The Haitian Revolution

Jenine Elkady

Comparative Literature 60AC

Tara Philips

November 30^th 2016

The Haitian Revolution

            Haiti is mentioned in several of the novels we have read over the course of the semester. Understanding Haiti’s history especially the Haitian revolution that was unique gives insight as to why the authors of the novels chose to include the small island or its people it in their novels. Haiti’s was a French colony called St, Domingue it was an important colony because the exploitation of slave labor, who made up most of the population, allowed for them to profit off of the production of sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton (Southerland). The largest group of people living Haiti were slaves most of them African born, then there were free black people, wealthy plantation owners and the petit blanks who were the poor white people.(Smith) Followed by the French and American revolutions Haiti followed suit with a series of revolutions that not only freed the island from French control but also freed its people from slavery. While all groups of people living in St. Dominigue were either upset by French rule or by slavery the slaves acted first. In 1791 Toussaint l’Overture, a former slave, led the slave revolt, which until today is considered the only successful slave revolt in the western hemisphere(Southerland). However, it was not a revolution that occurred overnight with tens of thousands of deaths and spanning years because as this happened at the same time as the French Revolution, when Napoleon came to power he sent French troops to Haiti in order to restore both slavery and French rule however they tenaciously succeeded to overcome the French once again.

            Haiti becomes the second self-governed nation in the Americans after the United States not only that but with its self-government, it also abolished slavery and with it any system of inequality. Its citizens were radically equal to one another and Haiti became the first Black Republic in the world (US Dept of State). So, while Haiti today might be thought of as a poor, black, country it actually signifies a lot more than that. Especially in Nela Larson’s novel Passing the small country is only mentioned once, in an offhand comment about something Brian had picked up from Haiti. However, to a people who are pretending to be people they are not in order to drink tea at a hotel or live a slightly better life the reminder that there is a black republic where black people have institutional power and are equal to whites. In Absolom Absolom Haiti is perhaps seen as an insight of what will happen, as the charachter who seem's to be the only one to survive in the story in the novel Jim Bond is of haitian decent and Shreve insists that the Jim Bond's will be all over the country indicating that the events in Haiti had a severe impact on those within the novel. In Faulkner, the Haitian slave revolt and revolution is a reminder of a threat to the way of life of this family, a way of life that they so desperately are trying to hold on to despite it slipping away from them. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A_o-nU5s2U

Works Cited

"Milestones: 1784–1800 - Office of the Historian." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

Smith, Review By Ashley. "The Black Jacobins." The Black Jacobins | International Socialist Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

Southerland, Claudia E. "Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed." Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.