The Black Jacobins

The Black Jacobins was written by Cyril Lionel Robert James, a Trinidadian, in 1938 and revised in 1962. James was an educator and school administrator who later became a political philosopher and activist. His activism is reflected in his seminal work, The Black Jacobins, which is a call to arms for the oppressed people of African descent to fight for what they believe in. The book predates the liberation of African states and was to serve as an outline for Africans' rebellion against oppressive European rule. The Black Jacobins contributed to the inspiration of a generation of uprising and agency for the cause of sovereignty and freedom. This historical text records the struggles, confrontation, and successful resistance against better armed enslavers and as their collaborators.

The Black Jacobins is written from a Marxist paradigm, thus James chronicles the relentless day-today struggle of the people of Haiti to overcome the European oppression. The Black Jacobins primarily depicts the prolonged revolution of blacks in Haiti, from 1791 to 1803, and the legacy of its leader, Toussaint L' Ouverture. The text also delves into the conditions endured by the enslaved people during their capture in Africa, the Middle Passage, and life on the island. James reports the tactics used by European enslavers in their hunt for human prey that was the basis of European economic control and hegemony. He goes further to expose the collaborative role of certain classes of Africans. James cites the events that shaped the island country, the destiny of enslaved people on Saint-Dominique, as well as the struggle that made Toussaint L' Ouverture a leader.

Francois Dominique Toussaint L' Ouverture was a Haitian of African descent who was born in 1744 and died in 1803 in a French dungeon. L' Ouverture was self-educated and bought his freedom in 1789. It is not clear where L' Ouverture obtained his extensive skills in stratagem, organization, and politics, but they were all masterfully perfected. The French name the leader adopted, L' Ouverture, means “the opening” and was taken from the swift campaigns that were conducted on coastal towns of Haiti that dislocated English control. L' Ouverture, the opening, was used to describe this phase of the revolution.

L' Ouverture's generals, Jean-Jacque Dessalines and Henri Christophe, were invaluable in the capture and extraction of coastal towns from British control. They secured the removal of British influence in 1798. Dessalines was renowned as a determined, confident, and aggressive fighter against the mulatto forces. He would later have to battle the mulatto forces, whoich were under the direction of General André Rigaud. When L' Ouverture was captured in [Page 128]1802, Dessalines became his successor as the leader of the revolution. Dessalines then went on to become the chief of state, and governor general for life, until his death in 1806.

The name Haiti was originally used by the aboriginals in reference to the island. Then the Spanish renamed the island Santo Domingo, and when in 1697 there was a division of the island and the French gained control of one third of it, they named their claimed lands Saint-Dominigue. The territory of Saint-Dominigue was later deposed and renamed Haiti after the revolution on January 1, 1804.

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