Padre Jean

Padre Jean (also Padrejean and Pedro Juan) (died 1679) led a slave rebellion near Port de Paix, in the north of Saint-Domingue, in the year 1676. He was a slave in posession of a Spanish slave-owner, whom he assasinated and then took refuge on La Tortue. He settled in Pointe Palmiste (East of Port de Paix) and organized 25 slaves for a rebellion. They began their uprising near Port Margot killing slave holders and then retreated into the mountains nearby.

Padrejean was killed by pirates (boucaniers), who had tracked him down in his mountain retreat, in 1679 and killed him alongside several of his fellow fighters. The rebellion was one of the earliest recorded in Saint-Domingue. Today Padrejean is mentioned alongside the likes of François Makandal and Dutty Boukman as an early fighter against the cruelties of French imposed slavery.(Padrejean cannot be compared to Macandal for many reasons. Whether Boukman Dutty can be considered an "early fighter" against the French is unknown since he was actually a cruel slave overseer before taking the lead in 1791. For more see macandal.org website by Mark Davis)