What the commemoration of the 235th anniversary of Bois Caïman means for Haiti’s memory and future

On August 14, 1791, enslaved people and rebel leaders gathered at Bwa Kayiman in Haiti's Northern Department for a ceremony that was part Vodou rite, part political congress, led by Dutty Boukman and Cécile Fatiman. The meeting set in motion an uprising against Saint-Domingue's slave economy, one of the most profitable colonial enterprises of the 18th century, built on sugar, coffee, and brutal forced labor.

The resistance drew together Creole-born skilled workers, 'Bossales' brought directly from Africa, domestic servants, and Maroons who had fled to the mountains, despite plantation owners' efforts to divide them. Twelve years of guerrilla warfare, intelligence networks, and leadership from figures like Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines followed, culminating in the 1803 Battle of Vertières and Haiti's 1804 independence as the world's first Black republic.

This year's commemoration at Hotel Roi Christophe in Cap-Haïtien marks the 235th anniversary of that night, a reminder that the anti-slavery movement's origins were deliberate, organized, and paid for in documented atrocities the record does not let anyone forget.

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