haitianhistory:

Today in Haitian History 

– August 23, 1791

– Saint-Domingue’s

Northern slaves revolt

against their masters. 

While by August 1791 Saint-Domingue was already the theatre of much violence, it was the slave uprising during the night of August 22nd and August 23rd that most historians today recognize as the “beginning” of the Haitian Revolution. 

The French Revolution sent ways throughout the Atlantic. In Saint-Domingue, though the Grand Blancs population was arguing for more autonomy from France, most of the Gens de Couleur Libres population demanded equal rights to their White counterparts (which should have been guaranteed by the Code Noir of 1685). Taking advantage of the violence erupting between those two fractions (and other competing groups like the Petit Blancs population) Saint-Domingue’s slaves lunched a massive attack against their masters in hopes of freeing themselves. Back in Europe, the repots on the situation in Saint-Domignue caused many debates as it eventually became evident that the rhetoric embedded in the Rights of Man could no longer ignore the question of slavery. In the next thirteen years, what began as a Revolution from above transformed itself as a movement from below and secured the fondation of the Haitian state in 1804. 

Original Painting: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. / For more sources of the Haitian Revolution, see here.

(via queerfabulousmermaid)