François Mackandal And The Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution, though indisputably the most powerful revolution of the country, was not the first instance of slave altercation. François Mackandal was a maroon (runaway slave in search of independence) who had a high influence in Haiti around 1757. He was a famous hougan, or Haitian priest of voodoo, and was thought to possess black magic. The reality, however, was that he was very talented in using natural plants in the concoction of poisons, which earned him the sobriquet “Lord of Poison”.1 He united other maroon civilizations in Saint-Domingue and gave them his poisons to put in the food and drink of their French masters and to also poison the masters’ water supplies and animals. Bob Corbett wrote that “the movement spread great terror among the slave owners and killed hundreds before the secret of Mackandal was tortured from a slave.”2 This fear crept back when slaves finally overthrew their masters later, in 1791. Mackandal claimed he was sent by God to free the slaves from white rulers and predicted that Haiti would shortly be ruled with no correlation to France. He was the only known slave to declare that a political power could be defeated, though his prediction would come true- and it would not be long until the slave owners figured that out. Once Mackandal’s identity had been found, he was burned at the stake. Despite his death, he became a symbol for freedom for the slaves.