Dutty Boukman

Dutty Boukman
Born Jamaica
Died 7 November 1791
Other names Boukman Dutty
Known for Catalyst to the Haitian Revolution

Dutty Boukman (Also known as "Boukman Dutty") (died 7 November 1791) was an early leader of the Haitian Revolution, enslaved in Jamaica and later in Haiti. He is considered to have been both a leader of maroons and vodou hougan (priest).[1]

According to some contemporary accounts Boukman alongside Cécile Fatiman, a Vodou mambo, presided over the religious ceremony at Bois Caïman, in August 1791, that served as the catalyst to the 1791 slave revolt which is usually considered the beginning of the Haitian Revolution.

Boukman was a key leader of the slave revolt in the Le Cap‑Français region in the north of the colony. He was killed by the French planters and colonial troops in 7 November 1791,[2][3] just a few months after the beginning of the uprising. The French then publicly displayed Boukman's head in an attempt to dispel the aura of invincibility that Boukman had cultivated.The fact that French authorities had to do this illutsrates the impact Boukman made on the views of Haitian people during this time.

Background

Dutty Boukman was a self-educated slave born on the island of Jamaica. After he attempted to teach other slaves how to read, he was sold to a French plantation owner and placed as a commandeur (slave driver) and, later, a coach driver. His French name came from his English nickname, "Book Man," which some scholars, despite accounts suggesting that he was a Vodou houngan, have interpreted as meaning that he was a Muslim, since in many Muslim regions the term "man of the book" is a synonym for an adherent of the Islamic faith. It has been suggested that it is likely that Boukman "was a Jamaican Muslim who had a Quran, and that he got his nickname from this."[4] Others have suggested that Boukman may have practiced a syncretic blend of traditional African religion and a form of Abrahamic religion.[5] Boukman was killed by the French in November 1791.[6]

Ceremony at the Bois Caïman

According to some contemporaneous accounts, on or about 14 August 1791 Boukman presided over a ceremony at the Bois Caïman in the role of houngan (priest) together with priestess Cécile Fatiman. Boukman prophesied that the slaves Jean François, Biassou, and Jeannot would be leaders of a resistance movement and revolt that would free the slaves of Saint-Domingue. An animal was sacrificed, an oath was taken, and Boukman and the priestess exhorted the listeners to take revenge against their French oppressors and cast aside the image of the God of the oppressors." [7]

According to Gothenburg University researcher Markel Thylefors, "The event of the Bois Caïman ceremony forms an important part of Haitian national identity as it relates to the very genesis of Haiti."[8] This ceremony came to be characterized by various Christian sources as a "pact with the devil" that began the Haitian Revolution.[9]

According to the Encyclopedia of African Religion, "Blood from the animal was given in a drink to the attendees to seal their fates in loyalty to the cause of liberation of Saint-Domingue."[10] A week later, 1800 plantations had been destroyed and 1000 slaveholders killed.[11][12] Boukman was not the first to attempt a slave uprising in Saint-Domingue, as he was preceded by others, such as Padrejean in 1676, and François Mackandal in 1757. However, his large size, warrior-like appearance, and fearsome temper made him an effective leader and helped spark the Haitian Revolution.[13]

  • The band Boukman Eksperyans was named after him.
  • A fictionalized version of Boukman appears as the title character in American writer Guy Endore's novel Babouk, an anti-capitalist parable about the Haitian Revolution.
  • Haitians honored Boukman by admitting him into the pantheon of loa (guiding spirits).[14]
  • The Boukman ("Bouckmann") uprising is retold in the Lance Horner book The Black Sun.
  • "The Bookman" is one of several devil masquerade characters still performed in Trinidad Carnival.
  • Haitian community activist Sanba Boukman, assassinated on 9 March 2012, took his name from Boukman.
  • In the 2014 film Top Five, the main character, André Allen (played by Chris Rock), is in the midst of a promotional tour for a Boukman biopic called Uprize.[15]
  • In the Edwidge Danticat short story A Wall of Fire Rising, the character of Little Guy is cast as Boukman in his school play.
  • In Grimm (TV series), the episode titled "The Waking Dead" features a version of Boukman (referred as Baron Samedi), who is played by Reg E. Cathey.

