Early Haitian Economics (Slavery, That Is)

NOTE: This blog rated PG13 due to graphic images and depictions of violence and injustice.

               
     Hello once again, sports fans! We hope you’ve been informed by our writing so far. Today, we must take a dark turn. As you might guess, if we’re going to talk about Haitian history in any kind of depth, the issue of slavery must come up at some point. We touched on race and on genocide and only a little on slavery, but now we will delve into it to get some idea of what it really was. The code word for it here would be “labor”, because slavery developed because of economic reasons. I must say that we will be talking about some really messed up stuff in here, but history is history, and often it is not as nice as some would like it.

     Today, we have a special treat for you. We found some super-secret documents written by Toussaint L’Overture himself. How we got them is a long story, but that’s beside the point. These documents are a sort of reflection of his on the slavery that he and his fellow Africans and Creoles fought against. We think that they shed a lot of light on this dark, murky subject.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 “[The slaveholders] did it all for money. That’s how it started. Blind money, they said. They point to their indentured servants as though that would explain it…They say ‘Look, negro! We whipped our whites just like we whipped our slaves! You must know that this is about the sugar!’ Sugar! How those blancs love that blasted crop! I saw, no I helped…so many of my own die over making it! I cannot say how I am still sane…That ‘blind money’ garbage is lies. We all know why they took us. They needed people to work for nothing to make them that sugar. They needed Africans, because we are strong…They killed the Taino, and the bastards would not do the work themselves…so they took us. That is what I was born Into.                                                                                                             

       “Yet they persisted…’we have our whites too!’ They cried out. They do not realize that we knew how few in number those whites were…we saw through the deception. I must say that those white slaves were treated very badly, almost like us…though they were freed after a while and given land, so they were treated much better than us in the end…the blancs were ruthless.                                                                           

       “But I digress…I began to really think about it. There was much more than money to blame for why they treated us so harshly. There is this thing of numbers…[the slaves] outnumbered them by huge amounts. A few years ago they said that there are over 500,000 slaves on this land. Over 800,000 (some say 860,000) of my people were dragged over here by the time we finally overthrew the blancs a few years ago. There were only 40,000 of them over here at that same time. It seems to me that they were cruel to us to keep us fearful so that we would be blind to our power. They thought they could keep us scared…but we were finally disgusted with their obscene cruelty.                                                                        

       “They said it was all about money. It is true that they were so determined to make sugar and money that they would torture, murder, and rape in order to get it. They certainly messed up our homeland…I hear they have thrown it into anarchy…it saddens me. The racism that they used is something that they did not mention. Maybe it was about dividing us. I cannot help but think that it was used for more than that…”

               

        We must pause to warn you that the next excerpts from Toussaint’s writings are very graphic. They describe some…some, and not all, not even the worst…some punishments the slaves would endure.

       

        “But there are more things than racism that still bother me. I cannot see how the things they did to us…the things I did to us…could be just for money. There had to have been something else. A dark, sadistic, twisted sense of power is what I think it was, but I know not the mind of a devil, nor do I want to…they seemed so satisfied when they tortured us. They seemed to enjoy the beatings, the salt, the rape…It was like they became animals when they whipped us. I know that I hated being forced to whip the ‘lazy negroes’ as they called them. Since we worked us so hard, none of us could ever truly be called lazy…we were exhausted…                                                                                                                                                        “My soul still aches from those days…I could not do it once…I could not whip my own mother, who was pregnant by the very master demanding me to whip her. I simply did not…and him and his overseer tied us both up, and beat us both almost to death…I still feel the scars they gave me. They…were smiling as they did it, as they whipped my pregnant mother across her swollen stomach…as they poured salt on our open wounds…That bastard child was a stillborn, and everyone knew why…my mother nearly died that day. It was a day I will never forget…That was when we began to organize the final plans for killing those damned monsters! And yet even after their deaths, they still haunt me…                         

         “They did ‘motivate’ us to work by fear. That was one reason they were so cruel. They tortured us in ways that I loathe to remember. They divided us; they gave some more things than others, to instill jealousy…they messed with our minds too…some of the torture was maddening. I remember once when I was suspected of running away. The overseer tied me up and gave me 30 lashes with the whip before saying anything. He only began to interrogate me after he put a burning piece of wood on my bare bottom (I had been stripped naked). He then asked me if I had run away. I truthfully answered ‘no’. This was not good enough for the bastard…he whipped me 100 times…then put salt and lime on my wounded back…I almost died, and was laid up for two months; I could not walk at first, but my strength returned…                                                                                                   

         “I remember one group of slaves who tried to escape…when they were caught, the overseer threw them onto spits, and roasted them to death…while making some of us they didn’t like watch…it was mind-numbing. They did so many things…they made some dig their own graves and then buried them alive…they burned the women with logs so that they became unable to have children…they raped others…they chopped off limbs of the slaves for no reason…they even made us eat our own [excrement]. Those [slave owners and overseers] were horrible…no…words cannot even describe their…evil.                                                                

