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Prior to the revolution Haiti was a French colony named St. Domingue. Haiti housed the richest plantations and was the apex of the Atlantic Slave trade system. The economy of St. Domingue thrived under the back bones of slavery. These slaves were  treated as "property" and were abused by their French oppressors. The dehumanization of these people really pushed these slaves to protest for freedom. The slave revolt of 1791 was a response to the mistreatment of the slaves and workers by the sovereignty.  Slaves stood against their oppressors fighting back in hopes to achieve human rights, their ideals for freedom developed later on during the revolution . The slave revolt was led by Toussaint Louverture, a formerly enslaved black man who rose in the ranks. This is significant to our timeline because it the eruption of violence from this coordinated revolt essentially triggered the start of the Haitian Revolution. This revolt was also inspiring because many powerful nations that upheld slavery feared  the consequences of this news  spreading.

by Maha Elahi

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Conditions for France become increasingly serious amidst the already heated revolutionary war in Saint-Domingue, which has accumulated over 110,000 revolutionaries whom by this point are low on resources and lacking guidance after the death of the Vodou Houngan, Dutty Boukman. France is still engaging in its subsequent Revolutionary Wars, conflicts that facilitated warfare based conflict against France in Europe and even encouraged both Great Britain and Spain to fight for control of France's colony of Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean in a bid for power over the nation in early February of 1793. Great Britain was notably returning slavery to its colonies and many of the Grands Blancs of the colony supported the idea that Great Britain's possible sovereignty over Saint-Domingue would solidify slavery in the colony once again.  This corner that the French have been pushed into is wildly significant for our timeline because it supports the gradual shift in Haitian- French relations. As the French are distracted by the threat of alien monarchies encroaching on fruitful Saint-Domingue, the revolutionaries are able to recover from their major loses with a lesser French military presence focused on them. Revolutionaries took advantage of the situation and joined Spanish and British forces, only worsening France's condition while opening a new door for negotiations with the enslaved of Saint-Domingue.

Perry, James (2005). Arrogant Armies: Great Military Disasters and the Generals Behind Them.

by Mateusz Stepnowski

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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Commissioner Sonthonax was a French abolitionist who controlled 7,000 french soldiers in St. Domingue. From September 1792 to December 1795, he was the 'civil commissioner' of St. Domingue's non-enslaved population.  Commissioner Sonthonax initial mission was for social equality in hopes of stopping slave rebellions. However, on August 29th 1793, commissioner Sonthonax decreed a general emancipation, pledging freedom to Saint Domingue slaves for service in the armies of Britain and Spain. This was very significant to our timeline because this idea of emancipation for slaves was very radical. As this was also not globally accepted because it was so unheard of,  and powerful nations like the United States and Europe still primarily relied on the labor of slaves.  Additionally nearly a million black slaves as a result became French citizens. This also triggered Louverature's switch of alliance from Spain to France. When word of emancipation spread to Saint Domingue, Louverture realized that France’s principles of equality and liberty mirrored their ideals. He also realized that the French were possibly the best help the rebels could receive and so he rejoined the French.

“Léger-Félicité Sonthonax.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9ger-F%C3%A9licit%C3%A9_Sonthonax.

by Maha Elahi

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Emancipation festival, Barbados, 19th c. [Cassell's History of England (1886-95), vol. 5, p. 369]

Formerly enslaved people marked the sacred moment of their freedom-whether from manumission, escape, legal abolition, or otherwise-privately and publicly. Though liberty rarely meant equality, at least not at first, individuals often referred to their new-found freedom as a turning point in their lives, evoking its arrival as a key moment that changed how they viewed themselves, their families, and their world. Many changed their names to reflect their new status and identity, adopting such surnames as Freedom, Freeland, Freeman, Liberty, or Justice, as in the case of several who found themselves free after the American Revolution.

Freedpeople collectively celebrated their liberty, especially after general abolition occurred in such places as the British Caribbean (in 1834), French Caribbean (1794, then again in 1848) and the United States (in 1865). Caribbean people adapted celebrations begun in slavery, such as Jonkonnu in Jamaica and Canboulay in Trinidad (as well as various crop-over festivals resembling post-harvest holidays in pre-emancipation Louisiana). "August First" commemorations in the Caribbean marked the legal abolition of British colonial slavery on that day in 1834 but came to be celebrated outside the British colonial world, including in Haiti. In Jamaica and Trinidad, freedpeople's commemorations of emancipation clashed with formal August First commemorations managed by British administrators and missionaries, who marked the end of legal slavery in 1834 with the beginning of a transitional four-year-long "apprenticeship" system.

In the United States, Emancipation Day and Juneteenth parades marking the legal end of slavery in North America may have emerged from an August First tradition among African-descendant communities in the broader Atlantic world-in Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and even Liberia.

Today, emancipation celebrations, in a variety of forms, continue in African-descendant communities throughout the Americas and Europe. Such commemorations continue to inspire new cultural events, works of art, and statues and markers that are re-making public spaces in cities that once were known for their slave-ship ports and thriving slave markets.

1. < Slavery Remembered

2. The Archaeology of the African Diaspora >

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Through sites and objects from across the globe, Slavery and Remembrance aims to broaden our understandings of a shared and painful past, the ways in which we collectively remember and forget, and the power of legacies to shape our present and future.

