The Haitian revolution was the first by a former slave colony and was to inspire other emancipation movements across the New World.
Police patrol outside the Embassy of Taiwan in Port-au-Prince on July 9, 2021, after 11 suspected assassins of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse broke into its embassy in an attempt to flee.
Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP via Getty Images
Local power struggles and strong US interests have long shaped political leadership – and presidential assassinations – in Haiti, limiting nation-building projects on the Caribbean island.
A statue in Port-au-Pirnce honors Jean-Jacques Dessalines’ legacy as a Haitian revolutionary. Now, a renamed Brooklyn street does, too.
AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery
A renamed Brooklyn street celebrates Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a Haitian slave turned president. For centuries his legacy was tarnished by allegations that Haiti’s revolution led to ‘white genocide.’