Hear how Haiti became the first slavery-free nation of the Western hemisphere.
Pilot Lecture: The Haitian Revolution
Hear how Haiti became the first slavery-free nation of the Western hemisphere.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Thanuja from
Interesting pilot!
A good pilot with interesting information. Professor seems knowledgeable, energetic and having a fast-pacing delivery style giving a lot of information in this pilot to learn ahead. I'd like to see a complete course on the topic
Date published: 2023-08-29
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Sithsion12 from
Sparks curiosity
Would love to learn more details of this story ive only ever known the broad narrative.
Date published: 2023-06-24
Rated 3 out of
5
by
CuriousityDrive from
GREAT TOPIC, but MORE BALANCE + CONTEXT NEEDED
For example, a NYTimes article focused on 'TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE
A Revolutionary Life' by Philippe Girard of 2015 says:
"L’Ouverture WAS HIMSELF A SLAVE OWNER at one point (AS HIS PROBABLY HAD BEEN in the Allada kingdom, Girard tells us), which is a fact that emerged only in 1977.
It is a little shocking to learn from Girard that at an early point in the revolution, when the antislavery cause seemed on the verge of collapse, L’Ouverture broached the idea of betraying his own emancipated followers by leading them back into bondage, in the hope of getting official protection for himself and one of his comrades. Ultimately he RESTORED THE SLAVE TRADE in Saint-Domingue, after having abolished it — restored it because the plantations needed laborers, though he intended to free the newly purchased Africans after they had toiled for a number of years. Meanwhile he promulgated a labor code that in practice was ONLY marginally better than slavery, even if it maintained the principle of emancipation.
L’Ouverture was NOT, in short, an “abolitionist saint.” He was a man of his time. L’Ouverture’s “equivocation was representative of an age that had to reconcile Enlightenment principles and the labor requirements of plantations. Like three other great figures of the Age of Revolutions — Thomas Jefferson, Simón Bolívar and Napoleon — he had conflicted views on the delicate matter of human bondage.” At least L’Ouverture brought a greater lucidity to his conflicted views than did Jefferson or Napoleon. He knew that his goal was double: to preserve Saint-Domingue’s prospects for wealth, and, even so, to uphold the abolitionist idea."
Further, the Wikipedia page on Louverture says:
"Nearing the end of the revolution Louverture grew substantially wealthy; OWNING NUMEROUS SLAVES at Ennery, obtaining thirty-one properties, and earning almost 300,000 colonial livre per year from these properties.[88] As leader of the revolution, this accumulated wealth made Louverture the RICHEST person on Saint-Domingue."
And, another website says:
"Some free blacks owned slaves; in fact, the free blacks owned ONE-THIRD of the plantation property and ONE-QUARTER of the slaves in Saint Domingue..."
Further, the Wikipedia page on 'Slavery in Haiti' says:
"Also like his predecessors Louverture and Dessalines, Christophe used military might to force former slaves to stay on the plantations."
As one last example, as per a Wikipedia page entitled '1804 Haitian massacre', which discusses Dessaline's involvement in such (which another Reviewer has already quoted other excerpts from):
"Girard writes in his book Paradise Lost: "Despite all of Dessalines' efforts at rationalization, the massacres were as INEXCUSABLE as they were FOOLISH."[43] Trinidadian historian C. L. R. James CONCURRED with this view in his breakthrough work The Black Jacobins [*from which the professor refers to various times in this lecture*], writing that "the unfortunate country... was ruined economically, its population lacking in social culture, [and] had its difficulties doubled by this massacre". James wrote that the massacre was "not policy but revenge, and revenge has no place in politics".[44]
Philippe Girard writes "when the genocide was over, Haiti's white population was virtually non-existent.""
Date published: 2023-06-04
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Stasio from
Marvelous Lecture on an Important Topic
Professor Daut has delivered an excellent talk on one of the most important and under appreciated events in modern Western history. I certainly hope the series continues.
Date published: 2023-01-02
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Libby509 from
Humanizing and well-delivered!
Professor Daut delivers an intellectually invigorating and culturally competent introduction to the Haitian Revolution. Weaving a complex and dynamic narrative into her historical account, Prof. Daut successfully peaks the interest of Wondrium learners. I hope Wondrium will invest in turning this great pilot into a great course! The Haitian revolution deserves its own course indeed. Looking forward to it.
Date published: 2022-12-18
Rated 5 out of
5
by
KaraRae from
Please
Please expand this beyond the pilot. It's a fascinating topic, important history and the lecturer speaks French so beautifully.
Date published: 2022-10-10
Rated 5 out of
5
by
joe age 79 from
ENGAGING LECTURE
A nice addition to the 48 lecture course on the Frecnch Revolution by Dr Susan Desants;
Date published: 2022-05-20
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Lou 7 from
Enjoyed it. Would love to see more.
As a very brief overview, the lecturer did a wonderful job compressing so much into such a short lecture. I would love to see a full course covering the full impact of the revolution on other slave-owning parts of the Americas, and on the impact on France and Europe as well. I also want to say how wonderful it is to me that the lecturer is a person of color. Representation matters.
Date published: 2021-09-10
Overview
01: The Haitian Revolution
Join Marlene L. Daut to hear a story of monumental, historical significance, of a time when an enslaved people—subjected to some of the harshest conditions in the world—rose up to demand their freedom. You will learn how revolutionaries succeeded in defeating one of the most formidable naval powers in the world and how, in their official declaration of independence, the Black leaders declared that slavery was "forever abolished."
30 min
