The Unfinished Revolution: Haiti, Black Sovereignty and Power in the 19Th-Century Atlantic World'

H-LatAm Alexis on Salt, 'The Unfinished Revolution: Haiti, Black Sovereignty and Power in the 19th-Century Atlantic World'

Review published on Thursday, August 13, 2020

Karen Salt. The Unfinished Revolution: Haiti, Black Sovereignty and Power in the 19th-Century Atlantic World. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2019. xi + 240 pp. $120.00 (cloth),ISBN

978-1-78694-161-9.

Reviewed by Yveline Alexis (Oberlin College)Published on H-LatAm (August, 2020) Commissioned by Casey M. Lurtz (Johns Hopkins University)

Printable Version: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=54214

Dr. Karen Salt’s The Unfinished Revolution: Haiti, Black Sovereignty and Power in the Nineteenth- Century Atlantic World (2019) adds to scholarly discussions about Haitian sovereignty. The interdisciplinary scholar closely examines the nineteenth century, highlighting key moments in Haiti’s history and the nation’s diplomatic relations. Within this chronological span, Salt focuses on several Haitian heads of state like Emperors Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Faustin-Élie Soulouque I, King Henri Christophe, and President Jean-Pierre Boyer, as well as some of their Atlantic world affiliates like Prince Saunders, Jonathas Granville, and Frederick Douglass. Salt’s analysis also extends to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to examine the connections between the past and present. She argues: “To be sovereign amongst other sovereign nation-states means that one is equal to them. And Haiti, unfortunately, has not been granted equal recognition. It remains labelled, as discussed above, a failed nation-state. What I note here is that its problems with sovereignty do not begin in the twentieth century. The roots of this unfinished work date back to its nineteenth-century origins, even as they continue to have twenty-first century consequences,” (p. 38). Salt does not reproduce the archaic and limited narrative of Haiti as a “failed state.” Rather, she situates the topic of black sovereignty within larger theoretical debates and discussions about autonomy, equality, and race. Refreshingly, the author prioritizes how Haitians understood and grappled with sovereignty in addition to analyzing foreigners’ responses to their articulations.

In a six-chapter text, Salt meticulously explores black sovereignty as a form of currency, fungible commodity, racio-political kinship, and intractable problem. The author examines these topics through a plethora of examples ranging from the American Colonization Society and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago to the Caracol Industrial Park in Cap-Haïtien in post-earthquake Haiti. In chapter 3, Salt takes a fascinating look at Faustin-Élie Soulouque I’s rule in the mid-1800s. She pairs the daguerreotypes of his coronation in the Albulm Impérial d’Haïti with his attempts to prevent the United States’ control of Navassa Island. She convincingly shows how the album was Faustin I’s visual dismissal of derogatory images of Haitians and black people. The author also documents how US representatives in the guano company read the ruler’s attempts to protect part of the nation’s territory as illegitimate.

The Unfinished Revolution offers a relevant look at post-independence Haiti. Readers will appreciate

Citation: H-Net Reviews. Alexis on Salt, 'The Unfinished Revolution: Haiti, Black Sovereignty and Power in the 19th-Century Atlantic World'. H-LatAm. 08-13-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/23910/reviews/6331246/alexis-salt-unfinished-revolution-haiti-black-sovereignty-and-power Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-LatAm the host of figures and events Salt presents along with her thoughtful discussions of these “transnational representatives.” The work will appeal to students and scholars interested in reflecting on what sovereignty means for a black nation during the Atlantic world period and beyond.

Citation: Yveline Alexis. Review of Salt, Karen, The Unfinished Revolution: Haiti, Black Sovereignty and Power in the 19th-Century Atlantic World. H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. August, 2020.URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54214

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.