Haitian Revolution
Storyboard Text
- The island of Saint Domingue, or Haiti, was a wealthy French colony, dependent on slave labor during the 18th century.
- When will our suffering end?
- Haitian society was deeply divided by race and social class which caused great tension between the Grand Blancs, Petit Blancs, affranchis, and slaves. Slave revolts erupted.
- Keep the plantations!
- Equality for all whites!
- Give us rights!
- Free us!
- On August 21, 1791, Toussaint L'Ouverture, a former slave, led a large-scale slave rebellion to fight for slave and Haitian freedom. His army instated an independent government against the French, Spanish, and British.
- In 1801, L'Ouverture, after taking control of Haiti, produced the Haitian Constitution, pronouncing all residents to be equal citizens. He carried out reforms by dividing up plantation land. L'Ouverture was later imprisoned in France and died in 1803.
- As governor, I declare all residents of St. Domingue to be equal!
- Jean-Jacques Dessalines, L'Ouverture's successor, arranged the Haitian Declaration of Independence in 1804. The document abolished slavery in Haiti and banned whites from owning land.
- Haiti is ours!
- Haiti became the first Latin American nation-state to gain its independence from European powers and is the first country in the Western Hemisphere to be led by blacks. In addition to this, Haiti is the only country to gain its freedom permanently due to a slave revolt.
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