         “I am still scarred by their rape of my mother…the master and his overseer (whom he also whipped) tied me up and made me watch as they both raped my mother…they then beat me unconscious…This was all because I fell asleep while cutting sugarcane one day, after I had been working continuously for 2 days…They also made me whip my fellow slaves, because they said I was better than them…that since I was mulatto, I should whip the other negroes…but I was not blanc, so they could whip me. Utterly inhumane…I weep…”

          

         …And we weep with you, Toussaint. We apologize for the nature of that last section, but history is history, however graphic. Note the similarity of the grave digging to Nazi practices. Those men were evil who did those horrid things. Lest you all be uninformed, the above “documents” are fictitious; no, they do not actually exist. We did lie earlier (but for dramatic effect). However, what they describe did actually happen back in slavery days, even the raping and mutilating. We hope you are informed, and not too depressed, by this week’s blog. Next week, we bring in another special guest to help us focus in on the feminine side of slavery. Until then, as always, stay tuned, sports fans!

                                                                          Sources

 

Copeau, Steve. The History of Haiti. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.

 

 Cooper, Anna Julia. Slavery and the French and Haitian Revolutionists: L'Attitude de la France A L'Gard de L'Esclavage Pendant La Revolution. Ed. Keller, Frances R. Oxford, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, Inc., 2006. Print.

 

 Fick, Carolyn E. The Making of Haiti: The Saint Domingue Revolution from Below. Knoxville, Tennessee: The University of Tennessee Press, 1990. Print.

Race: Haiti and New Orleans

This week, we will look at some of the racial aspects of San Domingue (which were also carried over into Haiti). To make things more interesting, We will bring in Charles LeDoux, a New Orleans native, to talk about race in the Big Easy and in Haiti. These two areas are more similar than you would think…

                

                “Thank you, sirs. Well, people, the first thing that you must understand about this ‘race talk’ is that I’m talking about French-created racial lines. That is what Louisiana and Haiti share; the French once held both places and so the way racial lines developed was similar. Even after the Haitian revolution, the groups in Haiti are still pretty similar to the groups the French labeled oh so long ago.

               “The three basic racial groups that were labeled by the French on both of these locations are the Blacks, the Creoles, and the Whites. Now, there are other names for these groups, but the only one that might get people who don’t know about French racial lines mixed up is that word “Creole”. In some places, it meant somebody who was born in this [western] hemisphere. What it means in French racial language is a mixed person; a person who is part Black and part White. Way back when, this meant a person who was the result of a slave-master hookup (the slave being African and Black and the master being French and White).

               “Now, there are a lot of social classes which all evolve from this, but I’ll just keep it simple. Basically, when the French set up the race system back in the 1700s, the lighter your skin, the better off you are. That’s one reason why Creoles (part Black, part White) tended to be the freed Blacks, the landowners, ect. Toussaint L’Overture, The leader of the Haitian Revolution, was actually a creole. That’s the way it tended to go; I could point to Barack Obama, who in this light would be classified as a Creole, as evidence that this system still does affect even the United States to this day.

“Usually, Creoles tended to be better able to lead and orchestrate because of their higher status in French-influenced society. I read an article about a New Orleans mayoral election, and this rang true; the first Black mayor of New Orleans was, in fact, a Creole. The article talked about the original New Orleans race system and its categories: Black, Creole, and White. This began to change in the U.S. Civil Rights era to just Black and White (although it never has died completely), but it is interesting that New Orleans and Haiti shared a similar racial system.

“I could go on about this till I’m blue in the face, but let me finish this up by looking into each of the three categories (and explaining why there are just those three for the most part). Of the three categories, the most divided one would be the Black category. This was very true back in slavery times. Pretty much, the Africans who were brought over to this side of the Atlantic were members of differing and sometimes hostile tribes. Many different stories from that time could be referenced to show this, including one account of a Creole woman named Rebecca. This story actually happens on a different island, but it shows the disunity present in the Caribbean in general at that time. In Haiti, racial unity for the Black members of the country did not begin to show up until a bit after their Revolution. There was definite disunity, and this was one thing the slave owners used to keep the slaves from revolt.

“The Creoles were sort of…well, they were their own group. They were not as divided, because they shared a more common heritage of being children of slave/master unions. They also had it better than the slaves; they did not necessarily associate with the Blacks because they wanted to keep their superior status. In general, they had their own interests and they were also fairly alienated by the two other groups; they didn’t really mix with the Blacks, but the Whites would not let them be their equals, so they were a sort of ‘middle class’, if you will.

“The Whites, of course, had it best. Obviously, they made the system to keep their position as the top dogs (in the case of Haiti, however, this really backfired). They had the money, although Creoles did have a bit of economic power; they were the slave owners and the elites. Really, that says it all. They were also a minority, in New Orleans and in Haiti. This is why they were very intent on keeping the other two classes fragmented and otherwise powerless; if ever the Blacks united, or the Blacks and Creoles united, the Whites could kiss their superiority goodbye. That is what happened in the case of Haiti. New Orleans, of course, experienced the Civil War, but the old system was still there for a time afterwards.

