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I am T
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lir my name is perhaps known to
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you he was called the black George
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Washington he fought off three Empires
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and enraged Napoleon the prospect of a
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black Republic is equally disturbing to
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the Spanish the English and the
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Americans he championed Liberty and
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eality for all
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to and the Haitian
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revolution this program was made
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possible by The Corporation for Public
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Broadcasting and by contributions to
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your PBS station from viewers like you
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thank
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you Haiti is always described as the
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poorest country in the Western
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Hemisphere but during its height at
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sandang it was the richest place in the
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Americas the thing about it though is
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that this richness was all rooted in
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slaves its wealth was based on human
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capital on owning that human
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[Music]
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capital all day as long as the sun is
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shining the men are bending over and
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swaying a machete at the foot of the
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sugar cane
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[Music]
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the world as you know it disappear
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therefore you become an animal and you
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expect to live like an
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animal the Dominion of the master had to
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be absolute but that absoluteness itself
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made the master into something other
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than human as
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well Liberty equality fraternity that
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was new for the
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world to L is the epitome of humanity he
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realized early on that the condition he
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was in was totally
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insufferable to recruited about 3 to 4
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th000 people trained them and they
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fought the French the British and the
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Spanish Army for 12
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years they burned the mechanisms of
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their production they burning the
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plantation Fields Burning Down the
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houses it was a wholesale Massacre on a
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really really enormous scale it was a
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big big major payback
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time the Haitian revolution is probably
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the most profound Revolution ever
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realized by human
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beings the only place where slaves
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created a
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nation but nobody wants to talk about
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[Applause]
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it in the summer of
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1789 when Haiti was still the dormant
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colony of sandom
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it was France that grabbed the world's
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attention Parisian mobs rioted against
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the French King and against their own
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desperate poverty chanting slogans for
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Liberty equality and Brotherhood they
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sparked the revolution that would fill
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history books for centuries to
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come the trick about the French
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Revolution was that it meant a lot of
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different things to a lot of different
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people
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[Music]
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in the streets of Paris the French
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Revolution meant an end to the appalling
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privileges of
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wealth and France's brand new Congress
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called the National Assembly it meant
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the ideas of Europe's Most radical
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thinkers could be
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realized nobody knows exactly what's
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going to come out of it but just the
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idea of of of having rights right the
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idea that all people have rights that
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those rights are inherent this was
