The Making of Haiti: The Saint Domingue Revolution From Below

by Carolyn E. Fick

In 1789 the French colony of Saint Domingue was the wealthiest and most flourishing of the Caribbean slave colonies, its economy based on the forced labor of more than half a million black slaves raided from their African homelands.  The revolt of this underclass in 1791—the only successful slave rebellion in history—gained the slaves their freedom and set in motion the colony's struggle for independence as the black republic of Haiti.

In this pioneering study, Carolyn E. Fick argues that the repressed and uneducated slaves were the principal architects both of their own freedom and of the successful movement toward national independence.  Fick identifies "marronage," the act of being a fugitive slave,  as a basic unit of slave resistance from which the revolution grew and shows how autonomous forms of popular slave participation were as important to the success of the rebellion as the leadership of men like Toussaint Louverture, Henri Christophe, and Dessalines. Using contemporary manuscripts and previously untapped archival sources, the author depicts the slaves, their aspirations, and their popular leaders and explains how they organized their rebellion.

Fick places the Saint Domingue rebellion in relation to the larger revolutionary movements of the era, provides background on class and caste prior to the revolution, the workings of the plantation system, the rigors of slave life, and the profound influence of voodoo.  By examining the rebellion and the conditions that led to it from the perspective of the slaves it liberated, she revises the history of Haiti.

Carolyn Fick is currently a Canada Research Fellow at Concordia University in Montreal.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, French Revolution, Theory, Race

376 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1990

Reviews

[Zachary Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fick takes on the challenging task of accounting for the mass of voiceless slaves who took part in the Haitian Revolution. She takes a very E.P. Thompson approach to class. Previous scholars have pointed out that few maroon communities existed in Haiti. Fick challenges this by saying the act of marronage was not just about escaping and creating a separate community, but any act of resistance. Slaves had networks across the island, and certain figures such as Makandal in the 1750s went around plantations keeping the slaves in contact with each other. This reminded me very much of the type of networks Steven Hahn discusses in A Nation Under Our Feet. These networks were upheld by commandeurs who were house slaves or free blacks who had the relative ease of mobility in Haiti. Fick shows that the slaves were aware of outside tremors in the white and mulatto community, and struck when only when they saw the opportunity to succeed. The slave voice is present throughout the revolution, especially when black leaders like Toussaint want to re-impose a form of plantation slavery. Slaves articulated their position through commandeurs in response to these events. It would be a mistake to assert that the Haitian slaves wanted immediate freedom, since they first proposed a 4 days on 3 days off work schedule. As time went on their position increasingly pushed for total emancipation--this is indicative of the enslaved's political education of sorts. Fick also asserts that the slaves were motivated by an African sense of property--specifically a desire to be connected to their land and grow their own stuff. This got me thinking of yeoman issues in North America and the enclosure movement--to what extent is this just a common human impulse. Fick asks us to see the Revolution beyond notable figures such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, who represented different interests and in many ways a different class--and to look toward the common enslaved bedrock which moved the revolution toward its successful conclusion. It was interesting that there was much less of this black slave sensibility in the south of Haiti compared to the north and I wonder why that was.

[Josiah Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wading into Haitian revolutionary studies is a daunting task, and any crack at producing new writing on the topic can be likened to yelling into a void. A historiography of this field is brief and silent. Frequently, scholars of the period will pass over the events in Saint Domingue, if not dismissing it, then relegating it to a modest side-note in a history about the French Revolution, Napoleon's military career, or the Atlantic slave trade.

This situation is, in part, produced by a lack of newly uncovered primary documentation since C. L. R. James' "Black Jacobins," which has remained the definitive history of the Haitian revolution since it was first written shortly before the outbreak of World War II.

Still, a few authors have attempted to expand this field. One such author being Carolyn Fick.

Fick, who was encouraged by James himself to begin research on the topic, synthesizes the various new additions to this field, both within the Anglophone and the Francophone, and specifically gives much attention to the role of prerevolutionary marronage in an attempt to understand the revolution less as the result of specific leaders' ideologies, French revolutionary rhetoric, or bourgeois-democratic political theory, and more as a naturally occurring convergence of political events and slave solidarity resulting from material conditions and desire for emancipation. Rather than a focus primarily on the leadership of Touissant Louverture or the emancipation efforts of Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, Fick wants to concentrate on the individual motivation of the slave. Fundamentally, Fick is attempting the closest thing to a people's history which the primary documentation of Saint Domingue allows.

