“A Secret among the Blacks”: Slave Resistance before the Haitian Revolution

This presentation describes a new understanding of the origins of the 1791 slave revolt that eventually became the Haitian Revolution, based on deep archival research into the lives of people enslaved within in a 25-mile radius of the Dutilh plantation where the Haitian Revolution first broke out. It argues that the revolt was launched by communities forged over 30 years of environmental change and persecution. Beginning in the late 1750s planters in this region of Saint-Domingue accused enslaved people of poisoning people and animals that, in reality, were victims of an un-diagnosed anthrax epidemic. Planters used brutal methods to expose and punish these imagined poisoners, treating spiritual leaders especially viciously. The most famous of these alleged poisoners was an escaped African known as Makandal, killed by the state in 1758. After his execution, courts allowed planters to conduct their own anti-poisoning persecutions, refusing to intervene against private inquisitions and executions as late as 1788. The combination of mysterious deaths and constant suspicion of poison forced enslaved people to form communities across ethnic lines, develop leadership, and plan responses.

The presentation describes four poisoning inquisitions to reveal the kinds of enslaved resistance each of them demonstrates: ex-slaves shared African medicines to help friends attain freedom sooner; maroons created spiritual communities, plantation leaders organized labor stoppages, and torture victims appealed to French colonial law. The presentation traces the earliest days of the August 1791 uprising to show that the revolt began in and around plantations where these resistance communities existed.