Pat Robertson's "Pact with the Devil" allegation

In the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, veteran Christian radio and television personality Pat Robertson claimed that Haiti had been "cursed by one thing after another" since the late 18th century and, in an apparent reference to the Bois Caïman ceremony, revived the allegation that Haitians had sworn a "pact to the devil."[16][17] This view was criticized by urban legend expert Rich Buehler, who claimed that Robertson's statement was incorrect on a variety of historical points, and propagated a common claim that vodou is Satanic in nature.[18]

Several Mainline and evangelical[19] Christian voices criticized Robertson's remarks as misleading, untimely and insensitive.[20][21][22][23]

References

  1. ↑ Edmonds, Ennis B.; Gonzalez, Michelle A. (2010-06-01). Caribbean Religious History: An Introduction. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814722503.
  2. ↑ Girard, Philippe R. (2010). "Haitian Revolution". In Leslie, Alexander. Encyclopedia of African American History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781851097692.
  3. ↑ Poujol-Oriol, Paulette (2005). "Boukman". In Appiah, Kwame Antony; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195170559.
  4. ↑ Sylviane Anna Diouf and Sylviane Kamara. Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the AmericasNew York University Press, 1998, p. 153
  5. ↑ Dubois, Laurent. Avengers of the New World (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 2004), 101.
  6. ↑ Sylviane Anna Diouf, Servants of Allah p.152
  7. ↑ Charles Arthur and Michael Dash (eds.) Libète: A Haiti Anthology (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1999), 36.
  8. ↑ Thylefors, Markel (March 2009) "'Our Government is in Bwa Kayiman:' a Vodou Ceremony in 1791 and its Contemporary Signifcations" Archived 22 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Stockholm Review of Latin American Studies, Issue No. 4
  9. ↑ Lowell Ponte Haiti: Victim of Clinton's Old Black Magic FrontPage Magazine 20 February 2004
  10. ↑ Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama. Encyclopedia of African religion, Volume 1 Sage Publications, p. 131.
  11. ↑ Sylviane Anna Diouf, Servants of Allah p. 152
  12. ↑ John Mason. African Religions in The Caribbean: Continuity and Change
  13. ↑ John K. Thornton. I Am the Subject of the King of Congo: African Political Ideology and the Haitian Revolution. Millersville University of Pennsylvania
  14. ↑ Haitian Bicentennial Committee Archived 26 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine. (2004)
  15. ↑ Orr, Niela. Critic's Notebook: Hollywood, Obama and the Boxing-In of Black Achievers ‘‘The Hollywood Reporter’’. December 18, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Pat Robertson calls quake 'blessing in disguise'". The Washington Post. 13 January 2010.
  17. ↑ Robertson statement
  18. ↑ Ireland, Michael (17 January 2010). "Urban Legend Expert Debunks Haitian 'Pact with the Devil'". ASSIST News Service. Archived from the original on 21 January 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  19. ↑ "Pat Robertson on Disasters: Consistently Wrong" Thursday, 14 January 2010, 1:01 PM by John Mark Reynolds
  20. ↑ Denny Burk - Associate Professor of New Testament and Dean of Boyce College (undergraduate arm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) in Louisville, Kentucky
  21. ↑ https://twitter.com/albertmohler/status/7724222162
  22. ↑ http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/faith/2010/01/guest_post_a_message_for_pat_r.html
  23. ↑ http://pastorchrisowens.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/my-two-words-for-pat-robertson-shut-up/
  • For an insightful article on the function of religion in the Haitian Revolution, see “The Rhetoric of Prayer: Dutty Boukman, The Discourse of “Freedom from Below,” and the Politics of God” by Celucien L. Joseph, Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion 2:9 (June 2011):1-33.
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