THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION Syllabus / Handbook created by Dr Vanessa Mongey 2018/2019 To Preserve Their Freedom Napoléon's attempt to restore slavery in Haiti was unsuccessful. Desalines, Chief of the Blacks, defeated LeClerc. Black men, women and children took up arms to preserve their freedom, November 1802 by Jacob Lawrence (Toussaint L'Ouverture Series) 1988 Aims The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) is the story of how the world’s first independent black republic came into existence. Enslaved people in the French colony of Saint-Domingue rose up against colonial powers and gained their freedom and independence. They created Haiti: the first fully free society in the Atlantic world and the second independent nation in the Americas after the United States. Outside of its borders, this revolution reshaped debates about slavery and freedom, precipitated rebellions in neighbouring territories, and intensified both repression and antislavery sentiment. Haiti became a refuge for the oppressed. In recent years, scholars have increasingly insisted the Haitian Revolution crucially shaped that much of what we inherited from the Age of Revolution—especially ideas of universal rights. As a revolution largely led by people of African descent, the Haitian Revolution posed a threat to deeply entrenched racism throughout the world. There is no pre-requisite for this module but you might want to watch some Crash Course history videos on YouTube: Atlantic Slave Trade and the French Revolution here. Haitian Revolution 1 You might also want to check out this podcast on the effect of the Atlantic Slave Trade on the Americas (especially the section on Saint-Domingue): and this one on the Haitian Revolution. If you prefer the written word, then check this History of Haiti from Brown University:. Or this one by the Digital Library of the Caribbean. Primary sources: We will use David Geggus, ed. Haitian Revolution: A Documentary History (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 2014) referred to HR in the handbook. Other collections of primary sources: Laurent Dubois and John D Garrigu, eds., Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006) Jeremy Pokin, ed. Facing Racial Revolution: eyewitness accounts of the Haitian Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 2014) Maurice Jackson & Jacqueline Bacon, eds., African Americans and the Haitian revolution: selected essays and historical documents (New York: Routledge, 2010) Rafe Blaufarb, ed.. The Revolutionary Atlantic.Republican Visions, 1760-1830: A Documentary History (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018) Digital Library of the Caribbean: http://www.dloc.com/ Haitian archives collection (mostly in French) http://dloc.com/ianh Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library http://dloc.com/cndl French national library (mostly in French): http://gallica.bnf.fr/ French overseas archives (mostly in French): http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/ark:/61561/wz818idcda HathiTrust digital library: http://www.hathitrust.org/ John Carter Brown Library and https://archive.org/details/jcbhaiti Recommended reading: Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New World: story of the Haitian revolution Jeremy Popkin, A concise history of the Haitian Revolution Carolyn Fick, The Making of Haiti: the Saint Domingue Revolution from Below Doris L. Garraway, ed. Tree of Liberty: The Haitian revolution in the Atlantic World. David Patrick Geggus, ed, The impact of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World David Patrick Geggus & Norman Fiering, eds. The world of the Haitian Revolution Note on spelling & terminology Saint-Domingue (with a hyphen) and Toussaint Louverture (no apostrophe). Haitian Revolution 2 We will discuss why people are reluctant to use of the word slave as a noun and instead uses terms such as enslaved people, enslaved Africans, and captives. You can listen to this short 5’ summary. Week 1: Defining Revolution Song of the day: “Ti ca” by Altiery Dorival Questions: What is a revolution? Is an event revolutionary because its participants called it so? Or because of historians? Or must a revolution fundamentally alter the structures of society? How would you define a revolution? Can you give examples of revolutions? Required: Franklin Knight, “The Haitian Revolution,” American Historical Review (2000): 103-115 Laurent Dubois, “Why Haiti should be at the center of the Age of Revolution,” Aeon Essays, 7 November 2016: https://aeon.co/essays/why-haiti-should-be-at-the-centre-of-the-age-of-revolution Recommended: Robin Blackburn, “Haiti, Slavery, and the Age of the Democratic Revolution.” William and Mary Quarterly 63.4 (2006): 633-674; David Geggus, “Haiti and Its Revolution: Four Recent Books.” Radical History Review 115(2013), 195-202; William Sewell, “Historical Events as Transformations of Structures,” in Logics of History , 225-70; Keith Baker, “Revolution,” from Baker, Inventing the French Revolution; selection from C.L.R. James, Black Jacobins, 85-117; Catherine Reinhardt, “French Caribbean Slaves Forge Their Own Ideal of Liberty in 1789,” in Doris