“Honestly, if you think about the old system like a class system, you see it best. The Blacks are the poor, the Creoles the middle class, and the Whites the rich. The lighter the skin, the better your lot. Now if you noticed that I only really mentioned two races this whole time. The reason for this is because these two races make up most of the people in these areas. Pretty much, by the time the French really set up their racial systems in Haiti or in New Orleans, the Native American population was mostly wiped out, and other ethnic groups make up such small proportions of the people that they really are mostly outside of it. So the Blacks and the Whites are the only two major groups left. Well, anyway, that’s about it as far as race goes; nowadays the systems are different, but you can still see the legacy of the old systems of race in play even today. Thanks for having me on, guys.

We appreciate it, Chuck. Next time we will talk more about race, but we’ll throw in more of the money side of it. Until then, stay tuned, sports fans!

                                                             

                                                                Sources

 

Sensbach, Jon F. Rebecca’s Revival: Creating Black Christianity in the Atlantic World. Camebridge, MA: First University Harvard Press, 2005. Print.

 

Copeau, Steve. The History of Haiti. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.

Hirsch, Arnold R. "Fade to Black: Hurricane Katrina and the Disappearance of Creole New Orleans." The Journal of American History  (December 2007): 752-761. Organization of American Historians. PDF File.

A Look At Haitian Religion

Today, we are going to look at some religious aspects of Haiti during the 18^th century. Our narrator will be Jean-Jacques (J.J.) Siringi, a Haitian historian with an interesting comparison…

                

     Bonjour. As he said, I am Jean-Jacques Siringi, an Ayitian historian, and I have but one brief story to tell. It concerns a woman named Rebecca. This woman was an early initiator for the Black Christianity and mixed-religion movements across the Caribbean, which resulted in revolt in my country’s case.

     Rebecca was a mixed-race (mulatto) Creole woman who was stolen into slavery. She managed to gain her freedom, however, mostly due to her heavily Christian leanings. She went on to partner with missionaries of the Moravian Sect of Protestant religion, preaching and teaching the Gospel of the Christian Jesus to slaves on the island of St. Thomas, where she spent a lot of her time. She also traveled to Europe and Africa as a Christian missionary. She is the reason for much of the religious transformation of many African peoples, and a few Europeans as well.                            

     An interesting item about the religion she helped to spread and its effects in the Caribbean is that there were similar reactions to it in St. Thomas and in Haiti. These I will list presently.                                          

    First of all, in both Haiti and in St. Thomas, Christianity blended in with the African religions which the slaves already had. In Rebecca’s case, even though she taught a more European style of religion, the free Blacks and especially the slaves still kept some of their African traditions and simply mixed them in with Christianity. Christianity was not existent in a vacuum. As much as even Rebecca wanted the slaves to reject all of their old practices and convert entirely to one, this did not happen, nor did it happen in Haiti. What happened instead was a mixing of different religions. Slaves were imported from many different countries and tribes in Africa, and by no means did they all follow the same morals or religions. There was a vast diversity of beliefs. When Christianity met the slaves on St. Johns and on Haiti, there was a fusion of many different beliefs. In Haiti’s case, this is where Voodoo, which is commonly practiced, comes from. It is a mix of different African religions and Christian religions.

    Second, this caused the lines of religious practice to blur significantly. Christianity has a lot of absolutes in it, so there were practices which went on which were not desired by people like Rebecca. In her case, there was possibly less of a problem of practices which defied Christianity’s principles but were practiced with Christianity by the slaves. This may not be true, however; she couldn’t supervise her students forever. Voodoo is one example of a religion which has some Christian practices in it but is not necessarily Christian in all of its practices.

    The third thing about this religious blending is that it has a powerful social context. Actually, Christianity had a unifying effect among slaves back then, however it was mixed with African practices. What Christianity did for my ancestors was to begin to unify them. You have to realize that there was much rivalry between African tribes and many differences. Calling us all “Black” or “African” back then was way too shallow. We had some tribes who hated others. There were different languages. There really was not unity before Christianity made its impact; that is why many slave revolts failed: not enough common resolve, and too many different slave factions, some of which wanted to enslave others.

   I can’t say enough about the unity which slaves gained with Christianity. It scared the masters senseless, and with good reason; Black slaves were the majority of most Caribbean island populations at this point in time. Haiti’s revolt would prove this in every way, just as the overwhelming support of Rebecca by the slaves when she and her husband were imprisoned showed some Black unity.

   I would say that the unity and the diversity of Christianity are the biggest things which are universal about Christianity’s mass meeting with enslaved Africans in the Caribbean. Christianity gave them hope, and that is why it spread.”

   Thank you Mr. Siringi. Next up, we will take a sharp look at the subject of race in Haiti. Stay tuned, sports fans!

                                                                           Sources

Sensbach, Jon F. Rebecca’s Revival: Creating Black Christianity in the Atlantic World. Camebridge, MA: First University Harvard Press, 2005. Print.

Copeau, Steve. The History of Haiti. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.

Cosentino, Donald. "VOODOO: It's Not What You Think." Faces. 28.1 (2011). n. pag. Web. 2 October 2011.