Slaves, Free Men, Citizens - CIFAS

16 The Slavesof Voodoo, their African cult, they danced and 6-usually this favourite song:Eh! Ehl Bombal Heui Heu!Canga. bafio t6 lCanga, moun6 de 161Canga, do ki la1Canga, li!"We swear to destroy the whites and all that they pos-MSS; let us die rather than fail to keep this vow."The colonists knew this song and tried to stamp it out,and the Voodoo cult with which it was linked. In vain. Forover two hundred years the slaves sang it at their meetings,as the Jews in Babylon sang of Zion, and the Bantu todaysing in secret the national anthem of Africa.12All the slaves, however, did not undergo this regime.There was a small privileged caste, the foremen of thegangs, coachmen, cooks, butlers, maids, nurses, femalecompanions, and other house-servants. These repaid theirkind treatment and comparatively easy life with a strongattachment to their masters, and have thus enabled Toryhistorians, regius professors and sentimentalists to representplantation slavery as a patriarchal relation between masterand slave. Permeated with the vices of their masters andmistresses, these upper servants gave themselves airs anddespised the slaves in the fields. Dressed in cast-off silksand brocades, they gave balls in which, like trained monkeys,they danced minuets and quadrilles, and bowed andcurtseyed in the fashion of Versailles. But a few of theseused their position to cultivate themselves, to gain a littleeducation, to learn all they could The leaders of a revolutionare usually those who have been able to profit by thecultural advantages of the system they are attacking, andthe San Doming0 revolution was no exception to this rule.Christophe, afterwards Emperor of Haiti, was a slave~a1sSuch obçervations written in 1938. were intended tothe San Domingo revolution as a forecast of the future of colonialAfrica.C. L. R. lames 17waiter in a public hotel at Cap Franpb, where he madeuse of his opportunities to gain a knowledge of men andof the world Toussaint L'Ouvcrturc~ also belonged to(his mall and privileged caste. His father, ion of a pettychieftain in Africa, was captured in war, (Old as a slaveand made the journey in a slave-ship. He was bought by acolonist of some sensibility, who, recognising that thisNegro was an unusual penon, allowed him a certain libertyon the plantation and the use of five dava to cultivate aplot of land. He became a Catholic, married a woman whowas both beautiful and g ~d, and Touaaaint was the eldestof his eight children. Near to the household lived an oldNegro, Pierre Baptiste, remarkable for his integrity ofcharacter and a smattering of knowledge. The Negroesspoke a debased French known as creole. But Pierre knewFrench, also a little Latin and a little geometry, which hehad learned from a missionary. Pierre Baptiste becameToussaint's godfather and taught his godson the rudimentsof French; using the services of the Catholic Church heinstructed him also in the rudiments of Latin; Toussaintlearned also to draw. The young slaves had the care of theflocks and herds, and this was Toussaint's early occupation.But his father, like many other Africans, had some knowledgeof medicinal plants and taught Toussaint what heknew. The elements of an education, his knowledge ofherbs, his unusual intelligence, singled him out, and hewas made coachman to his master. This brought him furthermeans of comfort and self-education. Ultimately hewas made steward of all the live-stoek on the estate-aresponsible post which was usually held by a white man.If Toussaint's genius came from where genius comes, yetcircumstances conspired to give him exceptional parentsand friends and a kind master,But the number of slaves who occupied petitions withsuch opportunities was infinitely small in comparison withthe hundreds of thousands who bore on their bent back8ÈA a ¥lav he was called Toiusamt Br60s.