The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution

First published in 1938, C.L.R. James’s The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution examines the Haitian Revolution of 1791 to 1804, with emphasis on the role of slave-turned-commander Toussaint L’Ouverture. As a historical treatise, the book aims to unfold the inner workings of the Revolution, with the socialist views of the author, a Trinidadian historian, framing the analysis. Readers have come to recognize The Black Jacobins as not only a crucial exploration of the Haitian Revolution but also as a seminal work within the literature of the African diaspora. Citations in this guide correspond to the revised second edition published in 1963 and reprinted by Vintage Books in 1989.

In the first few chapters, James outlines conditions in the French Caribbean colony of San Domingo prior to the Revolution. Slaves captured from Africa were treated like animals and forced to work on sugar plantations. Plantation owners, merchants, and French officials competed for a share of the profits. Individuals of mixed African and European ancestry formed an intermediate class.

James then considers the events leading up to the slave rebellion. News of the French Revolution in 1789 sent shockwaves through San Domingo, where notions of liberty and equality were complicated by the racial prejudices that coexisted with slavery.