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Napoleon Bonaparte, a French statesman and military leader, sent a letter to Haiti requesting Louverture's surrender and threatening to reinstate slavery in Saint Domingue if there was not cooperation. At the time, Haitian Generals Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe were trapped in the north of Haiti.  The majority of Louverture's army began fighting with Leclerc in February of 1802. Instead of immediately fighting with the French, Louverture planned to wait multiple months and fight during the rainy season on the island, with the knowledge that Europeans were unable to tolerate the harsh weather conditions. Then, in March of 1802, Dessalines led the Haitians to victory in the Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot. Although outnumbered by the Europeans, the Haitians managed to evacuate. This is significant to our timeline because the Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot was a catalyst in the Haitian Revolution. Although a small victory, this greatly contributed to the freedom won in 1804.

IMAGE: The Louverture Project. “Crête-à-Pierrot.” Crête-à-Pierrot - TLP, 2008, thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Cr%C3%AAte-%C3%A0-Pierrot.
SOURCE: Shen, Kona. “History of Haiti: 1492-1805.” The Haitian Revolution , Brown's Department of Africana Studies, 2015, library.brown.edu/haitihistory/7.html.

By Eliza Baron-Singer

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By August of 1802, France's firm position towards the use of slavery throughout its Empire becomes undeniably clear in Saint-Domingue as it learns of the forced reestablishment of slavery within other French colonies. Among those French colonies was Martinique, a territory that had been promised freedom from slavery just like Saint-Domingue, which feared that the informal agreement would soon be revoked as well. French military numbers dwindled within the contiguity of Hispaniola as a direct result of the ongoing yellow fever epidemic among white soldiers based in the Caribbean. This event paired with these factors was very significant as it signaled a turn in the direction of the revolution. France's position was weakening within Saint-Domingue, allowing the Haitian Revolutionaries to move forward with removing white influence from the island. In fact, the continuous destruction of French resources and troops was so serious that the French general Lecler felt the only possible way to regain influence was by killing every single black adult on the island and bringing over new slaves.

Shen, Kona. “History of Haiti: 1492-1805.” The Haitian Revolution , Brown's Department of Africana Studies, 2015, library.brown.edu/haitihistory/7.html

By Mateusz Stepnowski

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Following the death of Leclerc, Rochambeau succeeded him in his position of general due to his personal recommendation. Rochambeau was a man who strongly hated black people, and thus was good in Napoleon's eyes. Once Rochambeau gained power, he immediately said for slavery in Haiti to be reinstated, which in return sparked many rebellions among the non-white Haitian citizens. The black and mixed Haitians allied together and destroyed fields, using fire to burn down the cane fields and plantations. However, these rebellions were independently led, and Dessalines felt threatened by this. So, he killed off some of the leaders of the independent rebellions.  The French still continue to try to put a stop to the Haitian rebellions, but soon run out of both money and supplies and even have to resort to trading with the women of the very force that they're trying to suppress. Eventually, in late April, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty  was signed, and soon after Napoleon gave up on the on-goings of the western hemisphere as a whole, including his assault on Haiti. With no backing, the remaining French troops on the island either begin to pull out or just become decimated by the Haitian rebellion, and in November Rochambeau officially surrendered to Dessalines and ordered for a cease fire while he evacuated the rest of his force.

Image & Source:
Shen, Kona. “History of Haiti: 1492-1805.” The Haitian Revolution , Brown's Department of Africana Studies, 2015, library.brown.edu/haitihistory/7.html

By Alana Torres

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In January of 1804, Dessalines proclaimed that Haiti was an independent nation, making it the first Black republic in the world. The French colony of Saint Domingue was abolished and a new Declaration of Independence was instated. However, despite technically gaining independence from France, Haiti was still bound by fear of being invaded and economic restraints. Between January and February of 1804, Dessalines ordered that all French residents in Haiti be killed, exacting revenge on the colonizers. This date is significant to our timeline because it signifies that final goal reached by the Haitians. The smaller battles and struggles for freedom accumulated, allowing Haiti to become independent! However, there was still a lot of progress to be made, in terms of paying the Independence Debt and establishing the nation as a world power.

IMAGE: Hansen, Will. “Unveiling the Haitian Declaration of Independence.” The Devil's Tale, 14 Jan. 2014, blogs.library.duke.edu/rubenstein/2014/01/14/unveiling-the-haitian-declaration-of-independence/.
SOURCE: Shen, Kona. “History of Haiti: 1492-1805.” The Haitian Revolution , Brown's Department of Africana Studies, 2015, library.brown.edu/haitihistory/7.html.

By Eliza Baron-Singer

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Later on in 1804, soon after declaring independence for Haiti, Dessalines is crowned the emperor. Of course, he gave this title to himself. But with this power, Dessalines was able to completely establish the constitution on the 15th of July in 1805, completely marking Haiti's independence. The constitution was meant to unite the citizens of Haiti together, by requiring families to stay together through the disallowance of disowning your children and the requirement for every citizen to have a mechanic art, which prevents them from essentially being a burden to society, among other things. In addition to this, the constitution very clearly wants to completely prevent life on Haiti from going back to the way it was while they were owned by the French, by forbidding slavery completely and implementing a law that made it impossible for other laws to be revoked. Despite these restrictions, some for better and some potentially for worse, the constitution still remains somewhat lax in the freedoms that all citizens can have, such as citizens are free to practice whatever religion they want. With this constitution in place, Haiti can finally become its own independent nation, in which the citizens will forever be protected from any foreigner-racists and general attempts at repeating history.

Image:
Adminuatpa. “Race and the Haitian Constitution of 1805.” Unique at Penn, 21 Dec. 2015, uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/2015/12/21/race-and-the-haitian-constitution-of-1805/.
Source:
Corbett, Bob. “THE 1805 CONSTITUTION OF HAITI.” Haiti: 1805 Constitution, 1999, faculty.webster.edu/corbetre/haiti/history/earlyhaiti/1805-const.htm.

By Alana Torres