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Books on the Caribbean
Hubert Cole. Christophe: King of Haiti. New
York: The Viking Press, 1967.
C.L.R. James.
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
(1938)
Edourad Gissant.
Caribbean Doscourse (2004)
/ Barbara Harlow.
Resistance Literature (1987)
Josaphat B. Kubayanda.
The Poet's Africa: Africanness in the Poetry of Nicolas Guillen and Aime
Cesaire
(1990)
Paul Laraque and Jack Hirschman.
Open
Gate An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry
(2001)
David P. Geggus, ed.
The Impact of the
Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World.
University of South Carolina Press, 2001.
Jean-Bertand Aristide.
Eyes of the Heart: Seeking a
Path for the Poor in the Age of Globalization
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Bio- Sketch
Toussaint L'Ouverture (c.1744-1803),
Haitian patriot and martyr. A self-educated slave freed shortly
before the uprising in 1791, he joined the black rebellion to
liberate the slaves and became its organizational genius.
Rapidly rising in power, Toussaint joined forces for a brief
period in 1793 with the Spanish of Santo Domingo and in a series
of fast-moving campaigns became known as L'Ouverture [the
opening], a name he adopted. Although he professed allegiance to
France, first to the Republic and then to Napoleon, he was
singleheartedly devoted to the cause of his own people and
advocated it in his talks with French commissioners. Late in
1793 the British occupied all of Haiti's coastal cities and
allied themselves with the Spanish in the eastern part of the
island.
Toussaint was the acknowledged leader against
them and, with the generals Dessalines and Christophe, recaptured
(1798) several towns from the British and secured their complete
withdrawal. In 1799 the mulatto general André Rigaud enlisted the aid of
Alexandre Pétion and Jean Pierre
Boyer, asserted mulatto supremacy, and launched a revolt against
Toussaint; the uprising was quelled when Pétion lost the
southern port of Jacmel.
In 1801, Toussaint conquered Santo Domingo, which
had been ceded by Spain to France in 1795, and thus he governed
the whole island. By then professing only nominal allegiance to
France, he reorganized the government and instituted public
improvements. Napoleon sent (1802) a large force under General
Leclerc to subdue Toussaint,
who had become a major obstacle to French colonial ambitions in
the Western Hemisphere; the Haitians, however, offered stubborn
resistance, and a peace treaty was drawn.
Toussaint himself was treacherously seized and
sent to France, where he died in a dungeon at Fort-de-Joux, in
the French Jura. His valiant life and tragic death made him a
symbol of the fight for liberty, and he is celebrated in one of
Wordsworth's finest sonnets and in a dramatic poem by Lamartine.
Bibliography
C.
L. R. James,
The Black Jacobins (1938, 2d ed. 1963)
Audio CD Version
C.
Moran, Black Triumvirate: A Study of L'Ouverture, Dessalines,
Christophe (1957);
A. M. Schlesinger, Jr., ed., Toussaint
L'Ouverture: Haitian Liberator (1989).* * *
* *
UN in Haiti accused of second massacre: More than
three hours of video footage and a large selection of
digital photos, illustrate more than words ever could
what the UN is doing in Haiti. The wounded and dying on
the video tape all express horror and confusion at the
reasons UN forces shot at them. A 16 year-old young man
asks why UN forces shot him as he clearly realizes he is
going to die. Less than an hour later we see his
lifeless corpse replace what once was an animated and
articulate young man. HIP Founding Editor Kevin Pina
commented, "It is clear that this represents an act of
terror against the community. This video evidence shows
clearly that the UN stands accused, once again, of
targeting unarmed civilians in Cite Soleil.