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something that obviously philosophers
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had written about before but during the
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course of the French Revolution it was
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written down in a text called the
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Declaration of the rights of
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[Music]
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man it's a dangerous idea because the
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society is based on inequality that's
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what makes it work because it was not
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supposed to work for everybody it was
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supposed to work for a
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[Music]
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minority what was a dangerous idea in
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France was even more dangerous and its
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slaveholding colon
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off the coast of
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Florida Martinique qulo and an island
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known as the pearl of the
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anes today the Western half is
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Haiti then it was the French colony of s
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[Music]
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doming one thing that's fascinating
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about that time people think things were
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very far away they were not news
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traveled very very fast
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[Music]
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we have to remember that the ocean was
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like a highway in the 18th century I
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mean the ships were constantly bringing
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news back and forth everyone was
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obsessed with
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news Sailors would come off the ships
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they first people they would talk to the
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people they would work with as they were
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unloading the ships were enslaved people
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so there reports who were describing the
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events that have been going on in Paris
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to to the enslaved that are working
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alongside of them
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[Music]
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few intended Colonial slaves should take
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Democratic ideas to
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Heart far too much was at stake sugar
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greased the wheels of the 18th century
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economy and sendang was the sugar
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capital of the world
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[Music]
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[Music]
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it was easy even for France's political
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radicals to ignore the agony that made
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it all
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[Music]
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possible the leaves of the sugar cane
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are just like minuscule saw
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if they cut you you may not even see it
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but when you perspire the sweat gets in
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it and it
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burns in The Roots there are
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ants they
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bite and when they bite you you will
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scratch yourself for half a
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[Music]
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day if the worker refuse to work well
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there's a law which you just shoot him
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that's all
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the whole concept of slavery itself is
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is a totally Savage one the French they
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brought it down to science a slave
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coming from Africa would not last 3
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years the way the system was
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organized they had it down to that kind
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of
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Statistics they did it very
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systematically and it was very
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successful
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[Music]
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slavery and sang succeeded too on a
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foundation of Relentless
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Terror slave owner stanas seu explained
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it as rational
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management slow punishments make a
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greater Impressions than quick or
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violent
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ones other than 50 lashes administered
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in 5 minutes 20 five lashes of the whip
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administered in a quarter of an
