Slave Revolt in Haiti
Black Spartacus
Guest:\xa0Sudhir Hazareesingh, author of "Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture," and Lecturer in Politics at Bolliol College, Oxford University
Toussaint Louverture is known as the Father of Haiti. A former slave, and former slave owner, he studied both revolutionary European Enlightenment ideals and African theories of war, such as guerilla warfare. By uniting the people of Saint-Dominque, he forged the path towards Haitian independence.\xa0
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Berbice Rebellion
Guest: Marjoleine Kars, Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and author of \u201cBlood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast\u201d
In 1763, in the midst of a pandemic, slaves in modern-day Guyana rebelled against harsh working conditions. The founders of the rebellion conscripted other wary slaves and set up their own government, led by Governor Coffij, a charismatic enslaved man who set about negotiating with the Dutch colonialists. The rebels were successful for a while, and their efforts foreshadowed revolutionary movements throughout the Western world.