Haiti Action News
21 January 2007
* * *
* *
For Haitians, vodou is not just the stuff
of dolls with pins stuck in their eyes or zombies wandering in the forest. The
centuries-old religion has permeated Haiti for generations, after it was carried
by slaves from West Africa to the Caribbean starting in the 1700s. On the island
of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, those
transplanted Africans mingled with the Taino Indians, who were also persecuted
by European occupiers. Vodou evolved from the three cultures and played a huge
role in Haiti's liberation from France. In 1751, a houngan named François
Mackandal organized other slaves to raid sugar and coffee plantations. The
French burned him at the stake. Another former slave and vodou practitioner
replaced him at the helm of the liberation movement: Toussaint L'Ouverture,
whose efforts helped Haiti win its independence in 1804.
Tamara Lush, Vodou Child.
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* *
A call to halt deportations—Haiti's
President René Préval asked the U.S. government to stop deporting undocumented
Haitians and instead grant them temporary protected status—After refusing
for two years to ask for a U.S. halt in deportations of undocumented Haitians,
Haiti's President René Préval has asked President Bush to grant them temporary
protected status. . . . In a two-page letter to Bush dated Feb. 7, Préval wrote
that while he had apprehensions about seeking the TPS designation in the past,
the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Noel in October has changed his mind. .
. . Local immigration advocates and South Florida elected officials have long
advocated TPS for the 20,000 Haitians they believe are living in the United
States illegally. TPS would entitle them to temporary residency and work permits
for up to 18 months. In Miami, those advocates applauded Préval's request and
urged Bush to approve it.—MiamiHerald
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Table
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French
Generals in the Saint-Domingue
Field
Toussaint
L'Ouverture,
François Dominique, c.1744–1803, Haitian patriot and martyr.
A self-educated slave freed shortly before the uprising in 1791,
he joined the black rebellion to liberate the slaves and became
its organizational genius. Rapidly rising in power, Toussaint
joined forces for a brief period in 1793 with the Spanish of
Santo Domingo and in a series of fast-moving campaigns became
known as L'Ouverture [the opening], a name he adopted. Although
he professed allegiance to France, first to the republic and
then to Napoleon, he was singleheartedly devoted to the cause of
his own people and advocated it in his talks with French
commissioners.
Late
in 1793 the British occupied all of Haiti's coastal cities and
allied themselves with the Spanish in the eastern part of the
island. Toussaint was the acknowledged leader against them and,
with the generals Dessalines and Christophe, recaptured (1798)
several towns from the British and secured their complete
withdrawal. In 1799 the mulatto general André Rigaud enlisted
the aid of Alexandre Pétion and Jean Pierre Boyer, asserted
mulatto supremacy, and launched a revolt against Toussaint; the
uprising was quelled when Pétion lost the southern port of
Jacmel.
In
1801, Toussaint conquered Santo Domingo, which had been ceded by
Spain to France in 1795, and thus he governed the whole island.
By then professing only nominal allegiance to France, he
reorganized the government and instituted public improvements.
Napoleon sent (1802) a large force under General Leclerc
to subdue Toussaint, who had become a major obstacle to French
colonial ambitions in the Western Hemisphere; the Haitians,
however, offered stubborn resistance, and a peace treaty was
drawn. Toussaint himself was treacherously seized and sent to
France, where he died in a dungeon at Fort-de-Joux, in the
French Jura. His valiant life and tragic death made him a symbol
of the fight for liberty, and he is celebrated in one of
Wordsworth's finest sonnets and in a dramatic poem by Lamartine.
*
* *
Rigaud,
André,
1761–1811, Haitian mulatto general in the wars that liberated
Haiti. Educated, but vain, he believed in the superiority of
mulattoes. He sought (1798–1800) unsuccessfully to wrest the
leadership from Toussaint L'Ouverture. In 1802 he went to
France, returned with General Leclerc, and was sent back again
as a prisoner. In 1810, once again on Haitian soil, he tried to
overthrow Alexandre Pétion
in
the south. Defeated, he died, presumably by starving himself to
death.