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hour this is far more likely to make an
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impression the accounts about the
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tortures inflicted on slaves are are
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often
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horrifying legs cut off or arms cut off
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amputations for runaways rubbing hot
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powder or or pepper and so forth into
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the
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wounds slaves actually hung and left to
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[Music]
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die you can kind of imagine that this
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kind of world in which essentially human
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life was given so little value that
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these tortures were kind of refined to
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this incredible cruel
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effect despite the brutal tools of
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control some blacks managed to escape
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slavery many had been born free fathered
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by white planter
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others had gained Freedom through their
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own wits or
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talents one such man was to
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[Music]
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L I was born a slave but nature gave me
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the soul of a free
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man T was a very determined man he was a
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very ambitious
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man and in my opinion he was a
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genius Tusa is I think one of the most
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incredible figures that I know about in
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in many
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ways he's born on a plantation in
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sandang he grows up on that
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Plantation that Plantation was owned by
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a man who was tolerant for the Times
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Tucan was taught to read and write as a
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child he eventually occupies a somewhat
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privileged role if you can say that on
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implantation as a Coachman and and has a
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kind of relationship with the managers
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and Masters in some ways he becomes free
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in the 1770s so he's somebody who kind
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of occupied different roles in society
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and I think that's the key for
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understanding tant is that he saw
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possibilities where other people
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[Music]
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didn't he had businesses had contacts in
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the US and elsewhere bank accounts
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managed his Affairs pretty well the man
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was endless in organizational capacity I
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mean he would have been a fantastic CEO
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[Music]
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today didn't record his first reactions
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to the revolution in France but his
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fellow free Sans the white Colonials and
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the mixed race population were
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transfixed
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in 1789 there were about 40,000 white
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people and about 30,000 colored people
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who were of course their sons and
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cousins and so on and so forth who were
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land owners themselves many of them
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slave owners themselves many of them
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very effective businessmen many of them
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involved romantically with the white
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master
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class one of the things that's important
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to remember about Haiti and race is it
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wasn't simply black and white instead
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you had numerous gradations of
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color one historian went so far as to
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give 110 categories of color from
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absolute black to Absolute white and to
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each combination he gave a name
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mulat
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quadon mama luk and what he was
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accounting for was the drops of black
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[Music]
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blood white hoped for more control over
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the colony's
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governance but the colony's mixed race
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population hoped for more fundamental
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changes they had been born free but not
