Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

by Michael Harriot

Around the world, the concept of revolution had gone viral. North of the island, the germ had caused a rebellion that created a brand-new country called the United States of America. A revolution was happening in France, too. Thomas Paine, one of America’s Enlightenment thinkers, was publishing articles defending political revolutions called The Rights of Man, asserting that freedom was a universal right that all human beings deserved. That spirit of rebellion, revolution, and the offering of “deez hands” was about to show itself in Haiti. On August 14, 1791, a tropical storm was bearing down on the island when a group of enslaved Africans met in the Bwa Kayiman (Alligator Forest) to hold a secret ceremony. Historical accounts would later call this meeting a “voudou ceremony” and refer to the attendees as “slaves.” Had these freedom-seeking Africans been white, we would call them “founding fathers” who were planning a revolution.