The Black Jacobins Chapter Summaries

The Black Jacobins by C.L.R James: A Response
“But one does not need education or encouragement to cherish a dream of freedom” (James, 1963: 18).
The notion that African slaves could not conceptualise self emancipation nor possess the political thought necessary for planning and achieving such liberation was a common held assumption amongst white plantation owners and larger European society in the sixteenth century. Nowhere else was this contestation more strongly believed than on the French island of Saint Domingue, where due to an ontology that privileged white skin over black, a slave rebellion and subsequent liberation was thought to be impossible. Such an ontology allowed for people to view humanity in varying degrees where certain
groups were considered to be “more human” than others. At the bottom of the scale were Africans who had been forced to work on the French colony as slaves on the infamous sugar plantations which were characterised by high slave mortality and an unprecedented cruel treatment of African labour. Michel-Rolph Trouillot argues that it was due to this ontology of being, that even while it happened, the Haitian revolution was “unthinkable” for society at the time as well as afterwards as many failed to recognise the significance of the Haitian slave insurrection (Trouillot, 1995). In his book The Black Jacobins, C.L.R James recovers the revolutionary history of the island of Saint Domingue by offering an original account of the events of sixteenth century Haiti in an attempt to challenge the conventional Eurocentric approach to history, which has rendered the revolution as a “non-event” through trivialising the experience by ignoring its racial components and impact it had on the history of the Americas as we understand it today (James: 1963).
James begins by examining the brutal conditions of slavery which rendered African slaves in a socially, economically and politically inferior position to their white masters.
James brings to light the complex dynamics of race and ownership on the Caribbean Island and the many social forces that played a role leading up to the Revolution in 1791, namely the slave owners or “small whites”, the free blacks and Mulatoes, the French bureaucracy and the African Slaves. James also interweaves the happenings of the French Revolution and its effects with the Haitian experience by relating the events and influences of each to one another for example how the proletarian uprisings and the taking of the Bastille had a heavy impact on the way in which the French working class related to their “black brothers” in San Domingo (James, 1963, 120). Based on the parallel experiences of both the French worker and the Haitian slave, the paradox of Enlightenment thought could be brought to light. Such thought celebrated universal human rights coupled with equality and liberty while oppressive institutions that encouraged slavery and racial oppression persisted. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789 stated that before the law all citizens are equal yet, despite being a French Colony, the Mulatoes and Africans of San Domingue remained marginalised as white fear and profit bound them to the lucrative business of slavery leaving mass insurrection as the only alternative. What was interesting was the way in which the happenings of the French Revolution directly influenced slave meetings and organisation as revolutionary literature circulated amongst mass meetings and French soldiers passed over revolutionary sentiment to African slaves. In March 1791 James documents how French soldiers, on landing at Port-au-Prince, had given the fraternal embrace to all Mulattoes and all Negroes, telling them that the Assembly in France had declared all men free and equal
(James, 1963: 81). Such highlights the extent to which the revolution in France directly impacted the events in San Domingue and allowed for the Enlightenment principles of liberty and equality to find true meaning and significance. One of the most prominent leaders of the revolution and advocates for such ideals was Toussaint L’Ouverture who is a central and symbolic character for James in the revolution (1995: 145). Toussaint is portrayed as a complete embodiment of the revolutionary ideas where under his military leadership, the slave forces succeeded in winning concessions from the British and expelling Spanish forces. In 1801 Toussaint codified the ideals of equality and liberty in the 1801 Constitution which abolished slavery and declared all men equal and free before the law. Such renders the Haitian Revolution as the first and only successful slave revolution in human history. Due to the decisions and actions of slave revolutionary leaders like Toussaint, the colony successfully resisted the great powers of French, Spanish and British forces gaining independence in 1804.
However due to what Trouillot refers to as “silencing” the significance of the Haitian revolution has been suppressed (1995: 100). It can be argued that the events of the revolution are still incomprehensible to many today who struggle to recognise the fundamental changes that can be brought about from a social revolution. The impact of the revolution subsequently challenged the slave empires of the new world as well as served as a platform for independence struggles of similar colonies subject to European rule. It can be argued that the revolution is a true example of national liberation as well as international proletarian solidarity against imperialism and oppression. Such solidarity between the international proletariat can be argued to be necessary for human emancipation. Haiti therefore became a symbol for anti-colonial revolution and continues to inspire struggles for national liberation.

Word Count: 948.
Bibliography
Trouillot, M., 1995, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History, Beacon Press Books,Massachusets.
James, C.L.R., 1963, The Black Jacobins, Random House Inc, New York.