#1338: Denmark Vesey : Stockdale comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:cjstockdale@juno.com

I have been reading a new book--Denmark Vesey: The Buried History of
America's Largest Slave Rebellion.  It has several references to Haiti
and the Haitian revolution.  Mr. Vesey apparently planned black
emigration to Africa or Haiti after his rebellion.  The book also notes
that Haiti's revolution caused fear on the part of white America, which
resulted in the lack of diplomatic recognition of Haiti by the US, until
several years after the revolution.  Haiti's success may have given black
slaves more confidence in the possibility of a successful rebellion. 
This was a very interesting look at the US and its relationship to Haiti
around the early 1800's, including the tangled realtionship of whites,
blacks and mulattoes (sp?) in the US at the time.  It appears that these
relationships were much like those same relationships in Haiti.  I guess
it shouldn't surprise me, but I can hardly believe that mulattoes were so
"anti-black", and that mulattoes, and even free blacks owned black
slaves!  I know that slavery was not unknown in Africa, but you would
think that in that case, Haiti blacks (more likely "fresh" from Africa)
would be more likely to be slave-owning.  Another interesting thing about
Charleston, SC though--it was slave holding before it was a colony, and
they preferred to have slaves directly form Africa, rather than
"homegrown".

Sorry for the rambling!  I'm not quite done with the book, and I may need
to read it again...it has set off several trains of thought all at once!

DS