By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 15th 2017)<\/p>\n
Boukman<\/b><\/p>\n
Men of Colour (Mulatto) leaders, Vincent Og\u00e9 and Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, had been martyred in February 1791, but rather than crush expectations of equality and political rights, it united blacks and Mulattos. Seething resentment festered in both. It took just six months to boil over, but it came from a thoroughly unexpected source.<\/p>\n
‘Dutty’ Boukman \u2013 his real name is lost to history in favour of this derogatory name that loosely means \u2018Dirty Muslim\u2019 \u2013 was a Voodoo Priest and slave. His origins are unclear \u2013 some claiming that he was a Muslim, Jamaican, or Maroon who was sold by his British owner in Jamaica to a Frenchman in Haiti \u2013 a frequently used measure for \u2018hard to manage\u2019 slaves. Others say his origins were in Haiti, pointing to others with the name Bouqueman \u2013 hardly conclusive proof.<\/p>\n
The Revolution Begins<\/strong><\/p>\n However, it matters not \u2013 his importance came in his actions in Haiti. On August 14th 1791 Boukman officiated at a Voodoo ceremony at Bois Ca\u00efman \u2013 that makes it most unlikely that he was a Muslim. Slaves aired their grievances, sacrifice was made and the Haitian Revolution against slavery began. But important though Boukman was to the revolution, he was not alone in issuing the call to revolt for freedom.<\/p>\n C\u00e9cile Fatiman \u2013 a Mulatto slave as was her mother \u2013 also played a leading role in the ceremony and in stoking the anti-slavery flames. She organised and presided over the ceremony with Boukman. Her role is often forgotten or minimised. It should not be. Her role was equally important. She is the Mother of the Haitian Revolution, as Boukman was its Father, and ultimately she was a far more successful leader than Boukman.<\/p>\n Contradictions<\/strong><\/p>\n Fatiman illustrates the hypocrisy of Og\u00e9\u2019s position \u2013 it wasn\u2019t even equality for Mulattos. It was equality for freed Mulattos. Where would that leave Mulatto slaves like Fatiman? The contradiction required the Revolution to resolve, and a leader of the quality and integrity of Alexandre P\u00e9tion. Unlike Og\u00e9, P\u00e9tion, despite his privilege and support of Mulatto rights, would not support slavery.<\/p>\n P\u00e9tion had fought against the revolutionaries twice, but his fight was for Mulattos, not to restore slavery. He would prove this later, as he deserted Napol\u00e9on Bonaparte\u2019s invasion force, taking his followers over to the side of the Revolution, and later funding and supporting anti-slavery and independence movements. P\u00e9tion became a giant of liberation movements.<\/p>\n With the ceremony at Bois Ca\u00efman the revolution against slavery that would lead to the first independent black nation in the modern world had begun.<\/p>\n The Baton is Passed<\/strong><\/p>\n Boukman\u2019s leadership didn\u2019t last long. In November 1791 he was captured and beheaded. His head was displayed to cow resistance, but the revolution had begun and would continue without Boukman. Toussaint Breda was an educated slave, but he was not subject to the savage regime that ultimately bred its own destruction. He was an unlikely leader, but proved to be a gifted one.<\/p>\n The Haitian regime was brutal. It consumed the lives of slaves quickly \u2013 Haiti was incredibly productive, but that depended on squeezing every drop from the slaves. It devoured them, requiring constant replacements. This is an important issue. It explains British hypocrisy over slavery \u2013 The Great<\/strong> Betrayal<\/strong> will be published soon. He joined the revolution and became its leader, but Toussaint would eventually be devoured by the revolution, as it outgrew his limits. C\u00e9cile Fatiman, meanwhile, would live a long life \u2013 over a hundred years \u2013 and she would become Haiti\u2019s First Lady, due to her marriage to the Mulatto General of the Revolution Jean-Louis Michel Pierrot, who became Haiti\u2019s 7th President in 1845. It was a short Presidency, but Fatiman had established herself as one of Haiti\u2019s greatest children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 15th 2017) Boukman Men of Colour (Mulatto) leaders, Vincent Og\u00e9 and Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[517,540,518,519,521,522,541,542,543,544,545,538,524,546],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1651,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions\/1651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}