Bois Caiman Ceremony: Haitian Revolution Ignites
Dutty Boukman, an enslaved man and Vodou priest, led a ceremony at Bois Caiman in the mountains of northern Saint-Domingue on the night of August 14, 1791. A pig was sacrificed, and the assembled enslaved people swore an oath to fight for their freedom. Within a week, the northern plain was in flames. Enslaved workers burned over 1,000 plantations and killed hundreds of slaveholders in the first organized revolt of what became the Haitian Revolution. Boukman himself was killed by French forces within months, and his head was displayed on a pike as a warning. It didn't work. The revolution continued for twelve years, culminating in Haiti's independence in 1804 as the first Black republic and the only successful slave revolt in history.
August 14, 1791
235 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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