view? The island at this juncture was a prey to political discord, civil war, and foreign invasion, at the same time. Their masters were politically at variance with each other, as they were white or coloured persons, or republicans or royalists. They were quarrelling and fighting with each other and shedding each other's blood. The English, who were in possession of the strong maritime posts, were alarming the country by their incursions: they, the slaves, had been trained up to the same political animosities. They had been made to take the side of their respective masters, and to pass through scenes of violence and bloodshed. Now, whenever emancipation is to be proposed in our own colonies, I anticipate neither political parties, The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 48
nor civil wars, nor foreign invasion, but a time of tranquillity and peace. Who then will be bold enough to say, after these remarks, that there could be anything like the danger and difficulties in emancipating the slaves there, which existed when the slaves of St. Domingo were made free? But some objector may say, after all, "There is one point in which your analogy is deficient. While Toussaint was in power, the Government of St. Domingo was a black one, and the Blacks would be more willing to submit to the authority of a black (their own) Government, than of a white one. Hence there Were less disorders after emancipation in St. Domingo, than would have probably occurred, had it been tried in our own islands." But to such an objector I should reply that he knows nothing of the history of St. Domingo. The Government of that island was French, or white, from the very infancy of emancipation to the arrival of the expedition of Leclerc. The slaves were made free under the government of Santhonax and Polverel. When these retired, other white commissioners succeeded them. When Toussaint came into power, he was not supreme; Generals Hedouille, Vincent, and others, had a share in the government. Toussaint himself received his commission from the French Directory and acted under it. He caused it everywhere to be made known, but particularly among his officers and troops, that he retained the island for the French Government, and that France was the mother-country.
Source: Thomas, Clarkson, Thoughts on the Necessity for Improving the Condition of the Slaves in the British Colonies, “Thomas Clarkson: Thoughts on The Haitian Revolution,” The Louverture Project, https://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Thomas_Clarkson_- _Thoughts_on_The_Haitian_Revolution. 10 October 2007.
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APPENDIX D: LETTER BY THE FRENCH MINISTER OF THE MARINE TO THE FORT DE JOUX COMMANDANT (1802)
Toussaint Louverture arrived at the French prison Fort de Joux in August of 1802. French Minister of Marine, Admiral Denis Decrès, delivered Napoléon Bonaparte’s orders to ensure that Toussaint’s conditions of imprisonment would be as difficult as possible by giving the following instructions to the Prison Commandant Amyot.
Minister of the Marine to the Commandant at Fort de Joux
5 Brumaire, Year X (October 27, 1802)
I received your letter of 26 Vendémiare relative to the prisoner of state Toussaint Louverture. The First Consul charged me to make known to you that you will respond with your head for his person. Toussaint Louverture has no right to any consideration other than that demanded by humanity. Hypocrisy is a vice as familiar to him as honor and loyalty are to you, Citizen Commandant. His conduct since his detention is such as to have fixed your opinions on what one should expect of him. You have seen yourself that he sought to fool you, and you were in fact fooled by the admission to his presence of one of his satellites disguised as a doctor.
You should not restrict yourself to what you've done in order to assure yourself that he has neither money nor jewels. You must search everywhere to assure yourself and examine to make sure that he hasn’t hidden or buried any in his prison. Take his watch from him. If this is agreeable to him, this need can be met by establishing in his room one of those cheap clocks that are good enough to show the passing of time. If he is sick, the health officer best known by you must alone care for him and see him, but only when it’s necessary and in your presence, and with the greatest precautions so that these visits don’t in any way go beyond the sphere of what is most indispensable.
The only way Toussaint would have to see his lot improved would be for him to set aside his dissimulation. His personal interests, the religious sentiments with which he should have been penetrated for the expiation of the evil he has done, imposed on him the obligation of truthfulness. But he is far from fulfilling it, and by his continual dissimulation he approaches those who approach him with interest in his lot. You can tell him he can be tranquil concerning the lot of his family; its existence is committed to my care and they want for nothing. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 50
I presume that you have put away from him everything that could bear any relation to a uniform. Toussaint is his name; it’s the only denomination that should be given him. A warm garment, gray or brown, large and comfortable, and a round hat should be his apparel. When he brags of having been a general he does nothing but recall his crimes, his hideous conduct, and his tyranny over Europeans. He merits then, nothing but the most profound contempt for his ridiculous pride. I salute you.
Toussaint died at Fort de Joux on April 7, 1803.
Source: “Letter by the French Minister of the Marine to the Fort de Joux Commandant (1802),” The Louverture Project, https://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Letter_by_the_French_Minister_of_the_Marine_to_t he_Fort_de_Joux_Commandant_(1802), 11 September 2006. The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 51
APPENDIX E: TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE’S LETTER TO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE FROM FORT DE JOUX (1802)
Toussaint Louverture wrote the following letter from captivity in the dungeon at Fort de Joux to Napoléon Bonaparte.
