Haitian Revolutions: Crash Course World History #30

Ideas like liberty, freedom, and self-determination were hot stuff in the late 18th century, as evidenced by our recent revolutionary videos. Although freedom was breaking out all over, many of the societies that were touting these ideas relied on slave labor. Few places in the world relied so heavily on slave labor as Saint-Domingue, France's most profitable colony. Slaves made up nearly 90% of Saint-Domingue's population, and in 1789 they couldn't help but hear about the revolution underway in France. All the talk of liberty, equality, and fraternity sounded pretty good to a person in bondage, and so the slaves rebelled. This led to not one but two revolutions and ended up with France, the rebels, Britain, and Spain all fighting in the territory. Spoiler alert: the slaves won. So how did the slaves of what would become Haiti throw off the yoke of one of the world's great empires? John Green tells how they did it, and what it has meant in Haiti and in the rest of the world.

Chapters:
Introduction: The Haitian Revolution 00:00
The Saint-Domingue Colony 0:30
Slavery in Haiti 3:08
Radical Petit Blancs 4:24
Toussaint L'ouverture Leads Saint-Domingue to Independence 5:37
Revolution Part 2: France Returns 7:45
An Open Letter to Disease 9:10
Haiti Gains Independence 10:13
Why the Haitian Revolutions Matter 10:58
Credits 11:49

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[landilandlandiland]

"...the Hatians, more than any other people in the age of revolutions, stood up for the idea that NONE should be slaves...Haiti stood up for the weak when the rest of the world failed to. The next time you read about Haiti's poverty, remember that". Well said

[pleudumes]

I am a history teacher here in Brazil and my city has receive a lot of haitian refugee over the years. Unfortunelly they are marginalized and my students (even though they are also poor) imitate the prejudice against the haitians. I decided to have ONE single lesson about the Haiti Revolution (which it is a part in the official curriculum) and it was amazing, the kids now have a totally different view about the island and its people. Thank you for this episode.

[brittanylouime]

I am Hatian. All the countries failed while mine stood up and was the first country to be ruled by African descendants. Really proud to be Hatian.

[maryraullettesayson]

I'm a Filipino living in Hong Kong and this is one of my favorite episodes in this series. It's very enlightening and powerful especially to people like me living on the other side of the world. I'm also one of those who googled for "Why Haiti is so poor" and this reminds me that it's really important to know history in order to put things into perspective.

[JessJayEel]

As a Haitian, I will admit, what happened after the Revolution was pure evil. But I think if you ask any Haitian, would they rather be the Mecca of the Caribbean vs Being Known as the first Independent black nation, I am sure we would rather the latter. We are not people conditioned to see wealth over dignity. Our pride runs deep. We are very spiritual people, so we rather be dead than spiritually dead. Slavery sucked the spirit out of our people and we grew tired of it. If you go to Haiti you see AFRICA. Yes you will see a mixture of French which makes it Kreyol culture (not to be confused with Creole in New Orleans), but for the most part we are very proud of our African features, African music, and African spirit. No one can take that away from us. We are economically poor but spiritually rich. It feels really good to be Haitian and I want to let the world know we are very proud people.

[aljosanpedro]

John: Dear disease, why do you always put yourself at the center of human history?

Coronavirus: :((

[Je-suis-pauvre]

Haity independance didnt come cheap, france required a payment for them to accept the independence it took almost 90 years to pay that debt which impoverished Haiti even more

[ncyclo]

As a Dominican myself, I admire Haitian people by their history and their African heritage we share #respect

[TF_]

The Haitian Revolution, as this video states, has always been ignored or unrecognized. So thank you crash course for giving the correct interpretation of Haiti's history and its extraordinary moment of independence. I'm proud to be a Haitian !

[nailey]

Haiti has got a damn interesting history...

[nileshkumaraswamy]

This is one of my favourite episodes of crash course. It really spoke to me about true civil rights. The Haitians were such brave people to stand against France purely based on the idea of freedom. They fought for it and achieved it.

[Monocultured]

I feel really bad for Haitians now. They were revolutionary in their time and now they have all sorts of natural disasters and poverty.

[lauryyesther]

Yes!! I'm so content that I am Haitian and I am proud of what my ancestors have done to fight for justice and independence!

[kennedymariehernandez]

Thank you infinitely for this episode. I’m a Haitian-American doing history homework with my son. There Is one full page devoted to the institution of slavery in the entire US history 1 textbook, and absolutely no mention of the Haitian Revolution or its role in significance within American history. So thank you for covering this and thank you for being willing to point out the inevitable correlation between Haiti’s current trials and it’s history of slavery and revolution.

[umidontno]

Guys, these are 10 minute videos on large historical subjects. of course he cant mention everything. This is supposed to be a crash course on the subject, an introduction. not an in depth detailed explanation.

[bwolff]

 I just want to say, THANK YOU JOHN GREEN!!!!(and Raoul Meyer and Danica and thoughtbubble). So many people fail to recognize Haitian contributions to the development of the Americas. your speech at the end was so eloquent and beautiful. I'm glad that you could acknowledge the state of the country today, and respect Haiti's history.

[RaetheSaint]

Thank you so much for making this video. I'm Haitian, though I was born in and live in the US. My mother was born and raised in Haiti. I'm glad to see that there are videos about Haiti's accomplishments. Most people seem to only know about the disasters that have strikes it.

[rayraybernard]

I fell in love with Crash Course even more. They talking about my COUNTRY. Ayiti Cheri

[lightyear]

Haitian Revolutions invlove two of my very favourite things: 1. ending slavery and 2. Napoleon getting his feelings hurt

lol

[JazzyNym]

You know, one of my history teachers said that the 2010 earthquake in Haiti was God's punishment for the Haitian rebellion. Looking back, that was a really messed up thing to tell a bunch of high schoolers....