Unthinkable Radicalism in the Haitian Revolution

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Unthinkable Radicalism in the Haitian Revolution In his A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution, Jeremy Popkin writes, “The Haitian Revolution’s stand against slavery and racial discrimination made it the most radical of the American revolutionary insurrections against European rule” (Popkin 249 of 4870). The Haitian Revolution came down to the issue racial superiority and is characterized by the radicalism that with which slaves and free persons of color fought against discrimination. This idea of superiority dominated western thought, even in the face of Enlightenment ideals such as freedom and equality for all men. The “Men” in these instances referred to white European males; Africans and other natives were not “Men” in the same sense. At best, these populations were considered human but to a lesser degree than Western populations, and therefore deserving of colonization and enslavement. At the worst, these populations were thought of more as animals than humans, incapable of being a part of civilized society, and only good for labor benefitting whites. The idea of a slave revolt orchestrated by the slaves themselves was, therefore, impossible to imagine. Even more unimaginable was the radicalism of the Haitian Revolution. The events of August 1791 were a clear statement by the slave population about the institution of slavery on Saint Domingue, and were unprecedented in the world at the time. Michel-Rolph Trouillot, in his essay “An Unthinkable History,” applies the term “unthinkable” to describe the Haitian Revolution, before, during, and even after its conclusion. The idea of the “unthinkable” is directly connected to the radicalism of the revolution. The Haitian Revolution was a mass revolt against a system built around the belief in “degrees of humanity” and it exposed the conflict between Enlightenment thought, and actual actions. The radicalism of

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