The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti, initiated by a slave revolt on this day in 1791.

Although the rebellion began in 1791, Haiti didn't achieve formally achieve independence from France until 1804. The Haitian Revolution was the only slave uprising that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery and ruled by its non-white former captives.

The revolt began when thousands of slaves began to kill their masters and plunged the colony into civil war after a well-attended vodou ceremony. Within the next ten days, slaves had taken control of the entire Northern Province in a slave revolt of unprecedented scale.

The slaves sought revenge on their masters through "pillage, rape, torture, mutilation, and death". Over 200,000 black people died from the initial uprising until independence thirteen years later.

Toussaint Louverture was a notable military leader of the revolution, but died shortly before independence was won. His former lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, became the first leader of the newly independent nation in 1804.

"Of men who had cowered trembling before the frown of any white ruffian, [Toussaint Louverture] had made in ten years an army which could hold its own with the finest soldiers Europe has yet seen."

  • C.L.R. James, in "The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution"

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  • Sen_Jen [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I was expecting there to be literally any backlash at all against Roe V Wade being overturned but from the sounds of it absolutely nothing is happening. AOC got arrested at a protest I guess, and Biden keeps saying "man what do you want from me". I was hoping for some kind of mass reaction like the BLM riots, but nah, the left seems to be completely defanged

    • Tormato [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Feel same. Something’s off.

      Or it’s just kindling now for an explosion soon enough.

      But it is unsettling and disappointing. Between the racist gun massacres, police cowards exposing just how truly useless and dangerous they really are, the continuing price-gouging, etc.

      They can quickly pass a law forbidding protesting at SCOTUS’s homes though.

      I think people are dazed, and as the reality sinks in deeper and deeper that fundamentally their government is beyond dysfunction and racing toward illegitimate is a mind fuck for many.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Nazi Germany makes more and more sense every day. The SCOTUS just took away one of the most important and foundational rights and no one even tried to stop it.