Haiti’s Victory Over France Reshaped the Americas and Influenced Slave Resistance Across the United States
Aside from a significant rebellion by Black slaves in Mexico (1570), led by the Angolan slave Yanga, who established several Black townships and villages, Haiti became the first independent nation in the Americas and the Caribbean. Some might argue that Haiti’s revolution amounted to very little, but this argument seems to be another attempt to distort history as the largest slave rebellion in the United States was sparked by the Haitian Revolution. According to research, the German Coast Uprising of 1811 was the largest uprising of Black slaves in U.S. history.
The Cover-Up
The cover-up was equally large. Research points out this revolt was “one of the most remarkable moments of historical amnesia in our national memory.” This rebellion, which took place in St. Charles and St. John Parishes in Louisiana, is but another example of a historical cover-up of the importance of slave rebellions in Haiti and the United States. To this day, little is said about the revolt and apparently few, if any, historical works existed in previous years. This is also true of the Black Haitians who helped Mexico overthrow Spanish rule and their eugenic method of racial classification, the casta system. The records of these historic events have been purposefully downplayed, if not completely ignored.
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In reference to the German Coast slave revolt, Research by Paquette (2009) said, “A disciplined army of rebels composed of men and women, African-born slaves and Creole slaves, mulattoes and Blacks, skilled slaves and field hands, marched down the east bank of the Mississippi River in quickstep toward New Orleans. Stunned eyewitnesses observed slaves in military formation with drums beating and flags waving. In Texas, we have been the victims of some of the most distorted history telling. Every attempt has been made to avoid discussion about Black contributions and revolts in Texas history. Political scientists often joke about the cliché that everything is bigger in Texas by adding “including the lies.”
Inspiration to Slaves Everywhere: “White Supremacy Can Be Defeated”
Why would anyone want to ignore one of the greatest events in human history— The Haitian Revolution, which defeated more than 60,000 French troops of Napoleon Bonaparte conquering army? The simple and most direct answer is that the troops that destroyed Napoleon in Haiti were Black! The Haitian Revolution, it can be easily argued, forced France to sell off its land holding in Louisiana and provided inspiration to slaves everywhere that white supremacy can be defeated. The selling of French territory to the United States fit in with the expansion of slavery from coast to coast. Many events are ignored or hidden to present a false story for the specific purpose of maintaining a white supremacist educational system.
“Unconscious Trappings of White Supremacy”
What is erased, distorted, and untold from history becomes a weapon in a false rendition used to create and maintain myth, which in many cases, created a false racialized foundation passed on to the living, generation after generation. American society has been bound by lies in thousands of systematically arranged ways, which brainwashed millions with the unconscious trappings of white supremacy. This is why we need to teach Black History or otherwise we are left with a white supremacist historical account. There is no way in which the past can be separated from the present; the past and present inform each other, each affects the other. Yet, there are those who are doing everything in their power to erase Black History, Indigenous history, Brown History, and many others so as to turn the clock back to the days of racist lies about the history of the world that they want everyone to believe.