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equal they had to show physical respect
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for the white stand up when they are in
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presence of a white call them mister or
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whatever title they wanted to have it
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was not easy for them and that's exactly
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why they were the first one before the
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blacks they were the first one to ask
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for
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equality the mixed race population of
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sandang decided their chance had come in
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1791 they sent up a petition to France's
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new government asking for the rights of
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citizenship this is a powerful message
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to have been taking place in a society
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that was explicitly organized on
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inequality it's like
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[Music]
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dynamite the petition asked for civil
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protections and it enraged the Island's
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white population workingclass colonists
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began a full scale intimidation
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campaign they threatened beat and
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murdered mxre residents in the
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[Music]
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capital but the petition met a different
00:14:15
reception back in
00:14:18
Paris the new breed of delegates in the
00:14:21
National Assembly issued a landmark
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decree they extended equal rights to the
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small population of mixed raced people
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born of two free
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[Music]
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parents despite the reform's limited
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extent the governor of sang refused to
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obey Colonial whites felt profoundly
00:14:46
betrayed some such as a pl's wife named
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Madame de began discussing radical
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thoughts of their own the National
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Assembly is committed to destroying our
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lives as Masters
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so much so that secession from France
00:15:02
might be
00:15:03
necessary the slave owners of America I
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hope will band together to stop this
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contagion of
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[Music]
00:15:23
Liberty the good Lord who created the
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sun which gives us light from above who
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es the sea and makes the thunder roar
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watches
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us bukman dati was a slave and a voodoo
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priest throw away the image of the god
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of the whites who thirst for our tears
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and listen to the voice of Liberty which
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speaks in the hearts of all of
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[Music]
00:15:53
us in August
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1791 as Sang's white and mixed
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population squared off for a showdown
00:16:02
Bookman called together slaves from
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neighboring
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[Music]
00:16:08
plantations they'd been kidnapped from
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different parts of Africa and the voodoo
00:16:13
religion was their common culture
00:16:17
[Music]
00:16:41
Bookman had called them to an area
00:16:43
called
00:16:45
Bima first on the agenda was
00:16:53
strategy that ceremony
00:16:56
of is the first
00:16:59
Haitian Congress the beginning of the
00:17:02
revolution
00:17:31
[Music]
00:17:36
H tradition says the slaves of sang
00:17:39
planned that night to revolt they Ed
00:17:42
their Uprising to start on multiple
00:17:44
plantations in two weeks
00:17:47
time and they swore each other to
00:17:54
secrecy they even said that they killed
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a pig and the drunk the
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blood this is what we call a
00:18:11
communion communion that to keep what
00:18:14
you have heard what you have said to
00:18:18
them
00:18:21
themselves the god of the white man
00:18:24
calls him to commit
00:18:26
crimes Our God orders Revenge he will
00:18:29
direct our hands he will Aid
00:18:34
[Music]
00:18:39
us on the night of August 22nd
00:18:43
1791 a thousand enslaved Africans
00:18:46
attacked their
00:18:50
masters let
00:19:05
for them to be free they have to have
00:19:08
the same amount of violence that you
00:19:11
exerted on
00:19:13
them that's why the Revolution was very
00:19:19
brutal this is that hatred in the first
00:19:23
day that came out
00:19:27
[Music]
00:19:32
[Applause]
00:19:32
[Music]
00:19:38
[Applause]
00:19:39
the rebel numbers Grew From 1,000 to
00:19:43
20,000 as newly liberated slaves burned
00:19:46
cane fields and refineries in order to
00:19:49
destroy the system that had enslaved
00:19:54
them within 3 days the most profitable
00:19:58
Plantation and the Americas had been
00:20:00
laid waste 184 sugar plantations and
00:20:05
1,000 coffee
00:20:08
Farms whites and mixed was people fled
00:20:12
to the capital city for Mutual
00:20:16
protection from there they watched
00:20:19
firestorms on all
00:20:24
Horizons you've got a fiery cataclysm of
00:20:28
enormous scale I mean the people on
00:20:30
ships in the harbor supposedly could
00:20:31
read their mail by the light of these
00:20:33
fires that were you know 10 15 20 miles
