“Most reactions to this [Trump’s reference to Haiti and African nations as ‘shithole countries’] have understandably focused on Trump’s berserk racism. But it’s worth remembering that his comments are grotesque for another reason: Without the bravery of Haitians, Thomas Jefferson would never have been able to complete the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and the United…
Tag: Haiti
Laurent Dubois: “Heroines of the Haitian Revolution”
“What is the role of an artist in the face of political repression? What is the place of culture in the midst of injustice and terror? Haitian writer Marie Vieux-Chauvet (1916–1973), author of powerful novels representing the experience of living under the Duvalier dictatorship, confronted such questions throughout her life. One of Vieux-Chauvet’s earliest novels,…
Philippe Girard, _Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life_ (2016)
L’Ouverture’s “equivocation was representative of an age that had to reconcile Enlightenment principles and the labor requirements of plantations. Like three other great figures of the Age of Revolutions — Thomas Jefferson, Simón Bolívar and Napoleon — he had conflicted views on the delicate matter of human bondage.”