Haitian Revolution Memorial Analysis
My memorial for the Haitian Revolution would be located in a populated area where it is easily accessible to everyone in Haiti. The location is crucial for the importance for this memorial to flourish. By it being displayed to a diverse amount of people many will be exposed to the interpretation as well as the cause and effect of the Haitian Revolution. The main audience would be people from Haiti who can have a higher appreciation and understanding for their history, to connect with and value. Furthermore, this memorial targets everyone because this piece of history, whether or not affects you directly should be noticed and taken into account for. This was the first successful slave revolt and led to the independence of Haiti today. Experiencing
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the memorial allows different interpretations of how people view the Haitian Revolution and respect for another country's history that has shaped their morals, actions and lives. This memorial has many aspects that represent the struggle during the Haitian revolution while capturing the escape from cruelty and hatred to independence. First, the box represents the confinement of blacks during Haiti's time of struggle with slavery and the comprehension that “as long as plantations stood their lot would be to labour on them until they dropped” (The San Domingo Masses Begin pg. 88). The plants generated from the dirt is a representation of sugar plantations, and the black hands rising from the plantation is to capture the struggle blacks had to overcome, to start and succeed in a slave revolt. From breaking free from their oppression and oppressors, the flowers portray the output of ideas on equality and liberty represented in the colors blue and red, which are the Haitian flag colors. The butterflies arising from the people is to show their independence as a country and their struggles causing them to push themselves to achieve equality and liberty. Overall, I wanted to exemplify the ups and downs during the Haitian revolution. I believe remembering hardships is what makes a country proud and inspiring to others. Allowing influential memories, good and bad, to provoke the importance of unity in a country and sacrifice, pushes Haitians to strive for what they were fighting for and believed. The Haitian revolution was a product of the Enlightenment, more than half of the Haitian population were slaves and ideas of liberty and freedom were spreading like wildfire. Slaves heard news of the French Revolution from French sailors and these ideas inspired many (Introduction a Free Haiti). These ideas provided hope, but as time went on, slaves realized slavery would not be abolished and new they needed to take action. Because newly freed slaves had become “elites” of blacks, they were able and determined enough to start the movement to fight and take Enlightenment values from the French Revolution (The Unthinkable). This describes how blacks who became elite only were able to persevere with these thoughts and actions because of experience with being slaves. This lead to the discovery of Toussaint Louverture, a former slave himself. This man understood suffering and the pain of being oppressed giving him endurance and experience to lead as well as mirroring similar values as Enlightenment ideas. These Enlightenment ideas were so apparent in the slave movement that it forced them to fight for what they believed in, freedom and equality. The Haitian Revolution was able to happen because of Enlightenment ideas and leadership from someone who had the ability, because of his status and experience. These two aspects gave the slaves something to fight for even if was against all odds. It was because of that determination that the Haitian revolution was able to be the first successful slave revolt in history. Furthermore the Haitian revolution was a horrific, bloody time.
This violence being expressed by both sides, blacks and whites, reflects how the revolution was a product of an anti-European movement. For years blacks were oppressed by white masters discriminating them because of their color, “from their masters, they had known rape, torture, degradation, and, at the slightest provocation, death” (The San Domingo Masses Begin). They had only ever experienced cruelty and hatred and as an equal reaction wanted to inflict this onto their oppressors. The whites were overly aggressive and belittled blacks even though their religion. Voodoo, both a sacred dance and a religion, was forbidden in the French colonies of Haiti. Voodoo prevailed despite the whites efforts, nurtured in secret by the colony’s first slaves. During the Haitian revolution Voodoo played a huge role for slaves, it was a psychological liberation in that it enabled them to express and reaffirm that self-existence they objectively recognized through their own labor. As well as being able to break away psychologically from their reality, giving them human dignity and enabling them to survive. During the revolution Voodoo brought together disparate forces uniting various rebel factions to fight side by side. During these secretive ceremonies slaves discussed their lives and over time began to discover the mistreatment and hatred they had towards whites. This led them to believe that “their god who is good to us orders us to revenge our wrongs” (The San Domingo Masses Begin) directly aiding the blacks through religion to fight against their oppressors and fight for fair treatment. The mindset of the Haitian revolution came from experience, revenge and religion. All these factors pointed to an anti-European movement. The constant discrimination of blacks caused a hatred to burn in their hearts and need to demolish whites/inflict pain on the people who caused them theirs. Once the Haitian revolution was put
into play now that the slaves/blacks had power “they did as they had been taught” (The San Domingo Masses Begin). This Revolution portrayed the blacks oppression, building into one storm and spreading till they had no whites/Europeans left. The cause of the Haitian Revolution was the inherent cruelty of slavery and the desire for Haitian blacks and multiracial people to be treated with respect. The citizens of France planted the seeds of the revolt in Haiti during the French Revolution. The success of the French revolt for freedom inspired free and enslaved Haitians to rise up against a system that treated them unfairly and fight for independence for Haiti.
