Slavery Archives

When France extorted Haiti – the greatest heist in history

by History Guild | Nov 27, 2021 | Political and Economic History | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
Much of the reparations debate has revolved around whether the United States and the United Kingdom should finally compensate some of their citizens for the economic and social costs of slavery that still linger today.
But to me, there’s never been a more clear-cut case for reparations than that of Haiti.

Reckoning with slavery: What a revolt’s archives tell us about who owns the past

by History Guild | Nov 9, 2021 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
During the revolt, former slaves organized a government and controlled most of the colony for almost a year. The Dutch either fled altogether or holed up on a well-fortified sugar plantation near the coast. A regiment of European soldiers sent from neighboring Suriname mutinied and joined the rebels they had come to defeat. But obligated by treaties, indigenous peoples such as Carib and Arawak fought on the side of the Dutch. The revolt ended when the rebels, out of food and arms, were overpowered by enemies who had received an infusion of men and supplies from the Dutch Republic.

Slave revolt film revisits history often omitted from textbooks

by History Guild | Oct 28, 2021 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Armed with machetes and pitchforks and uttering chants of “Freedom or Death,” hundreds of men and women made their way along a 26-mile route along the River Parishes of Louisiana.
The spectacle – which I witnessed in November 2019 in St. John the Baptist Parish, in the heartland of Louisiana’s sugar cane and oil industries – was a reenactment of what historians believe was the largest slave rebellion in United States history, the 1811 German Coast Uprising.