00:20:36
away uh to give you some faint idea of
00:20:39
what this would have been like if you
00:20:40
were
00:20:43
there the eruption of violence put to in
00:20:47
a difficult position his own fortunes
00:20:50
were tied to the plantation system and
00:20:54
he had straddled the white and black
00:20:56
worlds for some 15 years
00:21:00
tus was no longer a slave he didn't have
00:21:04
the mentality of a slave he was the
00:21:07
owner of two or three
00:21:11
plantations he was not of the same class
00:21:14
anymore his interest were different from
00:21:18
the interests of the
00:21:20
[Music]
00:21:24
masses but to s's first reaction to the
00:21:27
Raging violence was based neither on
00:21:29
money nor race it was
00:21:32
personal he went back to the plantation
00:21:35
where he had been born to protect his
00:21:38
former
00:21:40
owners it's true that Tusan did return
00:21:42
to the plantation in the early days of
00:21:45
the Insurrection and kind of maintained
00:21:47
order there and there's always there's a
00:21:49
question the question of why why would
00:21:50
he do that I think tan was somebody who
00:21:54
um understood the value of of um
00:21:57
Humanity in many ways right and I think
00:21:59
he probably had gained that precisely
00:22:01
from being on the the the receiving end
00:22:03
of
00:22:06
slavery back in the capital city as tuen
00:22:10
helped his former Master flee the
00:22:11
violence Sang's whites repelled assault
00:22:16
after
00:22:17
assault they soon regrouped and launched
00:22:20
their own
00:22:26
offensive the blood leing continued day
00:22:30
after day week after Soul numbing week
00:22:34
French colonist pil D
00:22:37
laqua the country is filled with dead
00:22:40
bodies which lie unburied the Negroes
00:22:43
have left the whites with Stakes driven
00:22:46
through them into the ground and the
00:22:48
white troops who take no prisoners leave
00:22:51
Negroes dead upon the
00:22:55
field 3 months after the revolution
00:22:58
started the voodoo priest bukman duti
00:23:02
was killed in
00:23:03
battle white soldiers decapitated him
00:23:06
and burned his body and view of the
00:23:08
Rebel camp and the words of one Observer
00:23:12
the conflict in sang had become an
00:23:16
Exterminating War
00:23:29
in the Autumn of
00:23:31
1791 Tu could no longer sit on the
00:23:36
sidelines despite a wife and children
00:23:39
despite the chance even of losing his
00:23:42
own Freedom tcan didn't hesitate
00:23:46
long he left everything he dropped
00:23:50
everything and he went to the
00:23:53
[Music]
00:23:54
mountain it was an act of extraordinary
00:23:57
risk the Island's 500,000 slaves
00:24:01
outnumbered Whites by 12
00:24:04
to1 but their ultimate prospects were
00:24:07
poor few had experience in military
00:24:11
strategy and they had no unifying
00:24:13
history or long-term
00:24:16
Vision the fact is a lot of people
00:24:18
didn't really know what Freedom was
00:24:20
supposed to look like nobody had really
00:24:22
even theorized or imagined this
00:24:26
before to say on the other hand had a
00:24:29
unique window on the world he was
00:24:31
schooled in African and European culture
00:24:34
alike and had read some of frs's most
00:24:36
radical
00:24:39
thinkers T had certainly read a text by
00:24:43
La Ral which predicted that out of the
00:24:47
colonial slave system with its you know
00:24:50
frightening imbalance of numbers and
00:24:52
horrible suffering and all of that there
00:24:53
would emerge a leader revolutionary
00:24:56
leader I believe right now referred to
00:24:58
him as a black
00:25:00
Spartacus he sounds a literate person
00:25:03
there's no way he would have missed
00:25:06
this as Rebel leaders struggled to forge
00:25:09
a disciplined fighting force to sense
00:25:11
talents and intellect set him
00:25:17
apart then in December
00:25:20
1791 some 4 months after the Rebellion
00:25:23
began black enthusiasm began to crumble
00:25:30
the new French government in Paris sent
00:25:32
more than 10,000 military reinforcements
00:25:35
to help the colonists reestablished
00:25:38
white
00:25:41
rule supplies were scarce in the
00:25:44
mountains and winter brought famine to
00:25:46
the rebel
00:25:48
lines thousands began to
00:25:53
surrender T verer was not somebody who
00:25:57
liked violence really he was good at it
00:25:59
if he had to do it but he preferred to
00:26:01
use uh negotiation diplomacy G trickery
00:26:05
anything but and if that didn't work he
00:26:07
kill you no problem but he try anything
00:26:10
else
00:26:13
first to senel was asked to write up a
00:26:16
settlement offer in exchange for the
00:26:19
freedom of 200 slave leaders and better
00:26:22
working conditions on the plantations
00:26:25
The Proposal offered to send most of the
00:26:27
rebels back back to the
00:26:29
plantation it was a stark recognition of
00:26:32
18th century
00:26:35
realities sometimes it's easy to look
00:26:37
back at this and suggest that they were
00:26:38
willing to sell out their followers
00:26:40
while the terms I think it's true are
00:26:41
troubling in some ways they were also
00:26:43
trying to seek some change and I think
00:26:45
the key here is that it was really
00:26:47
difficult to imagine that you would
00:26:48
actually eliminate
00:26:56
slavery new French commissioner had just
00:26:59
arrived from Paris to restore order more
00:27:02
liberal than the Planters they urged
00:27:05
cang's whites to accept the rebels offer
00:27:09
and they called slave leaders to the
00:27:10
capital of lucap for
00:27:13
negotiations trust was minimal some
00:27:16
slave Rebels wanted to kill their white
00:27:19
prisoners but T argued against it he
00:27:23
wanted the whites return to look out as
00:27:26
a gesture of Goodwill
00:27:30
[Music]
00:27:33
so TCA is sent to negotiate with the
00:27:35
Planters with the idea that in a sense a
00:27:37
settlement can be reached the settlement
00:27:39
is not only for the freedom of some of
00:27:41
the Insurgent leaders but also for some
00:27:43
reforms on the plantation small reforms
00:27:46
but reforms that at least in the letters
00:27:48
they describe their followers really
00:27:50
want whether the small group of leaders
00:27:53
actually would have had the power to say
00:27:54
to all of these people that they taken
00:27:56
out okay we're going back to work now
00:27:57
here's your
00:27:59
I don't know as it happened the white
00:28:02
people were so shortsighted that they
00:28:04
didn't even give them the opportunity to
00:28:07
try the white said
00:28:09
no they said no because at that time
00:28:12
they were the one who wanted Revenge
00:28:15
they forget about what they have done
00:28:16
for three centuries and they think that
00:28:18
they were the victims in that thing so
00:28:21
they have to avenge themselves so
00:28:24
they're not going to forgive or forget
00:28:26
anything
00:28:28
they
00:28:30
refused of course he's taken up arms
00:28:33
against them but at the same time he's
00:28:34
made a lot of concessions and he