In the dungeon of Fort Joux, this 30 Fructidor, an XI. (17th September, 1802)
General, and First Consul,
The respect and the submission which I could wish forever graven on my heart [here words are wanting as if obliterated by tears (Beard)]. If I have sinned in doing my duty, it is contrary to my intentions; if I was wrong in forming the constitution, it was through my great desire to do good; it was through having employed too much zeal, too much self- love, thinking I was pleasing the Government under which I was; if the formalities which I ought to have observed were neglected, it was through inattention. I have had the misfortune to incur your wrath, but as to fidelity and probity, I am strong in my conscience, and I dare affirm, that among all the servants of the state no one is more honest than myself. I was one of your soldiers, and the first servant of the Republic in St. Domingo; but now I am wretched, ruined, dishonored, a victim of my own services; let your sensibility be moved at my position. You are too great in feeling and too just not to pronounce a judgment as to my destiny. I charge General Cafarelli, your aide-de-camp, to put my report into your hands. I beg you to take it into your best consideration. His honor, his frankness have forced me to open my heart to him.
Salutation and respect, Toussaint L'Ouverture
Source: “Toussaint letter to Napoléon from Fort de Joux (1802),” The Louverture Project, https://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Toussaint_letter_to_Napol%C3%A9on_from_Fort_de _Joux_(1802), 17 September 2007.
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APPENDIX F: THE HISTORY OF HAITI’S FLAG
On May 18, 1802, the leading generals of the revolution gathered for a formal act of unification and collaboration at the Congress of Arcahaie. As Dessalines stood to address his commanders, the table was draped in the French Tricolor. Seizing the flag, he tore out the white and ground it underfoot. His wife’s goddaughter stitched it together and Haiti had her first flag. The motto “Liberté ou la mort” (Liberty or Death) was inscribed in white, harkening back to the Bois Caïman Ceremony that had originally launched the revolution in 1791.
After Haiti’s independence, Dessalines substituted black for the blue, designating the new nation’s two races noir and mulatto. Eliminating the white was more than symbolic for him; he embarked on a path of racial extermination after independence was gained, wanting nothing to do with blancs. The fifth stanza of Haiti’s national anthem, “La Dessalinienne,” reads, For the Flag, for the Nation, It is good to die, it is good to die, Our past shouts: Thou shall have harden your soul. It is good to die, it is good to die, For the Flag, for the Nation, The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 53
It is good to die, die, die, For the Flag, for the Nation.
Dessalines’ flag Coat of Arms
President Petion restored the blue and red but rearranged the strips horizontally. He also emblazoned the flag with Haiti’s national coat of arms—a palm tree with the Phrygian cap, a symbol of freedom, and two cannons. The motto at the bottom reads, “L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE” (In Unity There Is Strength or Union Makes Strength).
King Henri’s flag Faustin’s flag
Henri Christophe rebelled from the Republic of Haiti and Petion, establishing the Kingdom of Haiti in the northern regions. His red and black banner had in the center, a shield with a phoenix under five five-pointed stars, all in gold on a blue background, a shield and a crown, with the Latin inscription “ex cinerebus nascitur.” In 1849, Faustin Soulouque proclaimed himself emperor under the title of Faustin I. The blue-red flag was established in the 1849 constitution, but the shield was modified. Faustin's Empire ended in 1859 and the previous coat of arms was restored.
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 54
Republic of Spanish Haiti Francois Duvalier’s flag
President Boyer annexed the Spanish part of the island, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), in February 1822, after it had proclaimed its independence from Spain. It was renamed Republica del Haiti espanol (Republic of Spanish Haiti).
In 1964, Francois Duvalier established himself as President for Life with a new constitution. The flag was reverted to the black and red with the omission of the Cap of Liberty. The black was placed beside the staff because “black is the color of true Haiti.” Duvalier stated, “The Haitian flag and I are one and indivisible.” When Duvalier’s heir, his son Jean-Claude, was deposed in a coup d’état in February 7, 1986, long-hidden blue and red flags emerged to be carried by marchers in the streets. The current flag of Haiti was formally adopted on February 25, 1987.
The flag, long a symbol of Haitian pride, is celebrated annually on May 18 as Haitian Flag Day. Events take place not just in Haiti, but by the international Haitian diaspora. People come together and enjoy the day food singing, and dancing.
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 55
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Martin, Katrina. “Duvalierism, With and Without Duvalier: Radio Haiti Commemorates the Massacres of April 26, 1963 and 1986.” Duke University blog. April 26, 2016. https://blogs.library.duke.edu/rubenstein/2016/04/26/duvalierism-without- duvalier-radio-haiti-commemorates-massacres-april-26-1963-1986/.
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Martínez, Elías. “Voodoo Politics And The Man Who Claimed To Kill Kennedy” September 23, 2015. https://cvltnation.com/voodoo-politics-and-the-man-who- killed-kennedy/
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Reiss, Tom. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2012.
