Haitian Culture Curriculum Guide

extermination of all those involved in slavery. After eighteen years of marooning, he was captured
by the colonists and put to death in 1758.
In Pursuit of Freedom
On July 14, 1789, the people of Paris, France took over The Bastilles in the names of Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity. This famous French Revolution did not take long to echo on the shore of
Saint Domingue, where the colonists and the second class whites had begun to rebel against the
French Metropolis.
In Saint Domingue at that time, there were three classes of people: the slaves, the freedmen, and the
whites. The slaves were mainly black, most freedmen were mulattos, and the whites included the
“great whites” (plantation owners and administration officials) and the “little whites” (artisans
and others).
The “great whites” were speaking of autonomy, the “little whites” of equality, the mulattos of
political rights, and the blacks of freedom. Then came Boukman Dutty.
Boukman, a slave smuggled from Jamaica to Saint Domingue, was well acquainted with colonial
life. He rose to the position of foreman and coachman before becoming a maroon.
Although rebellion was the trademark of Africans ever since they had been shipped from Africa to
Saint Domingue, a general call for liberty had not yet been voiced. Indeed many maroons fled to
the mountains and to the deep forests in order to avoid the wickedness of the plantation masters.
However, they were runaway slaves, not liberty warriors.
Vodou priests understood the essential importance of organizing and launching a viable
insurrection for liberty. In 1679, it was Padrejan; in 1734, it was Plidò; and in 1758, it was
Makandal. African religious traditions were the biding force behind Haiti’s Independence.
Well informed about these attempts, Boukman Dutty decided to use the resourceful power of the
vodou organization to, once and for all, make the slaves realize that insurrection should not mean
running away from slavery, but fighting for liberty.
The slaves swore to solidarity, trust, secrecy, and a fight to the finish. By August 23, 1791, the
general insurrection of the slaves had spread all over Saint Domingue.
On the Road to Victory
In November 1791, while fighting for liberty against the forces of colonialism, Boukman died. This
same month of November 1791, Toussaint Louverture surfaced and became leader of the general
insurrection during thirteen years on the road to victory.
The births of slaves’ children were not always registered immediately so it is difficult to determine
the exact age of an individual. In some other instances records were misplaced or destroyed for a
variety of reasons.
It is believed that Toussaint Louverture was born between the years of 1743 and 1746 in Saint
Domingue. He was the grandson of Gaou-Guinou, king of Allada, from Dahomey, known today
as Benin in West Africa. Today in Benin at the kingdom of Allada, a monument and park honored
the spirit of Toussaint Louverture. This grandson of an African king spent fifty years of his life in
slavery.
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