I would highly recommend this work for anyone looking for a primer on the Haitian revolution.

[Katia Casimir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haïti, Naissance d’une Nation… La revolution de Saint-Domingue vue d’en bas

Comment raconter notre histoire sans ne pas utiliser le mon nèg ou mulâtre? Se fermer les yeux sur le mot Vodoo? Il était une fois Ispagnola,

« Réjouissez vous, vos flancs n’engendrerons pas d’esclaves »

Une guerre entre les anciens affranchis ( mulâtres pour la plupart ) et les nouveaux libres ( majoritairement les noirs) pour savoir qui aurait le monopole sur les finances et la politique de la nouvelle société

1804 Dessaline proclamait l’indépendance de la colonie, le nom français de Saint Domingue fut aboli adoptant le nom d’origine Taino d’Ayiti se proclamant l’héritier des autochtones exterminés par les Espagnols.

François Makandal , ( leader des marronniers ), Sonthanax , Biassou, Laveaux, Les amis des noirs. Voilà ces quelques noms autres que Toussaint Louverture qui ont donné leurs sangs à ce qui deviendra la Perle des Antilles.

Aujourd’hui malgré la déchéance, ce pays puise encore son souffle de ses ancêtres, à cœur battant, le sang en ébullition, il est dit Depi de je poko fèmen, espwa pa pèdi

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Auteure// Carolyn E Fick
Genre // Historique
Pages // 462p

[Okan Ergul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haiti Devrimi'ni özellikle siyahi kitlelerin rolleri ve tavırlarına konsantre olarak inceleyen oldukça detaylı bir çalışma. Yer yer bu konuda kendi hipotezlerine dayansa da, vesileyle hem fikir jimnastiğine, hem konuyu derinleştirmeye yönelik yeni çalışmalara pas atıyor. Öte yandan, Haiti Devrimi'ni ve L'ouverture'ü merak eden, ama devrimin uzun ve çetrefil sürecine çok da vakıf olmayan benim gibi okurlar için süreci tanımak, aşamalarını anlamak açısından oldukça öğretici. Konunun meraklılarına tavsiye edebileceğim bir kitap.

[Roger Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only is this book a well-documented and detailed history of the Saint Domingue Revolution, it tracks the political & rhetorical moves and minimizations, the shiftiness around what it means to be "liberated," that those in power seek to employ to retain their power. It stands as a testament to how difficult it is to fight for freedom, both then and now. It's especially useful alongside C.L.R. James's The Black Jacobins.

[Bethania Pereira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma das melhores análises da revolução haitiana. ela apresenta bem os debates, o trabalho com fontes é bem rico e dá ênfase a uma perspectiva a partir de baixo,para uma compreensão da participação de escravos e africanos na revolução haitiana.

[Jonna Higgins-Freese]

Recommended in Charles Forsdick; Fick was one of CLR James's students.

[Feargal McGovern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great complementary reading to the black jacobins by CLR James

[Courtney Homer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important historiography on the history of the Haitian revolution. Sometimes the author assumes knowledge of major figures, places, and events, but overall she gives an impressive recollection of the complicated revolution. Fick highlights the important players, but also complicates the issues with the evolution of thoughts on freedom and what the revolution was really about. She successfully argues that although influenced by outside thought (the French Revolution in particular), the revolution was really brought about by the regular people and slaves who fought for their own freedom.

[Dennis Hidalgo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a classic work on the Haitian Revolution. Fick challenged the field, which has been greatly influence by the _Black Jacobins_ emphasis on the history of "Great Men" (a Black man, in this case, but a man nevertheless). Her fieldwork was thorough and impressive, and her argument was that the Haitian Revolution, though influenced by the French and American Revolution, was still the product of ordinary Haitians/Saint-dominguans. This is a book that shall featured in every study of Haiti.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of dry, especially the military history parts and some academic debates over how to classify various events or people. I appreciated the descriptions of slave life, the "maroon" communities, and various other forms of slave resistance. I liked that there was a lot of use of primary source material via citations, stories, etc.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential book for those interested in Latin American history or the formation of a revolution. Fick's perspective on the revolution as two revolutions interacting at the same time is eye opening, and may help shape your own lens when studying history.