From Dessalines To Duvalier Chapter Summary

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Recommended: The impact of the Haitian revolution on the Caribbean

Darien Wellman
Latin American History
Dr. Nadel
October 22, 2014 In the book, From Dessalines to Duvalier, author David Nicholls focused his attention on the two biggest elements that shaped Haiti’s history: class and race. He used the timeline between the Haitian Revolution of 1804 and the fall of the Duvaliers between 1970 and 1980. The author uses class and race as his biggest themes in order to show how these elements affected the lives of both the elite mulattoes and the black peasants. While the mulattoes had used the influence of French whiteness as their reasoning to separate themselves from the peasant class, blacks hated them for using the very same European influences that had lead to the famous revolution in Haiti. The author uses …show more content…

After the revolution, the author discusses the changes in power in how leaders like Dessalines and Christophe both had tried to start the plantation system all over again. This was due to the fact that there was no other real source of income to rely on at the time other than the plantation system. Later on Haiti could create its first independent constitution which recognized guaranteed equal treatment to all residents of Haiti. However, this would soon change as legal and regional distinctions became evident which would lead to problems over distribution of land among mulattoes and blacks. This problem was recognized by revolutionary leader Dessalines who said in a historical quote (in Ibid VI) “The sons of the colonists’…have taken advantage of my poor blacks” (Nicholls …show more content…

Between his reign from 1957 to 1971, Francois Duvalier is known for being a ruthless dictator and oppressing anyone who he believed was against him. He even targeted opponents within the Catholic Church. Though, according to the author Duvalier was able to gain some favor “among the black middle class and among the peasants in the country” (Nicholls 237). In the case of the wealthy elite, the author says that many of them “were opposed to the government, though most of them were prepared to reach some kind of compromise when they became convinced that they could not overthrow it”(Nicholls 237). It is clear to see from the author that when it came to color, Duvalier made no

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