00:28:36
struggled against his own followers to
00:28:38
say look we're going to treat the
00:28:39
prisoners well we're going to trade with
00:28:41
them we're willing to make a deal and to
00:28:43
have that refused by the planter class I
00:28:46
think certainly must have had a
00:28:47
radicalizing
00:28:49
effect to sense support first settlement
00:28:53
abruptly ended and with it the best deal
00:28:56
the whites would ever
00:28:59
[Music]
00:29:10
Mery back in France the Democratic
00:29:13
revolution had turned to
00:29:17
Terror France's revolutionary Army was
00:29:21
at war with neighboring
00:29:23
countries its radical leaders sought to
00:29:25
purge themselves of enemies from
00:29:28
within they executed
00:29:32
thousands in an early
00:29:35
1793 they did the
00:29:38
unthinkable the Revolutionary government
00:29:41
beheaded the
00:29:45
king events in France were moving faster
00:29:48
than than anyone had ever intended I
00:29:52
mean this was volcanic upheaval a true
00:29:55
class Revolution that turned everything
00:29:56
completely upside down and each Ripple
00:30:01
that came out would strike the shores of
00:30:03
San
00:30:07
domang one of the biggest ripples from
00:30:10
France that washed into Sang's Shores
00:30:13
was a commissioner named Le felic
00:30:19
sonx he was a French Revolutionary with
00:30:22
radical ideas about life in The Colony
00:30:29
sanx arrives in sandang having already
00:30:32
had bad words said about him there are
00:30:34
people who've actually written from from
00:30:35
France to the colonist in cang saying
00:30:38
watch out for this guy he's an
00:30:40
abolitionist he wants to abolish
00:30:44
slavery Sang's mixed Wass population had
00:30:48
so far retained its fragile alignment
00:30:50
with the whites to ensure that continued
00:30:54
sonx created a representational council
00:30:57
on the island and invited mixed race
00:31:00
citizens to serve he even brought mixed
00:31:03
race men into the colonial
00:31:06
[Music]
00:31:08
government and a lot of white Planters
00:31:10
are really really uh upset about that
00:31:12
and and see him as as that is a really
00:31:15
destructive
00:31:18
force the white Planters had cause for
00:31:21
worry less than 2 years after joining
00:31:24
the Rebellion telur had risen to the top
00:31:28
of the Rebel
00:31:31
Army I am
00:31:33
T my name is perhaps known to
00:31:36
you in
00:31:38
1793 he wrote an open letter to the
00:31:41
islands
00:31:43
disenfranchised I have undertaken
00:31:45
Vengeance I want Liberty and equality to
00:31:49
reign in San domain I work to bring them
00:31:53
into existence unite yourselves to us
00:31:56
Brothers and fight with us for the same
00:32:00
cause with his letter he announces two
00:32:03
things he announces first of all his
00:32:04
commitment to the process to the project
00:32:06
of emancipation and he announces his
00:32:08
presence as a leader maybe even the
00:32:10
leader he has gained great respect from
00:32:13
his followers and with this Proclamation
00:32:15
he's essentially saying you want freedom
00:32:17
and I'm the one who's going to bring you
00:32:19
that freedom so I'm the person to follow
00:32:21
in this
00:32:23
regard but to say at this time was
00:32:26
addressing the wide world too he was
00:32:30
particularly focused on
00:32:33
Spain the Spanish wanted to wrestle The
00:32:35
Colony away from
00:32:38
France for two reasons first the colony
00:32:41
was very very prosperous in spite of the
00:32:46
war and second that Prosperity was used
00:32:50
by the French Revolution to comat them
00:32:52
in
00:32:55
Europe Spain controlled Sang's
00:32:58
neighboring Colony so in June of
00:33:02
1793 tan struck a deal Spanish garrisons
00:33:06
just over the Border provided guns and
00:33:09
ammunition to the slave Army and tipped
00:33:12
the balance their way to S Forces
00:33:16
captured three cities within 8
00:33:20
[Music]
00:33:23
months Sang's white Planters were
00:33:26
desperate many hated the New Order in
00:33:29
France in a treasonous move they invited
00:33:33
the British to help put down the slave
00:33:36
rebellion now the empires of France
00:33:40
Spain and England along with a vast Army
00:33:43
of former slaves were fighting for
00:33:46
control of the small island
00:33:53
colony then in early
00:33:56
1794 events in Paris caused another
00:33:59
explosion in the colony a multi-racial
00:34:03
delegation from sang had appeared in
00:34:06
France's national assembly they had been
00:34:09
sent by commissioner sonx with a
00:34:11
dramatic message he had pledged freedom
00:34:14
to send omang slaves for fighting the
00:34:17
armies of Britain and Spain the
00:34:20
emissaries made a compelling
00:34:23
argument these are the principles and
00:34:25
the ideas of France and we fully
00:34:28
represent them and we want wish to
00:34:30
continue to represent them on our Island
00:34:32
and so we've come to present our
00:34:33
arguments about why we are in fact truly
00:34:36
committed to those ideas and principles
00:34:38
and how we epitomize these principles of
00:34:41
the French
00:34:43
Revolution I think it was very powerful
00:34:45
for the representatives of France to
00:34:47
hear essentially that what had happened
00:34:49
in the Caribbean is that the white slave
00:34:51
owners had deserted France they had gone
00:34:53
over to the British they had fought
00:34:55
against the Republic and the true people
00:34:57
the true Republicans in sang were these
00:35:00
enslaved people who just wanted their
00:35:03
freedom the French National Assembly
00:35:06
endorsed the emancipation of sangan
00:35:09
slaves but that was not all the
00:35:12
delegates freed slaves throughout the
00:35:14
entire Empire
00:35:17
too and there's rejoicing and
00:35:20
celebration there's an older woman a
00:35:23
free woman of color who's traditionally
00:35:24
gone to the debates who sort of sheds
00:35:27
tear and is brought down and celebrated
00:35:29
as part of this moment and there are
00:35:32
speeches in Paris celebrations of this
00:35:33
event throughout France it's really seen
00:35:36
as a kind of Triumph for the French
00:35:37
Revolution for the ideals of the French
00:35:39
Revolution that this worst form of of
00:35:41
hierarchy enslavement and oppression has
00:35:44
been abolished um in the
00:35:46
[Music]
00:35:52
Caribbean it was utterly
00:35:55
unprecedented and a stroke nearly a
00:35:58
million black slaves had become French
00:36:04
[Music]
00:36:20
citizens word that the French
00:36:22
Revolutionary government had freed its
00:36:24
slaves reached sandang quickly it was
00:36:28
one of History's great watersheds and
00:36:31
due largely to the extraordinary
00:36:33
military accomplishments of tain's army
00:36:37
but the credit did not rest with Tain
00:36:39
alone he had several able commanders
00:36:42
working under him men like Jean jaac D
00:36:45
saline who shared his solders life
00:36:48
experiences more closely than T
00:36:50
[Music]
00:36:53
Sam Des saline had been mistreated in
