Welcome back once again, sports fans! As you all know, we promised another special guest appearance on today's blog. However, since what we are talking about today is the ending of slavery, we figured that we would just let the anonymous guest we had on last time elaborate. The Haitian Revolution meant the end of slavery, but we will expound on the significance of this change today. Let's jump right into it. Hello once again, Mr. Anonymous. Thank you for reappearing...
"No problem, gentlemen. It is my pleasure. Last time, I was talking toward the end of my story on some things I think fit in nicely with today's topic. If you remember, I said that the country's poverty has to do with them being black-run in the white-run system which surrounds it. That bit about Haiti being black-run makes many of the details about the ending of slavery there fairly black and white (pardon the pun).
"Slavery on Haiti was phased out, you might say, between 1791 and 1804, which is when the Revolution happened. Haiti is unique in that it is the only island where the slaves freed themselves by violence against their masters. Haiti is the only story of a successful slave insurrection. That is why I am so proud of that country...and so sad at seeing it continually suffer at the hands of even the U.S. It just isn't right...but I digress.
"Since we're talking about slaves freeing themselves here, the debates surrounding slavery in Haiti were not between some far-off French government officials debating how to end slavery as slow as possible. The debates in Haiti place were sparked largely by the French Revolution. Questions of liberty and humanity came up. The black and white folk on Haiti got to talking. the whites were scared; the blacks were increasingly wanting more freedoms and liberties. The whites didn't like that (they obviously did not want to lose their power; that superiority complex they had was intense). Things started heating up. You know the story from there; we talked about it last time.
"I said that the slaves freeing themselves was basically the story about what drove the Revolution. That's [putting it too simply. Overall, you could definitely say that, but there were other factors. The French Revolution influenced the Haitian Revolution by turning up the heat on slavery in the French colonies. Really, that is the only other major factor; it was the beginning of a sort of domino effect which ended in increased pressure on slaves leading to cohesion and revolt. That pressure-cooker type situation was going to get crazy; it was only a matter of time. And honestly, it's a good thing they revolted and got along enough to do it. Haiti did a lot for the anti-slavery movement.
"Well, that's about the summary for the Revolution. It's been a pleasure talking with you guys. More people need to know the truth."
Well, our man said it best-knowledge is power. Until next time, stay tuned, sports fans.
Sources
*Same sources as last blog, and last blog*
No comments:
Post a Comment