Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804: 3D Gallery

Toussaint Louverture

Toussaint Louverture, Louverture also spelled L’Ouverture, original name (until c. 1793) François Dominique Toussaint, (born c. 1743, Bréda, near Cap-Français, Saint-Domingue [Haiti]—died April 7, 1803, Fort-de-Joux, France), leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution. He emancipated the slaves and negotiated for the French colony on Hispaniola, Saint-Domingue (later Haiti), to be governed, briefly, by black former slaves as a French protectorate.

grand blancs

Les grands blancs (the big whites) were the powerful, slave-owning class of whites. Though sharply in the minority (outnumbered by blacks approximately 1000 to 1 at the height of the slave trade), they controlled both wealth and power, and so it was they who ruled. They became notably wealthy, some owning commercial ventures in France as well as their slave-driven plantations in Saint-Domingue. They railed against the ideas and supporters of the French Revolution, which in essence aimed to chop out the heart of the master-slave relationship that built and sustained their dominant influence. They advertised their unity in this matter by wearing a white cockade, and from that took the name pompons blancs ('the white pompoms').

the french

The French Revolution had a great impact on the colony. However, the situation became more complex when civil commissioners sent to St. Domingue by theFrench revolutionary government convinced one of the slave revolt leaders, Toussaint L'Ouverture, that the new French Government was committed to ending slavery.

social classes

Most of the blacks living on the island were slaves. As spoken of before, the treatment of slaves, especially on St. Domingue was so severe and cruel that hardly any would survive. A few may have been lucky to be able to escape and would usually then hide in the mountains. These people would be called Maroons.
There were many different economic classes for mulattoes as well. Some had been sent to and educated in France, and even owned slaves. Others were free but still poor, still others were slaves. However, mulattoes tended to be higher in class status than any black, no matter what economic class they were in. But as the number of mulattoes began to increase, white colonists began to worry that they would be dominated. Over time, mulattoes were stripped of many privileges, and this provoked their side of the battle.

haitian slaves

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map of battles

this map shows the different battles of the haitian revolution

slaves revolt

the Haitian Revolution was the greatest revolution the world has ever known. The revolution which started on August 22, 1791 on the island, which came to be known as Ayiti (Haiti), and ended at the Battle of Vertieres on November 18, 1803, is the only successful revolution carried out by enslaved people in history. It is important to realize that the revolution did not involve two powerful armies facing each other. Rather, it was a revolution carried out by an oppressed people who started off by using their work tools to fight and using courage and guerrilla warfare, before they were trained into being a military force securing victory over three of the world’s powerful armies at the time. The revolution which destroyed both the Maafa/Atlantic slavery and French colonial rule, began under the leadership of Boukman Dutty, before the meteoric rise of Toussaint Louverture as military commander. After Louverture’s arrest and imprisonment in France, the revolution was completed under the leadership of Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People is a painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled King Charles X of France. [more]

Ophelia

Ophelia is a painting by British artist Sir John Everett Millais, completed between 1851 and 1852. It depicts Ophelia, a character from Hamlet, singing before she drowns in a river in Denmark. [more]

The Music Lesson

The Music Lesson or Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman by Jan Vermeer, is a painting of young female pupil receiving the titular music lesson. [more]

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Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804