Haiti’s “Hell”
by L. Arthalia Cravin
In an ideal world one would expect as much outrage over the history of how Haiti went from being the richest colony on earth to the poorest in the Western hemisphere, as there is shock and awe at the suffering on account of the recent earthquake. For reasons that we all know, a condition wrought by a sudden calamity is more attention-getting than an equally calamitous condition brought on by a slow, steady, stream of crippling events. Such is the case of Haiti.
What most of us knew about Haiti before the recent earthquake was that there was a Haitian Revolution that began in 1793, led by Toussaint L’Overture, that drove the mostly French whites out of Saint Dominque, (the then name of Haiti) resulting in the Haiti’s independence from French rule. If you are not familiar with High Plains Public Radio, may I suggest that you turn off your television now and then and listen to some of HPPR’s programming. Here in Amarillo you can listen to HPPR at 94.4 FM, or you can listen on your computer by going to High Plains Public Radio’s website and selecting programming. There is currently a NPPR program entitled “The Thomas Jefferson Hour,” in which Clay Jenkinson impersonates Thomas Jefferson in a sit-down, one-on-one interview. Jenkinson has the s scholarly credentials to back up his Jefferson impersonation that you can read on the Thomas Jefferson Hour link. A couple of weeks ago during Jenkinson’s impersonation of Jefferson, several questions were put to him about his true beliefs about slavery, and the Haitian Revolution. The questioning was no-holes-barred. One question asked Jefferson to admit that it was the Haitian Revolution that led to westward expansion of the United States resulting from the Louisiana Purchase.
As you know, in 1803 Jefferson orchestrated the purchase of 828, 800 acres of land from the war-plagued Napoleon for $80 million. Jefferson’s purchase doubled the then size of the United States adding to its western flank fourteen of the current U. S. states and two Canadian provinces, which included, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, parts of Minnesota, most of North Dakota, South Dakota, northeastern New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, eastern Colorado, parts of Louisiana, and Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. Jefferson didn’t exactly know what he got, but he got a lot prompting him to order what later became known as the Lewis and Clark Expeditions to survey the purchase. During the NPPR interview, Jefferson was asked whether the Haitian resistance and ultimate defeat of Napoleon’s army was the primary reason why Jefferson could acquire the vast acreage. Jefferson admitted that was indeed true, that if the Haitians had not had Napoleon on the ropes war-wise, that America might never have expanded west in such a swift fashion—or for that matter at all. Jefferson was then asked if after acquiring the Louisiana acreage he then took steps to suppress the very Haitian revolution that had played well into his hands. Jefferson admitted that this was indeed true. According to Jefferson he was concerned about the “spill-over” effect of the successful Haitian revolution onto America’s slaves; therefore he had no choice but to take steps to keep Haitians oppressed, even after they had won their independence from France. But Jefferson’s double-cross came after many years of a very rich colony called Saint Dominque.
The large island in the Caribbean Sea, what is now Haiti, was peopled by the Arawakan when Columbus arrived in 1492. He immediately claimed the island for Spain. Later, French buccaneers arrived who then established an official settlement for the French King. In 1664, the French West India Company took control of the buccaneer colony and named it Saint-Dominque. From then on the French had a stronghold in Haiti and immediately began to exploit it resources through the importation of African slaves.
According to every historical account, prior to the Haitian Revolution that began in 1791, Saint Dominque was the richest colony in the West Indies and probably the richest colony in the history of the world. Driven by slave labor and enabled by fertile soil and ideal climate, Saint-Domingue produced sugar, coffee, cocoa, indigo, tobacco, cotton, sisal as well as some fruits and vegetables for the motherland, France. The question to be asked and answered is how did Haiti go from being the “richest colony in the history of the world” to the “poorest in the western hemisphere.”
In 1790, just prior to the slave revolt, there were one-half million slaves in Haiti, consisting of 100,000 household slaves of every sort and 400,000 field hands. Slaves outnumbered the free people 10 to 1. Besides the large numbers of slaves, who revolted with increasing frequency, French rule of Haiti required that Haiti export all of its products exclusively to France. It was France’s own “French Revolution” against the excesses of France’s greedy monarchy, which began in 1798, that fueled the flames of Haiti’s revolt. The end result was the overthrow of French rule and the establishment of the world’s oldest black republic and the second-oldest republic in the Western hemisphere, after the United States. Haitian Independence established freedom of religion, the designation of all peoples of color as “Black,” abolishing “skin color tiers,” and the prohibition of white men owning Haitian land.
Starting in January 1804 Haiti began to experience “ruler difficulties” including a succession of self-styled emperors, kings, and presidents “for life.” Difficulties of political leadership ran simultaneous with problems of rebuilding the once-slave labor economy that was completely destroyed after the revolution. For a while during the middle 1800s Haiti as politically stable and was prospering economically. That fell apart in the early 1900s for many reasons, including German control of much of Haiti’s commerce. Western aid was introduced to help ease the burdens of an overpopulated island and to deal with political corruption. What followed was a series of installations of leaders, coups, and rebellions, amid claims of human rights abuses and massive political corruption that thwarted any efforts to stabilize the country sufficient to garner foreign investment. The result was a country that saw fits and starts towards political stability and economic progress—both of which were still lagging when the earthquake hit.
Commentators of every variety are now referring to Haiti’s “Hell” given the magnitude of the death and destruction in major populated areas. What we see is Haiti is a ten-fold rendition of what any earthquake would do to a major populated area. We saw it in Japan’s Kobe earthquake in January 17, 1995 and we remember it from other major earthquakes. According to geologists, we will see many more earthquakes. But Haiti’s earthquake has so far produced more death and destruction than any seen in modern history. Haiti’s own tumultuous history, resulting in millions of peoples being crowded into to a major city and living in substandard dwellings, has a lot to do with the magnitude of the destruction. Is it Haiti’s “Hell?” We know that Haiti has seen its “glory days” when it was the “richest colony on the earth.” But the people who were producing all the wealth were living in human bondage “hell.” Who remembers that? To me that historical fact deserves as much attention as that now being given to the aftermath of the earthquake. Americans, some of whom have made commentary about “God’s wrath” on Haiti, should remember that, but-for our Haitian brothers who defeated Napoleon, hundreds of millions of Americans might well be crowded into lands east of the Mississippi, awaiting or having known a similar disaster.
Copyright 2010 - L. Arthalia Cravin. All rights Reserved. No part of this commentary may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.
