Black and British: A Forgotten History, from the acclaimed historian and star of 'Celebrity Traitors'

by David Olusoga

The revolution of the ‘Black Jacobins’ lasted until 1804 and was one of the most profound events in the history of Atlantic slavery. It was the largest slave rebellion in history and the only one that was successful. The Haitian Revolution ended slavery on that island and led, eventually, to the creation of the first sovereign black state in the Western hemisphere. The causes and consequences of the Haitian Revolution are too many and too complex to discuss in detail here but to the gentlemen of property in Britain it was a deeply troubling event, mixing as it did French revolutionary ideology with potent and ancient fears of supposed black savagery.