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St. Domingue: The Haitian Revolution

1177 Words5 Pages

INTRODUCTION The Haitian Revolution was one of the largest and most successful slave revolutions in the Western Hemisphere, because it consisted of several synchronized revolutions. St Domingue was considered to be one of the richest colonies in the West Indies. There were many conditions in the society of Haiti that contributed to the rebellion in 1791. The main points focused on are the ruthless treatment of the enslaved and the desire for Haitian blacks and multi-racial people to be treated with respect and decency THE FREE PERSONS OF COLOUR While discussing the issue of free colored the writer states that there were approximately 35,000 free persons of color in 1789. (Beckles and shepherd 183). The free colored also known as the gens …show more content…

Furthermore some slaves were killed by hanging and burning to re-affirm the supremacy of the overseer or as a word of warning for other slaves to obey their master. Slaves in St. Domingue like many parts of the world were viewed merely as property that the whites can treat as they desire. Women slaves were required to abide by the sexual actions by their master and if they resisted they were beaten. In addition most of the masters were married which led to resentment among the wives and the slave being sexually abused, especially when the slave was impregnated by the master and had …show more content…

“In these early years, Boukman, originally from Jamaica was the leading thinker and strategist” (Beckles and Shepherd 184). Boukman was a commander in the French military where he learned to use European arms and afterward he was the leader that gave directions to start the rebellion. The slaves knew him as ‘Zamba’ which was a spiritual leader in the voodoo faith and therefore was considered to be larger than life and thought to be immortal. Therefore when he was killed it broke the spirit of his followers. Another leader that assisted in the Haitian revolution is Toussaint L’Ouverture’s, who was the son of an educated slave. He was one of the most successful black commanders and he was in the minority of slaves that were able to read and write. Toussaint was an experienced organizer with a sharp intellect, whose main focus was independence for the slaves. He formed an army of his own and trained his followers in the strategy of guerrilla warfare. He led thousands of former slaves into battle against the French, Spanish and English

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