00:36:55
slavery considerably we a lot he had
00:36:58
tremendous whip scars on his back uh
00:37:01
that he liked to display on
00:37:03
occasion he had deep reserves of anger
00:37:06
and violence but also a very intelligent
00:37:11
man for deine and to emancipation
00:37:15
changed
00:37:16
everything they quickly trimmed their
00:37:18
cells to the New
00:37:20
Order to realized that Spain had a king
00:37:26
England had a king
00:37:28
and France was talking about Liberty
00:37:30
equality
00:37:32
fraternity all men
00:37:35
equal so he realized that although the
00:37:40
Revolt started by fighting the French
00:37:43
the French right now could be the best
00:37:47
help they could
00:37:49
receive so he rejoined the
00:37:55
French after three years in opposition
00:37:59
Tel was once again a loyal friend
00:38:02
citizen so were his
00:38:10
followers it tipped the balance before
00:38:14
long tan de Salin and the army of EX
00:38:17
slaves pushed the Spanish out of
00:38:21
sang the British soon
00:38:25
followed word of tucan ising string of
00:38:28
Victories against white armies was
00:38:31
spreading across the European
00:38:35
World they didn't like it they didn't
00:38:38
like it at all that there was a black
00:38:40
General beating white armies they didn't
00:38:44
like
00:38:44
it slave holders everywhere were stunned
00:38:49
and
00:38:50
worried in the United States for
00:38:52
instance and in Cuba they didn't want
00:38:56
even White
00:38:57
French men to come because they would
00:39:01
tell the story why are you running away
00:39:04
from San domain they would answer that
00:39:07
and no matter what they answer it would
00:39:09
be known that there was a black Revolt
00:39:13
we confronted dangers in order to gain
00:39:15
our Liberty and we will be able to
00:39:18
confront death in order to keep it
00:39:20
slaves had once accepted their chain
00:39:23
because they had not experienced a state
00:39:26
happier than slaver
00:39:28
but those days are over the people of
00:39:30
sandang rather be buried in the ruin of
00:39:33
their country than suffer the return of
00:39:37
[Music]
00:39:38
slavery tuan's ringing language showed
00:39:41
his profound attachment to democratic
00:39:44
ideals but there was another side to
00:39:48
tentu anybody who looked like they
00:39:52
threatened to S either ended up dead or
00:39:59
deported Tusan had already been
00:40:02
appointed Brigadier General and then
00:40:05
governor of sang No black man had ever
00:40:09
risen so far in the
00:40:11
colonies but tan had a
00:40:16
rival the Beloved French civil
00:40:19
commissioner felicite
00:40:23
sonx sonx was extremely popular because
00:40:27
he was the one to say okay slavery is
00:40:32
abolished he was very popular and the
00:40:35
blacks used to call him Papa
00:40:38
SX that didn't go well with t t is very
00:40:43
friendly with SX as long as Sak can
00:40:45
serve his purposes now and nothing
00:40:47
personal about it when Sak becomes
00:40:49
useless you will send him back over
00:40:51
there that's as simple as
00:40:54
that and in 1797
00:40:57
to say in fact no longer needed sonx in
00:41:01
a series of political Maneuvers he
00:41:04
isolated the Civil commissioner then in
00:41:06
August he forced sonx off the island to
00:41:10
sen had triumphed
00:41:20
again and 1798 as TTU was evicting the
00:41:24
last of the British from his Island
00:41:27
another French General battled British
00:41:29
interest Halfway Around the World in
00:41:33
Egypt his name was Napoleon
00:41:40
bonapart well tan and Napoleon in many
00:41:42
ways are are similar both were a little
00:41:45
bit from the margins of French society
00:41:47
they succeeded through military
00:41:49
Brilliance and they're both incredible
00:41:50
military leaders and they became
00:41:52
political leaders as a result of their
00:41:54
military experience
00:41:57
but Napoleon's victories would put TUC
00:41:59
Sans at risk just months after
00:42:02
conquering Egypt Napoleon marched into
00:42:06
Paris akuda toled the Revolutionary
00:42:09
government and Napoleon took the Reigns
00:42:12
of power the revolution is over he
00:42:15
declared I am the
00:42:21
revolution as Napoleon is rising to
00:42:23
power in France tan is watching closely
00:42:26
about what's going on he knows several
00:42:28
things he knows first of all that there
00:42:29
are very powerful pro slavery voices in
00:42:32
France who are ad who are agitating
00:42:34
against him attacking him and proposing
00:42:37
that slavery actually be recreated in
00:42:39
some form in
00:42:42
sendang Tuan believe Sang's survival and
00:42:46
the survival of Freedom itself depended
00:42:48
on his ability to mobilize people to
00:42:51
rebuild the devastated economy and in
00:42:54
Tan's mind that meant one
00:43:00
[Music]
00:43:03
thing his black followers should return
00:43:07
to the cane
00:43:13
Fields there were some compelling
00:43:15
reasons for this I mean mainly in tense
00:43:17
situation he was really in a bind at
00:43:20
that
00:43:21
point uh in the sense that his Hope For
00:43:25
Peace was restoring prod productivity on
00:43:27
the plantations recreating the sugar
00:43:30
trade in
00:43:31
particularly but nobody wanted to go
00:43:34
back to that kind of work so he pretty
00:43:37
well had to force them and then the
00:43:39
people began to think H this is a lot
00:43:41
like
00:43:43
slavery he was strong maybe a little too
00:43:47
strong with the blacks in several
00:43:48
occasions but he had to do it he had to
00:43:52
do it to be a leader you got to know
00:43:55
where to lay back and we have to know
00:43:58
when to say okay guys go ahead let's do
00:44:01
it if you don't do it hell whatever the
00:44:03
consequences you'll pay for
00:44:08
it most newly freed slaves didn't see it
00:44:12
that way they wanted to work for
00:44:14
themselves growing crops for food rather
00:44:17
than
00:44:18
export to s's luster began to
00:44:25
tarnish now Le Leo on the other hand was
00:44:28
riding high he restructured the
00:44:31
government and proclaimed a new
00:44:32
constitution for France far from
00:44:35
enshrining black
00:44:36
emancipation it opened the door for
00:44:38
France to reinstitute slavery and its
00:44:43
[Music]
00:44:45
colonies when lur heard that he really
00:44:48
understood that something was changing
00:44:50
and more ominously he understood that he
00:44:51
didn't have any way to influence
00:44:54
Napoleon and so what he did in kind of
00:44:56
typical to s fashion is responded by
00:44:58
saying okay sananga is going to have its
00:45:00
own laws well here they are I'm in
00:45:02
charge here I might as well write the
00:45:06
[Music]
00:45:07
Constitution to s's Constitution decreed
00:45:10
slavery would never exist in sendang
00:45:13
again and it was the first in history to
00:45:16
prohibit discrimination based on skin
00:45:19
color a milestone that US law would not
00:45:23
guarantee for another 150 years
00:45:29
the Constitution had troubling elements
00:45:31
too it made tan governor for life with