the memorial allows different interpretations of how people view the Haitian Revolution and respect for another country's history that has shaped their morals, actions and lives. This memorial has many aspects that represent the struggle during the Haitian revolution while capturing the escape from cruelty and hatred to independence. First, the box represents the confinement of blacks during Haiti's time of struggle with slavery and the comprehension that “as long as plantations stood their lot would be to labour on them until they dropped” (The San Domingo Masses Begin pg. 88). The plants generated from the dirt is a representation of sugar plantations, and the black hands rising from the plantation is to capture the struggle blacks had to overcome, to start and succeed in a slave revolt. From breaking free from their oppression and oppressors, the flowers portray the output of ideas on equality and liberty represented in the colors blue and red, which are the Haitian flag colors. The butterflies arising from the people is to show their independence as a country and their struggles causing them to push themselves to achieve equality and liberty. Overall, I wanted to exemplify the ups and downs during the Haitian revolution. I believe remembering hardships is what makes a country proud and inspiring to others. Allowing influential memories, good and bad, to provoke the importance of unity in a country and sacrifice, pushes Haitians to strive for what they were fighting for and believed. The Haitian revolution was a product of the Enlightenment, more than half of the Haitian population were slaves and ideas of liberty and freedom were spreading like wildfire. Slaves heard news of the French Revolution from French sailors and these ideas inspired many (Introduction a Free Haiti). These ideas provided hope, but as time went on, slaves realized slavery would not be abolished and new they needed to take action. Because newly freed slaves had become “elites” of blacks, they were able and determined enough to start the movement to fight and take Enlightenment values from the French Revolution (The Unthinkable). This describes how blacks who became elite only were able to persevere with these thoughts and actions because of experience with being slaves. This lead to the discovery of Toussaint Louverture, a former slave himself. This man understood suffering and the pain of being oppressed giving him endurance and experience to lead as well as mirroring similar values as Enlightenment ideas. These Enlightenment ideas were so apparent in the slave movement that it forced them to fight for what they believed in, freedom and equality. The Haitian Revolution was able to happen because of Enlightenment ideas and leadership from someone who had the ability, because of his status and experience. These two aspects gave the slaves something to fight for even if was against all odds. It was because of that determination that the Haitian revolution was able to be the first successful slave revolt in history. Furthermore the Haitian revolution was a horrific, bloody time.
This violence being expressed by both sides, blacks and whites, reflects how the revolution was a product of an anti-European movement. For years blacks were oppressed by white masters discriminating them because of their color, “from their masters, they had known rape, torture, degradation, and, at the slightest provocation, death” (The San Domingo Masses Begin). They had only ever experienced cruelty and hatred and as an equal reaction wanted to inflict this onto their oppressors. The whites were overly aggressive and belittled blacks even though their religion. Voodoo, both a sacred dance and a religion, was forbidden in the French colonies of Haiti. Voodoo prevailed despite the whites efforts, nurtured in secret by the colony’s first slaves. During the Haitian revolution Voodoo played a huge role for slaves, it was a psychological liberation in that it enabled them to express and reaffirm that self-existence they objectively recognized through their own labor. As well as being able to break away psychologically from their reality, giving them human dignity and enabling them to survive. During the revolution Voodoo brought together disparate forces uniting various rebel factions to fight side by side. During these secretive ceremonies slaves discussed their lives and over time began to discover the mistreatment and hatred they had towards whites. This led them to believe that “their god who is good to us orders us to revenge our wrongs” (The San Domingo Masses Begin) directly aiding the blacks through religion to fight against their oppressors and fight for fair treatment. The mindset of the Haitian revolution came from experience, revenge and religion. All these factors pointed to an anti-European movement. The constant discrimination of blacks caused a hatred to burn in their hearts and need to demolish whites/inflict pain on the people who caused them theirs. Once the Haitian revolution was put
into play now that the slaves/blacks had power “they did as they had been taught” (The San Domingo Masses Begin). This Revolution portrayed the blacks oppression, building into one storm and spreading till they had no whites/Europeans left. The cause of the Haitian Revolution was the inherent cruelty of slavery and the desire for Haitian blacks and multiracial people to be treated with respect. The citizens of France planted the seeds of the revolt in Haiti during the French Revolution. The success of the French revolt for freedom inspired free and enslaved Haitians to rise up against a system that treated them unfairly and fight for independence for Haiti.