The Haitian revolution was the first by a former slave colony and was to inspire other emancipation movements across the New World.
Jean Marcellis Destine, dressed as Haitian independence hero Jean-Jacques Dessalines, heads to a protest against President Jovenel Moïse in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 4, 2019.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who freed Haiti from French colonial rule in 1804, is revered as a spirit in the Haitian religion. Now he’s become an icon of the uprising against President Jovanel Moïse.
When women of color in government work together, it often helps their chances of legislative success.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Women of color in public office often face great scrutiny and hostility. New research shows how France’s first black female senators used their experience fighting Nazis to pass landmark legislation.
Campaign ads for Ali Bongo in his successful 2009 bid to succeed his father as president of Gabon. The Bongo family has lead Gabon uninterrupted for over 50 years.
Reuters/Daniel Magnowski
Gabon’s strongman president, Ali Bongo, is barely clinging to power after contested elections, a stroke and a coup attempt. The Bongo family has run this stable central African nation for 52 years.
The mariage burlesque of the Plastic System Band carnival group in Lamentin,
Martinique, 2012.
Charlotte Hammond
The annual Carnival rituals subvert traditional French notions of family and sexuality.
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.’
To sustain geo-political relations with French-speaking Pacific nations in the future, we need to change the way French is taught to young Australians.
The Great Mosque of Djenné, in Mali, has a history dating back to the 13th century which can inspire regional trade in West Africa.
Shutterstock
Despite being led by different presidents over the past six decades, the French government’s policy on Africa has been faithful to its neo-colonial roots. Will Macron’s government be any different?