Dutty Boukman

Dutty Boukman (* in the 18th century; † 1791 in Saint-Domingue , today Haiti ) was the leader of the first decisive slave revolt in 1791 in Saint-Domingue. Although Boukman was killed in the first weeks of the rebellion, the slave owners of the then French possession no longer got the freedom fighters under control from that point on until the independence of Haiti. Boukman became a Haitian folk hero and his role during the uprising religious voodoo ceremony in the Bois Caïman (crocodile forest) is legendary, although there is no historical certainty about it.

Life and legend

Boukman's year and place of birth are unknown. He is said to have been born as a slave on the then English island of Jamaica . From there Boukman was sold to Saint-Domingue . In Jamaica, the tall, muscular slave with the terrifying, furrowed face is said to have been called Bookman Dutty . This suggests that he had learned to read.

On Saint-Domingue , Boukman worked as a coachman, which gave him the best possible information about the outside world that a slave could at that time in this place. At the same time he was very influential among the slaves because of his knowledge, his impressive appearance and his spirit of resistance. When he ran away from his master and leader became a group of runaway slaves ( maroons ), Boukman was therefore able to distribute information, coordinate groups and plan a rebellion.

On the night of August 14, 1791, he and the voodoo priestess Cécile Fatiman and other leaders such as Georges Biassou and Jean François Papillon performed the famous ceremony in the “Crocodile Forest”, during which he is said to have said an equally legendary prayer:

God who created the earth, God who created the sun to give us light, God who holds back the ocean, who makes thunder rumble. Our God, who has ears to hear. You, who are hidden in the clouds, who watch us from there. You see all the suffering the whites have caused us. The white man's god causes him to commit crimes. But the God in us wants us to do good. Our God, who is so good, so just, commands us to avenge our unjust treatment. It is He who will wield our weapons and bring us victory. It is he who will help us. We should all throw it away, the image of the white man God who is so merciless. Listen to the voice of freedom that sings in all of our hearts.

Because of this prayer, Boukman is often referred to as a voodoo priest. Apart from the ceremony, there is no evidence of this. In any case, there is no definite proof that he was a practicing priest.

The day after the meeting at Bois Caïman, the rebellion broke out. Boukman was allegedly caught and executed in the first few weeks, but according to other reports, the leader, known as a fierce fighter, fell in a skirmish. If the latter version applies, October 15, 1791 is given as the date of his death (Geggus). In any case, he was killed or disappeared completely from the scene. A severed head with the name Boukman was presented in public, but the Haitian national hero and other leaders who now rose up in all parts of the colony ( Toussaint L'Ouverture ) were unstoppable despite years of slaughter with unprecedented brutality on all sides.

literature

• CLR James : The Black Jacobins. Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. London 1938; Allison & Busby, London 1982, ISBN 0-85031-335-X
  • The black Jacobins. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1984, ISBN 3-7609-0911-6
• David Patrick Geggus: Haitian Revolutionary Studies. Blacks in the Diaspora. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2002, ISBN 0-253-34104-3

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reuter, Astrid .: Voodoo and other African-American religions . Orig.-issued edition. Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-48016-0 .