Haitian historians of Reddit, what is your favorite primary source from any time period in Haitian History? (Particular interest in the Haitian Revolution or Baby Doc)

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lukebn

Unfortunately, Haitian Revolution primary sources are mostly from the white perspective. They have to be approached with a critical eye, of course, but there are some really interesting ones.

M. Gros's Historick Recital is a good example, from a white magistrate taken captive by rebel forces who eventually became the secretary to Jean-Francois, a rebel general. It demonstrates the total cognitive dissonance white Frenchmen experienced trying to understand the Haitian Revolution: Gros cannot imagine the blacks being responsible for their own revolution, blaming royalist conspirators, gens de couleur, the Amis des Noirs, anyone except the slaves themselves. Yet at the same time, he bears firsthand witness to the leadership of black ex-slaves, and you can see the first glimpses of a transition from slave rebellion to genuine revolution.

It's also got an interesting little bit of foreshadowing. At one point, when negotiations with the whites break down, a general demands that Gros be put to death. His life is saved by a secretary, one Toussaint Breda, who insists his fellow rebels respect the rule of law and only execute Gros if he is convicted by a proper military tribunal. When Historick Recital was published in 1792, Gros could not have known the heights to which that secretary-- later to be known as Louverture-- would rise.