The history of Haiti is one influenced by African culture and spirit and this is what makes it so important for black people across the world.
Haiti has always been rich. The land has rich soil great for sugarcane which was one of the tools the French used to beat the British. Sugar then accorded states a high status and was lucrative. The land was also rich in gas, Sulphur. They also produced gold in large quantities.
All these great things made Christopher Columbus set up a settlement of his people on this blessed land which was already occupied by natives but Western history will have you believe that this man discovered Haiti. Whenever white people say they discovered places as if there was no life there before they got there, it usually means they went and conquered these places by any means necessary. The Spanish came for the gold and later the French decided to join in. These two powers came up with a declaration to split the Island into two for their own gain obviously!
One of the priests then came up with the idea that it would not be right to use the indigenous people and it was decided that Africans would be best suitable to help the two powers maximize their benefits, as slaves of course. However, not all of the African accepted this fate, some threw themselves into the water on transit. Some men and women managed to escape on arrival and hid in the caves and these groups would raise generations of free men who would learn crafts that would later help in the revolution of Haiti.
The French got greedy after a while and took over the part conquered by the Spanish. The rate at which Africans were being brought to Haiti increased because of the level of brutality they handled the Africans who worked on the farms and mines. It was calculated that once you landed on the Island you had six more months to live. This meant that the Africans could not reproduce because of the harsh conditions they were put through. They did unimaginable harm to the Africans...from torture to deprivation of food and water and they would use brutal ways to end those who tried to revolt or escape to send a clear message that the rest needed to accept their fate and work even harder.
However, one good thing came out of having Africans come to the Island every 6 months. It replenished the spirit of those who had lost hope in the fight for freedom for the enslaved as well as bringing in new skills which aided the revolution a great deal.
The enslaved masses had no arms to fight back but I am about to share something on four leaders who aided the revolution that would see Africans defeat 3 superpowers and they would use NATURE!
1.Makandal
He was a slave who managed to escape. He was a spiritual man as well as a scientist. He came up with a poison that he taught the Women to make which they would use to poison their slave masters. Over 6,000 French men were eliminated this way. Eventually, a black collaborator turned him in but he had already sparked the revolution in the people as he had taught people how to use nature to free themselves.
2.Dutty Boukman
An intelligent man from Jamaica. The British sold him to the French in Haiti as a punishment to his mother who was a revolutionary. The French were known to employ such brutal punishment on their slaves which was the intended punishment for Boukman. He and a Priestess organized a congress where they would summon their ancestors and specifically the god of war because at this point the people were tired of the brutality and inhumane treatment they had to endure. They had got to a point where death did not scare them and they viewed it as a way to join their ancestors and help other generations achieve freedom. It is through these meetings where he would teach them on spirituality and against turning the other cheek or forgiving their oppressors. It was also here that the people would learn how to weaponized everything from the stones, to trees and even animals.
He was known for his prayer, the Boukman prayer which was used to unite the African people with the goal of achieving freedom.
3.Toussaint Louverture
His submissive nature led him to be freed from slavery at a young age where he would grow to join the military and create great ties with the French. This would, however, lead to his downfall as the French only wanted to use him as an example of how black slaves would be rewarded if they obeyed and remained submissive. He used his position as a military general to come up with a constitution that would see the abolition of slavery.
Napoleon on hearing this was greatly infuriated and decided to imprison him - he died in prison. Napoleon sought the help of a French Terrorist, Rochambeau who was known for his ability to kill for sport. He burned slaves, gassed them with Sulphur. His remit was to restore French control of their rebellious colony, by any means. Historians of the Haitian Revolution credit his brutal tactics for uniting Africans against the French. He would however later surrender to the rebel general Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
4.Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
Born a slave, he would later be bought by a free black man named Dessalines, who assigned his own surname to him. Growing up, Dessalines became increasingly embittered toward both the white and the mixed-race residents who often worked as collaborators so as to be recognized and rewarded by the French.
He understood that nothing good came from pleasing the oppressors or kindly asking for their basic human rights. He helped in the attack of the French compound in 1801 and managed to beat the British who had come to conquer the Island. By 1804, the French had to surrender because the attacks were becoming more frequent and a lot of their property, as well as lives, were being lost. Dessalines ordered them to go away and never return.
Haiti was now independent!
He was the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1805 constitution and is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Haiti. The people of Haiti did not just stop at their own liberation but also helped other states abolish slavery which led to sanctions against Haiti by these oppressors who felt their control was being threatened.
Post-independence debt.
The colonizers sent the mixed-race collaborators to sabotage trade and they later killed him. Shortly after gaining independence from France in 1804, Haiti was forced into debt. In 1825, France, with warships at the ready, demanded Haiti compensate France for its loss of slaves and its slave colony. In exchange for French recognition of Haiti as a sovereign republic, France demanded payment of 150 million francs. In addition to the payment, France required that Haiti discount its exported goods to them by 50%. In 1838, France agreed to reduce the debt to 90 million francs to be paid over a period of 30 years to compensate former plantation owners who had lost their property. The modern equivalent of $21 billion was paid from Haiti to France.
This type of debt sent Haiti back so far as they were still in the process of reclaiming the land and trying to make it productive again.
With time corrupt leaders from the West came in to further destroy Haiti in the name of 'food aid'...
They say the man that feeds you controls you.
Haiti is a nation of such strong-willed people who decided that freedom was what they deserved and it was what they had to risk everything for. Even now when the odds are against them and the superpowers are doing all they can to further drain these people because they chose to take their freedom back. You need to watch '1804, The Hidden History of Haiti' - a docuseries by Tariq Nasheed that sheds more light on how Haiti became the first black republic.
This history needs to be passed down generations so that Africans can grow up knowing that indeed some black men and women resisted the oppressive rule and slavery and were successful in achieving freedom. Westernization came with the erosion of the history of black excellence which we as Africans must work to fix and try to preserve and share with future generations.
Love,
Sabali