THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION
On the night of Sunday 14 August 1791, 200 enslaved Africans – representatives from a hundred plantations in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola – met to discuss plans for revolution. Fully aware of the revolution in France, and the instability it had caused within the colony, they met to decide on the date for an uprising when they would free themselves and end the entire slave system. Once a date was agreed, they held a vodou religious ceremony, against the backdrop of a violent storm. Details of this event vary, but most record the presence of Dutty Boukman, an early leader of the revolution, who told those present to “listen to the voice of liberty that speaks in the hearts of us all”.
“The average life expectancy for enslaved Africans was between seven and ten years”
The revolution in Saint-Domingue began on the night of 22 August 1791 with the burning of plantations and the murder of the hated plantocracy. Enslaved Africans from one
