The Black Jacobins Essay examples -- Essays Papers

The Black Jacobins The San Domingo revolution led to the abolition of slavery, independence of Haiti from France and the proclamation of a black republic. However, unlike many historians, CLR James in his work, The Black Jacobins, does not depict the struggle for independence as merely a slave revolt which happened to come after the French Revolution. He goes beyond providing only a recount of historical events and offers an intimate look at those who primarily precipitated the fall of French rule, namely the black slaves themselves. In doing so, James offers a perspective of black history which empowers the black people, for they are shown to actually have done something, and not merely be the subject of actions and attitudes of others. Even before the actual revolt, the slaves were not men who merely resisted; they were not passive objects. James offers graphic detail of the random and frequent beatings, killings and tortures in order to show the immense brutality of San Domingo's slavery. The severity and harshness of the slavery was due primarily to the fact that the colonists understood that "To cow [the slaves] into the necessary docility and acceptance necessitated a regime of calculated brutality and terrorism" (12) Throughout his account of San Domingos' slavery, James maintains the perseverance of the humanity of the slave population. The slaves did not succumb to their conditions by becoming inanimate objects devoid of any human qualities. Although the "majority of the slaves accommodated themselves to [the] brutality by a profound fatalism and a wooden stupidity before their masters", the slaves still maintained their intelligence and creativity. "The difficulty was that though one could trap them like animals, transport them in pens, work them alongside an ass or a horse and beat both with the same stick, stable them and starve them, they remained, despite their black skins and curly hair, quite invincibly human beings; with the intelligence and resentments of human beings" (11-12). Moreover, it "was this intelligence which refused to be crushed, these latent possibilities, that frightened the colonists, as it frightens the whites in Africa to-day" (18). Throughout The Black Jacobins, James emphasizes the struggle, the tension between the demands made by the society and the human need for expression. Although, "Many s... ...er the revolution, the mentality of the people of San Domingo was foreover changed. Slavery would never be accepted again by the inhabitants. "Any regime which tolerated such practices was doomed, for the revolution had created a new race of men" (242). This new race of men were aware of their self-importance. "There was no need to be ashamed of being a black. The revolution had awakened them, had given them the possibility of achievement, confidence and pride. That psychological weakness, that feeling of inferiority with which the imperialists poison colonial peoples everywhere, these were gone" (244). Thus, in The Black Jacobins, James does much more than retell the story of the San Domingo revolution. He shows the slave revolt to be an empowering example for all liberation movements. Thus, James hopes to stimulate the coming emancipation of Africa as well. James concludes The Black Jacobins by noting that "Imperialism vaunts its exploitation of the wealth of Africa for the benefit of civilisation. In reality, from the very nature of its system of production for profit it strangles the real wealth of the continent-the creative capacity of the African people" (377).