Kadish, ed., Slavery in the Caribbean Francophone World (2002), 19-38. Week 2: Colonial Saint-Domingue Song of the day: “Dekole” by J. Perry feat. Izolan and Shabba Haitian Revolution 3 Questions: What was the nature of pre-revolutionary society in France’s Caribbean colonies, and especially in Saint-Domingue? How did the divisions in this society compare with those in pre- revolutionary France? Required: Black Code (Code Noir) 1685 online at https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/1205/2016/02/code- noir.pdf https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2011/01/slavery-in-the-french-colonies/ Plantation Hierarchy, HR, 4-6 A Slave Trader’s View, HR, 6-7 Plantation Slaves, HR, 7-10 Lejeune Atrocity Case, HR, 10-12 Racial Discrimination: Official, HR, 12-13 Racial Discrimination: Unofficial, HR, 14 Macandal the Poisoner, HR, 19-20 Plan habitation de Fenet de Saint-Memin a Saint-Domingue, 18th c HR: xi-xiv & 1-2 & 15-16 David Geggus, “The French Slave Trade: An Overview,” William and Mary Quarterly 58:1 (2001): 119-138 Paul Cheney, “A Colonial Cul de Sac: Plantation Life in Wartime Saint-Domingue, 1775-1782.” Radical History Review 115 (2013), 45-64 Lesley Curtis “African in Early Haiti, or How to Fight Stereotypes” Eighteenth Century Commons (2012) http://www.18thcenturycommon.org/lesley_curtis/ Recommended: Popkin, A Concise History chap 3-4; KK Weaver “She Crushed the Child's Fragile Skull": Disease, Infanticide, and Enslaved Women in Eighteenth-Century Saint-Domingue,” French Colonial History (2004); L. Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 1-90; David Geggus, “Sex Ratio, Age and Ethnicity in the Atlantic Slave Trade: Data from French Shipping and Plantation Records,” Journal of African History 30 (1989): 23-44; Stewart King, “Planter Elites,” from Blue Coat or Powdered Wig: Free People of Color in Pre-Revolutionary Saint-Domingue, 205-25; Malick Ghachem, “Prosecuting Torture: The Strategic Ethics of Slavery in Pre-Revolutionary Saint- Domingue (Haiti)” Law and History Review, 29(4), (2011). 985-1029; Bernard Moitt, “Women and Labor: Slave Labor,” from Women and Slavery in the French Antilles, 34-56: Yvonne Fabella, “Redeeming the ‘Character of the Creoles’: Whiteness, Gender, and Creolization in Pre- Revolutionary Saint-Domingue.” Journal of Historical Sociology 23:1 (2010), 40-72 Week 3: Beginnings Song of the day:“Jou nou revolte” by Boukman Eksperyans Haitian Revolution 4 Questions: What were the revolutionary processes that began in France in 1789 and in Saint- Domingue in 1791? What was the role of natural disasters (drought and food shortage) in starting the revolutions? Required: Colony in Crisis: the Saint-Domingue Grain Crisis of 1789 https://colonyincrisis.lib.umd.edu/ Maronnage in Saint-Domingue http://www.marronnage.info/en/ Slaves on Strike, HR 25-29 Runaway Advertisements, HR, 33-35 Enlightenment, Race, and Slavery, HR, 39-40 Ogé Adresses the Planters’ Club, HR, 48-49 The May 1791 Debates, HR, 51-56 Free Colored Petition to the Assembly of the North, HR, 61 Rebellion of Ogé and Chavanne, HR, 62-63 The sentencing of Ogé and Chavanne, HR, 64 Peace Treaty 19-23 October 1791, HR, 68 HR: xiv-xviii & 36-38 & 57-58 Laurent Dubois, “An Enslaved Enlightenment: Rethinking the Intellectual History of the French Atlantic,” Social History 31: 1 (2006): 1-14 Charlton W. Yingling, “The Maroons of Santo Domingo in the Age of Revolutions: Adaptation and Evasion, 1783–1800,” History Workshop Journal, 79: 1 (2015): 25–51 Debate: Marronage’s impact on the Haitian Revolution. Annette Joseph-Gabriel, “Between the Lawgiver and the People: a reflection on Neil Roberts’ Freedom as Marronage,” https://www.aaihs.org/between-the-lawgiver-and-the-people/ Carolyn Fick, “Slave Resistance” in Haitian History: New Perspectives, 55-71 David Geggus, “On the eve of the Haitian Revolution: slave runaways in Saint-Domingue in the year 1790,” Slavery and Abolition 6: 3 (1985): 112-128 Recommended: Dubois, Avengers, 91-306; Yves Benot, “The Insurgents of 1791, their leaders and the concept of independence,” in Geggus and Fiering, The world of the Haitian Revolution; John D. Garrigus, “Colour, class and identity on the eve of the Haitian revolution: Saint‐Domingue's free coloured elite as colons américains,” Slavery & Abolition, 17:1, (2008) 20-43; Podcast on the Haitian Revolution with Laurent Dubois: focus on the late colonial period/ early events of the revolution 60 ' Haitian Revolution 5 Week 4: Insurrection Song of the day: “Sak Pasé” by Welfare Poets Questions: What did the enslaved rebels fight for? What was their goal? How did religion play a role in the slave uprising of 1791? What factors make a revolt a revolution? Required: Articles 2 and 3 from the Code Noir Vodou and Petro, HR, 20-22 Vodou and the Underworld, HR, 22-24 Planning the Rebellion: The Lenormand Meeting, HR, 77-78 The Bois Caïman Ceremony, HR, 78 Slaves’ Reaction to the French Revolution, HR, 75-77 Slave Insurgents Make Demands, HR, 82-83 White Captive’s Experiences, HR, 83-86 Slave leaders negotiate, HR, 86-91 Women in Rebellion, HR, 91-92 Jean-Baptiste Chapuy, Vue des 40 jours d'incendie des habitations de la plaine du Cap Français.