Struggle & Resistance Achievement & Excellence

August 1791

The Haitian Revolution began with a massive slave uprising in Saint-Domingue, ultimately led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, which resulted in the founding of Haiti in 1804 as the first Black republic in the Western Hemisphere and the only successful slave revolution in history. The revolution sent shockwaves through American slave society, inspiring enslaved people and free Black Americans while terrifying slaveholders, and profoundly shaped American debates about slavery and race.

Events

August 22, 1791
Toussaint L'Ouverture Leads Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution began with a massive slave uprising in Saint-Domingue, ultimately led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, which resulted in the founding of Haiti in 1804 as the first Black republic in the Western Hemisphere and the only successful slave revolution in history. The revolution sent shockwaves through American slave society, inspiring enslaved people and free Black Americans while terrifying slaveholders, and profoundly shaped American debates about slavery and race.
August 19, 1791
Benjamin Banneker Challenges Jefferson on Slavery
Benjamin Banneker sent a now-famous letter to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson challenging the hypocrisy of a slaveholder writing about human liberty, enclosing a manuscript copy of his almanac as proof of Black intellectual capability. Jefferson's reply acknowledged Banneker's abilities, and the exchange was widely published as a landmark moment in early American anti-slavery thought.