As British Black History Month comes to a close, we wanted to share some information from the College's History department.
This month, The Henley College History department has been exploring some interesting discussions around revolution and black history. Coinciding with the planned changes to the History course, which will be enacted in the next academic year 21/22, the department has been investigating moments of revolutionary action in English and French colonial history.
One such moment happened in Haiti during the French revolution, where both free people of colour and enslaved Africans liberated the island from French colonial rule. The French established the colony of Saint-Domingue on the western part of the island of Hispaniola in 1659, splitting control of the island with the Spanish in the east. The island was an important, and highly profitable part of the Atlantic slave trade for both nations.
After the French revolution, the growth of enlightenment philosophy, and the creation of the civil rights document ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen’ in 1789, the status-quo in French Saint-Domingue started to shift. The resident slave masters’ were planning a move to seize independence for the colony, which would mean less regulation over treatment of the enslaved African workers. In response to this, the African population on the island organised and commenced a revolt on the night of 21 August 1791, which would result in a further 12 year campaign for black sovereignty of the western part of the island. The success of the revolution (guided by the charismatic black leaders of Toussaint Louveture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Alexandre Pétion, and Henri Christophe) led to the establishment of the free and sovereign state of Haiti, which challenged long held European beliefs of black inferiority.
Enlightenment thinking, which developed during the French revolution, played an influential role in the empowerment of African insurgents during the revolt. Dubois’ book, Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution, demonstrates this impact that the French revolution, and the declaration of the rights of man had on the slaves in revolt:
“In a few cases, slave insurgents explicitly phrased their demands in the language of Republican rights. When a group of slaves were questioned about the meetings they had attended just before the insurrection began, they declared that “they wanted to enjoy the liberty they are entitled to by the Rights of Man.” The next day several “leaders of those mobs” were “taken and interrogated,” and their answer “was like the first received.” Another account of the 1791 insurrection described how “an innumerable troop of negroes presented themselves almost underneath the batteries of Le Cap, asking for the rights of man.” The pamphlet of the “Rights of Man” found on one executed insurgent also suggests the important role of this document in inspiring certain slaves.”1
Recently, the MOBO award winning rapper, journalist and public speaker Akala gave a speech to the Oxford Union Address, which refocuses the importance of the Haitian revolution in the question of preserving the history of abolition. In this speech, Akala broadens the focus of the leading figures in the revolution, to discuss the role that leading black women played. In addition to the statistic that 30 percent of the troops were women in the Haitian revolutionary army, he discusses the influence of Cécile Fatiman and Sanité Bélair on the revolution, as two figures that have historically been marginalised in the preservation of the history of abolition.
The significance of this revolution, and the continued discussion to be had over how its history is preserved, lends itself nicely to developing conversations on black revolutionary action and empowerment. As with most history, lessons can always be learned from past actions, and how we treat marginalised voices is as important a conversation now as it has ever been in the past.
As a department, we look forward to exploring these conversations further over the next year, and addressing the impact of European colonisation in the Caribbean in both the French and British revolution course modules beginning in 2021.
Henley History Department
Further Reading
- Dubois, L. (2004) Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. Cambridge: MA.
- Akala. (2016). Akala, Full Address and Q&A, Oxford Union [online video]. OxfordUnion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUtAxUQjwB4. (Accessed: 18 October 2020).