Pétion,
Alexandre,
1770–1818, Haitian revolutionist. After taking part in the
expulsion (1798) of the English from Haiti, he joined (1799)
André Rigaud against Toussaint L'Ouverture and
commanded the heroic but tragic defense of Jacmel, a southern
port. Exiled, he returned with the French army under Leclerc in
1802. Rejoining the patriots because he feared the
reestablishment of slavery, Pétion, after the death of Dessalines,
engaged in a fierce but inconclusive struggle with Henri Christophe
for
control of Haiti. In 1807 he was chosen president for life of
the republic in S Haiti. He confiscated the great French
plantations, divided the land among the peasants, and gave his
people unprecedented freedom. In 1816 he welcomed the exiled
Spanish American revolutionist Simón Bolívar and provided him
with military assistance. Nevertheless, his administration was
tainted with waste and corruption. Pétion was succeeded by Jean
Pierre Boyer
Christophe,
Henri,
1767–1820, Haitian revolutionary leader. A freed black slave,
he aided Toussaint L'Ouverture in the liberation of Haiti
and was army chief under Dessalines.
When the latter declared himself emperor, Christophe took part
(1806) in a successful plot against his life and was elected
president of the republic. Christophe, a pure-blooded black,
then waged a savage and inconclusive struggle with Alexandre
Pétion,
the champion of mulatto supremacy, who retained control of S
Haiti. In 1811, entrenching himself in N Haiti, Christophe
declared himself king as Henri I and entered upon an energetic
but tyrannical reign. He created an autocracy patterned after
the absolute monarchies of Europe. Compulsory labor enriched his
fiefdom. Christophe surrounded himself with lavish, and
sometimes ludicrous, magnificence; the pomp and splendor of his
reign are still shown by the ruins of the citadel of La
Ferrière,
a formidable fortress on top of a mountain, surrounded by
precipitous cliffs, and of the fabulous palace of Sans Souci, at
Cap Haïtien, his capital. In 1820, when he was suffering from
partial paralysis, revolts broke out. In despair, Christophe
committed suicide.
Boyer,
Jean Pierre,
1776–1850, president of Haiti (1818–43). A free mulatto, he
fought under Toussaint L'Ouverture and then joined André
Rigaud,
also a mulatto, in the latter's abortive insurrection against
Toussaint. He returned in 1802 with the French army of Charles Leclerc
but
later joined the patriots under Alexandre Pétion,
who chose him as his successor. He united N and S Haiti after
the suicide of Henri Christophe (1820),
and in 1822, taking advantage of the weakness of Spanish Santo
Domingo, he took control of the whole island. Compulsory labor
was instituted. In 1825 a French fleet forced Boyer to pay an
exorbitant indemnity in return for French losses; France then
recognized Haitian independence. Financial embarrassment,
combined with the labor policy and the devastation of an
earthquake in 1843, brought about Boyer's overthrow and
permanent exile.
Leclerc,
Charles Victor Emmanuel, 1772–1802, French general. He served under Napoleon Bonaparte
in the Italian campaign, married (1797) Pauline Bonaparte, and
took part in Napoleon's coup of 18 Brumaire (1799). In 1801 he
commanded the French expedition to Portugal. He then headed the
force sent to subdue Haiti, where François Dominique Toussaint
L'Ouverture had established a virtually autonomous state.
The French won several victories after severe fighting, and an
agreement was reached. This was broken by Leclerc, who, acting
on Napoleon's secret instructions, had Toussaint seized by
trickery and deported to France. The natives, led by Jean
Jacques Dessalines and Henri
Christophe, rose in revolt and expelled the French, who were weakened by an
epidemic of yellow fever. Leclerc died of the fever.
Sources:
See
C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins (1938,2d ed. 1963); C. Moran, Black
Triumvirate: A Study of L'Ouverture, Dessalines, Christophe (1957);
A. M. Schlesinger, Jr., ed., Toussaint L'Ouverture: Haitian Liberator
(1989). * * *
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updated 1 October 2007
/ updated 31 January 2008
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