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You can’t understand Haiti without understanding the slave revolt and war for independence that shaped its early days. We hear from Laurent Dubois, author of Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. First though, a story from Alex Gallafent about Haiti and vodou and historical misunderstandings. (Image of Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture: GETTY IMAGES) Download MP3
[...] I also did a short segment on the Haitian Revolution as part of a longer show on Haiti on PRI’… [...]
If the French revolution promised liberte,egalite, and fraternite that was exclusively for Frenchmen or by extension Europeans.
If the American revolution extended the bounderies of freedom that was also to the exclusion of the man of color. However if one considers the Haitian revolution with an open mind one will see that it was in Haiti that equal rights for all men was proclaimed. It is there that the concept of freedom for all of mankind was born and that’s where more than 200.000 men died in the name of a greater humanity for all and put the Christian world on trial!