Roberson Alphonse of Le Nouvelliste described the event,
January 21, 2014 . It is almost 19 hours . Snowflakes lining the cars parked outside the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University in North Carolina. Inside , the atmosphere leads to other latitudes. This is tropical. Boukman Eksperyans drums resonate. On a flat screen, images of a documentary parade. Women possessed by loas, whirl. The tempo is broken. Cesaria Evoria is in the air. Sweetness, melancholy. The voice of the barefoot diva inhabits the walls on which are hung “voodoo flags”. An exhibition and presentation of an original manuscript copy of the original declaration overlap together.
At the end of the bloody uprising of the slaves of the island of St. Domingue against their French masters, on January 1, 1804 General Dessalines, leader of the uprising after the arrest of Toussaint L’Ouverture, read this Act of Independence on the Place d’Armes of Gonaïves. The actual author of the text was Dessalines’ secretary, Boisrond Tonerre.
LIBERTY OR DEATH
Gonaïves, January 1, 1804
Year I of Independence
Today, January 1, 1804, the General in Chief of the Indigenous Army, accompanied by generals and army chiefs convoked in order to take measures tending to the happiness of the country:
After having made known to the assembled generals his true intention of forever ensuring to the natives of Haiti a stable government — the object of his greatest solicitude, which he did in a speech that made known to foreign powers the resolution to render the country independent, and to enjoy the liberty consecrated by the blood of the people of this island; and, after having gathered their opinions, asked each of the assembled generals to pronounce a vow to forever renounce France; to die rather than to live under its domination; and to fight for independence with their last breath.
The generals, imbued with these sacred principles, after having with one voice given their adherence to the well manifested project of independence, have all sworn before eternity and before the entire universe to forever renounce France and to die rather than live under its domination.
Signed:
Dessalines
General-in-Chief
Christophe, Pétion, Clerveaux, Vernet, Gabart
Major Generals
P.Romain, G. Gérin, L. Capois, Jean-Louis Francois, Férou, Cangé, G. Bazelais, Magloire Ambroise, J.J. Herne, Toussaint Brave, Yayou
Brigadier generals
Bonet, F. Paplier, Morelly, Chevalier, Marion
Adjutants-general
Magny, Roux
Brigade Chiefs
Chaperon, B. Goret, Macajoux, Dupuy, Carbonne, Diaquoiainé, Raphael, Malet, Derenoncourt
Army officers
Boisrond Tonnerre
Secretary
In 2010, a Duke University graduate student has discovered what was believed to be the only known printed copy of Haiti’s Declaration of Independence.
While researching the early independence of Haiti in February, Julia Gaffield found the document, an eight-page pamphlet dated Jan. 1, 1804, in the British National Archives in London. It is only the second declaration of its kind in the world, the first being the U.S. Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson and others.
Gaffield, who was researching early 19th century Haiti for her doctoral dissertation in history, said the document had been overlooked in the British archives, even as researchers spent decades searching for it in Haiti.
“I wasn’t specifically looking for it, but I had an eye out for it because I knew it was missing,” Gaffield said. “We figured there was an original somewhere, but didn’t know if it still existed.”
“I suspect there will be immense interest in this discovery,” said Ian E. Wilson, Librarian & Archivist of Canada Emeritus and president of the International Council on Archives. “To bring this document to light in Haiti’s darkest hour may be seen as a symbol of renewal and rejuvenation, helping Haiti rebuild its national spirit following the recent earthquake. Julia’s achievement in recognizing the significance of this printed document deserves high recognition.”
“It’s incredible that the long search for this important document should finally end at The National Archives,” said Oliver Morley, acting chief executive at The National Archives. “This declaration sent to the British Government by Haiti’s first independent leader is of great historical importance to both Haiti and the British people, and provides unique insight into the first successful slave rebellion of modern times. We’re grateful to Duke University in bringing this fascinating document to our attention and pleased to be able to make more people aware of its existence.”
(Duke University has established a special website about the discovery, with additional information about Gaffield, the document and early Haitian history. The site is at http://news.duke.edu/
For her doctoral project, Gaffield did research in France, Haiti and then Jamaica, where she saw a handwritten copy of the declaration in the papers of then-Governor of Jamaica George Nugent.
“There was a letter saying the Declaration of Independence was enclosed, not more than one hour off the press,” Gaffield said, noting the only document she saw at that time was handwritten, not printed on a press.
In late January of 2010, Gaffield went to London to look at “the British side of things.” That’s where she found the printed version of what she had seen in Jamaica.
“It was not misplaced; it had been there for a long time. This period has not been studied in as much detail, so these are documents few people have looked through, and if they saw it, they didn’t realize the significance,” said Gaffield, who was thrilled by the discovery but continued her research until the end of the day.
“The archives are not the place to make a big scene,” Gaffield said. Instead, she dutifully returned the documents to the archives and then rushed to notify her advisers at Duke.
Among them was Deborah Jenson, a professor of French Studies at Duke who has researched the U.S. publication of Haiti’s independence documents. Jenson said Gaffield’s discovery “is extremely important as it clarifies that the Haitian government’s printing apparatus was fully functional at every moment of the new nation’s independence. Although it is possible that the document had not been printed as of the Jan. 1 Independence ceremony, it is now clear that an authentic government-issued full version had been printed by the third week of January 1804, at which point it was brought to Jamaica.”
In 1804, when Haiti announced its independence from France, Jamaica was a British colony. Its governor was in regular contact with the British government, which helps explains how this copy of the declaration ended up in a London archive.
