Letter to the Citizens of Color and Free Negroes of Saint-Domingue (1791)

On June 8, 1791 - about two months before the start of the Boukman Rebellion - Henri Grégoire, the influential member of the Société des Amis des Noirs in Paris, wrote the following letter to the "Citizens of Color and Free Negroes of Saint-Domingue " Grégoire previously had met Julien Raimond, the affranchis planter from Saint-Domingue, in October of 1789.

The Tennis Court Oath. (French: serment du jeu de paume) This was a pledge signed by 577 members of France's Third Estate on June 20, 1789. It is often considered the start of the French Revolution. Vincent Ogé, an affranchis rebel leader had been brutally tortured and executed at the beginning of 1791.

Translated by Mitch Abidor www.marxists.org CopyLeft: Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike) www.marxists.org 2006.

Speeches

 * Saint-Domingue's Free People of Color and the Tools of Revolution - Speech given in 2004 by John Garrigus.
 * Commentary on Session II: Saint-Domingue on the Eve of Revolution: The Free People of Color - Remarks by Jane Landers.