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IMAGES:
Battle on Santo Domingo- http://gallery.e2bn.org/gallery_images/0709/0000/0262/ hatian_revolutionsan_domingo_mid.jpg
Fort Liberte’ Bay- Michael VanHook, 02/2002
Bois Caïman Ceremony- http://www.albany.edu/~js3980/haitian-revolution.html
Boukman- http://www.ulrickjeanpierre.com/boukinv.JPG
Painting Mystery and Memory: Bois Caïman in Visual Art- https://sites.duke.edu/blackatlantic/files/2014/03/Paintings-of-Bois- Caiman.jpg
Neg Mawon Statue- https://haitisakplen.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/neg-mawon/ (the statue of the Neg Mawon trumpets the same message that he has heralded since being placed there in 1959, “Men are free, and free men will overcome.” The chains wrapped about his wrists, a testament of his victory over enslavement. The machete in his hand, symbolizing his will to provide for his own. The conch drawn to his mouth, proclaiming his fervor for freedom to all who will hear.)
St. Dominique Rebellion- https://www.pinterest.com/pauline_paulo/haitian- revolution/
Beheading of Louis XVI- http://www.napoleonguide.com/images/execlouis.jpg
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax- https://thelouvertureproject.org/images/thumb/0/09/ Sonthonax.jpg/180px-Sonthonax.jpg
Revolution- https://kentakepage.com/a-date-to-remember-22-august-1791-the- haitian-revolution/
Toussaint Portrait- http://thelouvertureproject.org/images/c/c9/T_louverture_portrait.jpg
Toussaint- http://www.discoverhaiti.com/images/toussaint1.jpg
Toussaint and his generals- http://www.corbisimages.com/images/SF30163.jpg?size=67&uid= 4BE95DB3- 096E-4B1E-9112-4C1D814BFB71
Toussaint’s Constitution- http://abolition.nypl.org/content/images/image/full/1206626.jpg The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 61
Napoleon- http://www.historyofwar.org/Pictures/napoleon.jpg
Toussaint L’Ouverture- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/images/ the_abolitionists_gallery_05.jpg
Burning of Cap Français- http://researchmagazine.uga.edu/summer2005/summer05art/fp_black_3.jpg
La Crete-a-Pierrot- http://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Image: Fort_de_la_crete_a_pierrot.jpg
Toussaint’s arrest- http://www.corbisimages.com/images/IH000559.jpg?size=67&uid=5AADD953- 9910-4BED-B9DF-3457CBB5E8FE
Toussaint’s imprisonment- http://www.poplarforest.org/1806/toussaintinprisonsml.jpg Statue of Toussaint L’Ouverture in front of the National Palace- https://www.greelane.com/pt/humanidades/hist%C3%B3ria--cultura/toussaint- louverture-4135900/
Toussaint L’Ouverture’s bust in Fort de Joux- https://histoiresduniversites.wordpress.com/2018/08/06/toussaint-louverture- mort-a-joux/
Haitian Revolution- http://www.haitiantreasures.com/haitian.revolution_illustra.jpg
Péoustion and Dessalines- http://blog.oup.com/wp- content/uploads/2013/12/Figure-4.jpg
Hanging- https://jspivey.wikispaces.com/file/view/haitianrevzz.jpg
Battle of Vertières- http://thelouvertureproject.org/images/thumb/f/fb/Battle_of_vertieres.jpg/
Battle of Vertières Monument- https://tonyseed.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/213th-anniversary-of-the-haitian- revolution/
The Pearl of the Antilles: A Serial History of Haiti 62
AUTHOR
“The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.” -Frederick Buechner
Michael VanHook is the founder and Executive Director of the MSV Educational Network, an English language and cultural institute in Brazil. He is also the founder and Executive Director of International Strategic Alliances (ISA), a mission outreach to Haiti. ISA exists to make a significant and enduring difference in the lives of the Haitian people by helping them to rise above their present circumstances, to reach the highest potential of their intended design, and to become catalysts for change in their spheres of influence. ISA accomplishes this by strategically and collaboratively aligning themselves with leaders and groups to mutually design and implement sustainable humanitarian, educational, and leadership initiatives.
Michael has worn many hats throughout his life—educator, businessman, pastor, and advocate. His personal journey has been a passionate pursuit to discover how his life, transformed by God’s grace, can make a difference in the lives of others. Any success that he has achieved, he attributes to the faithful support of family and friends. Michael holds degrees from Northern Kentucky University, Asbury Seminary, and Morehead State University.
His improbable journey with Hispaniola has transformed his life as much as theirs—“I can’t explain why or how, but their love has profoundly changed me.” The spark was lit when he made a trip to Haiti as an 18-year-old high school senior. His deep, abiding love for the Haitian people motivated him to found the International Strategic Alliances as a response to their stated dreams and needs. He considers the greatest compliment that he has ever received, was when a Haitian man told him, “I consider you a Haitian because you treat us as equals.”
Michael and his wife Luciana live in Londrina, Brazil. He has three adult daughters and one granddaughter.