“Declaration of the rights of man”

The French Revolution’s “Declaration of the Rights of Man'' inspired several Haitain revolutionary movements. The General Assembly in Paris responded by enacting legislation which gave the various colonies some autonomy at the local level. The legislation called for “all local proprietors….to be active citizens,” which meant that free Black people who were substantial property owners were allowed to be a part of the government. However, the legislation excluded the petits blancs from government. This resulted in a three-sided civil war which included the petitis blancs, white plantation owners and free Black people. Enslaved Black people who were also inspired and affected by this legislation, posed a substantial challenge to all three groups. 

Toussaint l’overture

On August 21, 1791, former slave Touissant L’Overture led enslaved Black people in a rebellion against the plantation owners. By 1792, the Black slaves controlled a third of the island, but the French and the British sent soldiers to try and defeat them. It was a bloody battle, 1000 Black people and 24,000 white people were killed. The Black soldiers managed to stave off the British and French forces, conquering them in 1798 after a series of defeats. 

L’Overture was key in expanding the rebellion, in 1801 he conquered the neighboring Spanish colony of Santo Dominigo, (present-day Dominican Republic). L’Overture abolished slavery in the Spanish-speaking colony and declared himself Governor General over Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

january 1, 1804

The Haitian Revolution outlasted the French Revolution which it had been inspired by. Napoleon Bonaporte now the ruler of France, dispatched General Charles Leclerc and 43,000 French troops to capture L’Overture in order to restore French rule and revive slavery. Leclerc captured L’Overture, and he died in a French prison in 1803. However, the battle didn’t end with L’Overture’s death, one of L’Overture’s generals, Jean-Jacques Dessalines permanently defeated the French at the Battle of Vertieres on November 18, 1803. On January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared the nation independent and renamed it Haiti. Haiti became the first Black republic in the world, and the second nation in the western hemisphere after the United States to win its independence from a European power.

women warriors of haiti: untold history

Black women in the French-speaking world often lacked autonomy, and the fight for independence often overshadowed the seemingly secondary struggle for equality between the genders. The absence of documentation of women’s lives during the revolution comes at a cost. Although slavery was abolished by France during the French Revolution, many of the gains were eliminated when Napoleon took over as emperor. Even after Haiti achieved independence in 1804, it would not be recognized as a country by the major European powers for over a century. The United States did not recognize Haiti as a country until 1862. Haiti was also saddled with a crippling debt to France, which would eliminate Haiti’s ability to have a thriving economy. The outcry to see more women of color reflected in Haiti’s history is slowly shaping scholarship.

To find more works by or about Women in the Haitian Revolution: Haiti--History--Revolution, 1791-1804