00:45:36
sole authority to designate his
00:45:40
successor T's great hero to me but this
00:45:43
was not a good idea I mean he basically
00:45:45
with that
00:45:47
gesture installed permanent military
00:45:50
dictatorship which has remained a
00:45:52
problem in Haiti for for two
00:45:55
centuries he could have done what he
00:45:57
needed to do without that I think I'm
00:45:58
not quite sure why he did
00:46:00
it but that was enough to uh to send
00:46:03
Napoleon over the
00:46:07
edge Napoleon bonap had had enough of
00:46:11
Revolution and according to Napoleon the
00:46:14
US president Thomas Jefferson shared his
00:46:19
view the prospect of a black Republic is
00:46:22
equally disturbing to the Spanish the
00:46:24
English and the Americans Jefferson has
00:46:28
promised that at the instant the French
00:46:29
army has arrived all measures will be
00:46:32
taken to starve tan read us of these
00:46:35
guilded Negroes and we will have nothing
00:46:37
more to wish
00:46:40
for to sride urgently to show Napoleon
00:46:44
that military logic if nothing else
00:46:47
proved the Merit of black
00:46:50
Ambitions Tusa was writing Napoleon he
00:46:53
wanted so much to be recognized as
00:46:58
saving this land for
00:47:03
France his efforts failed in 1802 Tain
00:47:08
was stunned to see the largest French
00:47:11
expeditionary Force ever assembled
00:47:13
entering Sang's Harbor its mission was
00:47:17
simple Napoleon wanted to turn back the
00:47:23
clock my decision to destroy the
00:47:25
authority of the blacks in sang is not
00:47:28
so much based on consideration of
00:47:29
Commerce and money as on the need to
00:47:32
block forever the march of the blacks in
00:47:35
the
00:47:38
world T fought the invading French army
00:47:42
for three grueling months but the
00:47:45
Island's black population now
00:47:47
disenchanted with his leadership offered
00:47:50
lackluster support
00:47:57
on May 6 1802
00:48:00
T
00:48:02
surrendered at first he was allowed to
00:48:05
retire from the army with full
00:48:08
honors but a month later he was called
00:48:11
to a meeting with the French
00:48:14
Commander if I wanted to count all the
00:48:17
services that I have rendered to the
00:48:19
French government I will need several
00:48:22
volumes and still I would't finish it
00:48:25
all
00:48:26
Tucan was arrested on charges of
00:48:30
conspiracy he rubs some stuff that's
00:48:33
very eloquent of saying I rather suspect
00:48:36
that it's because of my color that
00:48:38
you're treating me like a common
00:48:40
criminal although I prefer not to
00:48:41
believe this and to compensate me for
00:48:44
all the services they arrested me
00:48:47
arbitrarily in sang They choked me and
00:48:51
drag me like a criminal without any
00:48:53
decorum or concern for my rank is that
00:48:56
the recompense do my
00:48:59
work normally a mutinous French officer
00:49:02
would have been brought before Military
00:49:05
Tribunal so he comports himself as if
00:49:08
he's going to have a military
00:49:10
trial to S Sons had been educated in
00:49:14
France they had even met Napoleon hoping
00:49:17
again that Napoleon would understand his
00:49:19
thinking to S peacefully boarded a ship
00:49:23
for France
00:49:27
sanang remained mostly calm and to S
00:49:31
wake saline and the other black officers
00:49:34
continued cooperating with French
00:49:37
General Victor
00:49:40
ler but then news arrived from the
00:49:43
nearby colony of guad looop Napoleon had
00:49:46
reinstated
00:49:48
slavery lir reported that he had the
00:49:51
saline in his pocket and controlled him
00:49:52
and had mastered his Spirit while haha
00:49:54
he was extremely wrong about that
00:49:56
[Music]
00:50:00
sang erupted in anger and fear dine
00:50:04
quickly broke from
00:50:07
France one more time the former slaves
00:50:11
of sang took to the field against
00:50:14
European
00:50:17
armies this Seline is a no holes bar no
00:50:20
compromising leader and figure who is
00:50:23
going to eradicate anything that stands
00:50:25
in the way of what the people have been
00:50:27
mobilizing
00:50:29
towards it's generally reported that
00:50:32
they s killed all the white people
00:50:34
Massacre of all white people could race
00:50:36
war no not really there's one report by
00:50:39
a Survivor who managed to get out to
00:50:42
escape by masquerading as an American
00:50:44
because deselen was not killing
00:50:45
Americans or English just
00:50:55
French one fleeing white Pier chazot
00:50:59
paused on a Mountaintop to observe the
00:51:04
devastation no less than 10 square
00:51:07
leagues of country burning like
00:51:11
volcanoes the rapidity of the
00:51:13
conflagration was such as to make the
00:51:15
beholder believe that large and Fick
00:51:17
trains of gunpowder had previously been
00:51:20
laid down
00:51:22
[Music]
00:51:30
the war becomes this extreme scorched
00:51:32
Earth kind of campaign in which desine
00:51:34
and others burn the towns in order to
00:51:37
basically leave the French with little
00:51:38
with no choice but to
00:51:40
[Music]
00:51:42
depart Des saline's scorched Earth
00:51:45
tactics worked in 1803 the French army
00:51:50
was finally driven out 50,000 French
00:51:54
soldiers had died
00:51:56
and sendang Haiti became the world's
00:52:01
first black
00:52:05
Republic this is a powerful story it
00:52:09
wasn't just an anti-colonial Revolution
00:52:11
but it was an also an anti-slavery
00:52:13
revolution in that it said your economy
00:52:17
and your privilege which is based on
00:52:19
forc labor cannot stand it will not
00:52:22
stand it's a message that translates
00:52:24
Through Time
00:52:27
Independence is the strongest
00:52:30
feeling of human
00:52:34
being I think we all in some ways have
00:52:38
inherited something from this revolution
00:52:40
because it's really the first place that
00:52:41
people insisted absolutely that human
00:52:44
rights were for all
00:52:47
people it's something that everybody
00:52:49
should know about it to know exactly
00:52:51
what our species not black people but
00:52:54
our species can
00:52:58
realize but
00:53:00
T never lived to see Victory by the time
00:53:05
Haiti attained the goal he fought so
00:53:07
hard to achieve the imprisoned
00:53:10
revolutionary had died in a freezing
00:53:13
cell in the mountains of
00:53:17
France and overthrowing me ltu wrote as
00:53:21
he left for France you have only cut
00:53:24
down the trunk of the Liberty Tree of
00:53:26
the blacks and
00:53:28
sendang it will spring back from the
00:53:30
roots for they are numerous and deep
00:53:35
[Music]
00:54:05
egalite for all tant lure in the Haitian
00:54:08
revolution is available on DVD the
00:54:10
companion book is also available to
00:54:13
order visit shop pbs.org or call us
00:54:17
at800 playay PBS
00:54:21
[Music]
00:54:55
[Music]
00:55:08
this program was made possible by The
00:55:10
Corporation for Public
00:55:12
Broadcasting and by contributions to
00:55:14
your PBS station from viewers like you
00:55:18
thank you
