Read Online Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution by Laurent Dubois - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Laurent Dubois
Ads: Link
deaths, and infrequent births. These men at the bot-
tom of the hierarchy of white society were paid poorly, hired and fired eas-
ily because many were looking for such work, and had fewer possibilities
for self-enrichment.3
Just below the overseers and at the top of the slave hierarchy were driv-
ers like Philipeau. These slave drivers were, according to one planter, the
“soul of the plantation.” Masters, managers, and overseers were extremely
dependent on them. Drivers were consistently valued very highly on the
slave market, and could be worth twice as much as a slave of similar age.
Most drivers, like Philipeau, were creoles—they had been born in the col-
ony. They quite literally drove the work of the plantation. A half-hour be-
fore sunrise, they woke up the slaves with the crack of a whip or by ringing
f e r m e n ta t i o n
37
a bell or blowing a conch shell. They spent the day in the fields with the
slaves and reported any misbehavior. They usually inflicted whippings.
Their masters rewarded them with better food, clothes, and housing in or-
der both to increase their prestige among the slaves and to secure their loy-
alty. They were collaborators with the master, playing a central role in the
management of the plantations.4
At the same time they were community leaders among the slaves. Often
chosen because of the respect they already enjoyed on the plantation, as
drivers they achieved more power, adding fear to this respect, as well as the ability to help weak or sick slaves and to allow some to leave the plantations at night or on weekends. A manual for prospective plantation masters advised them to be wary of their drivers, who excelled at maintaining an illu-
sion of perfect devotion to the whites but were also close to the most rebel-
lious of the slaves on the plantation, whom they spared from punishment.
The author wrote this manual in the wake of the slave revolts of the 1790s,
which had probably shaped his perspective on the matter. Indeed to the
surprise of many masters, drivers took a leading role in organizing and car-
rying out the insurrection of 1791.5
Revolution was still years away when Philipeau wrote again to Madame
de Mauger in 1787. He complained again about the “abominations being
committed” by a new manager assigned to the plantation, who took little
interest in the work of the slaves and spent his days entertaining in his
house. He was selling cotton grown on the plantation, along with lumber
cut from the Mauger lands, for his own profit. “Your manager will grow
rich at your expense,” Philipeau warned. The slaves, meanwhile, were “dy-
ing of hunger” even though the warehouses of the plantation were full of
food. The manager kept it to feed his personal slaves and his pigs.6
This time Mauger wrote back, but her response disappointed Philipeau.
We cannot know exactly what she wrote; after reading her letter, the
woman who had helped Philipeau write to Mauger burned them, as he had
asked Madame de Mauger to do with his. But his response suggests the
content: “There is no need to advise me, dear mistress, to make sure the
plantation is productive,” he wrote. Mauger apparently encouraged him to
work harder but ignored his urgent pleas; the plantation manager would
not be removed. “You do not want to listen to us. What will we do?” he
wrote despairingly. The friend who wrote for him added in a postscript that
as he heard her response, the “miserable” Philipeau cried and said that “he
would no longer work with the same courage to expand the fortune of a
38
av e n g e r s o f t h e n e w w o r l d
stranger.” But the story was not over. In a few years the loyal Philipeau
would have his revenge.7
For those Africans who survived the horrors of the middle passage, arrival
in Saint-Domingue was followed by another torture: branding. Masters
marked their ownership by burning their initials into the flesh of their
tom of the hierarchy of white society were paid poorly, hired and fired eas-
ily because many were looking for such work, and had fewer possibilities
for self-enrichment.3
Just below the overseers and at the top of the slave hierarchy were driv-
ers like Philipeau. These slave drivers were, according to one planter, the
“soul of the plantation.” Masters, managers, and overseers were extremely
dependent on them. Drivers were consistently valued very highly on the
slave market, and could be worth twice as much as a slave of similar age.
Most drivers, like Philipeau, were creoles—they had been born in the col-
ony. They quite literally drove the work of the plantation. A half-hour be-
fore sunrise, they woke up the slaves with the crack of a whip or by ringing
f e r m e n ta t i o n
37
a bell or blowing a conch shell. They spent the day in the fields with the
slaves and reported any misbehavior. They usually inflicted whippings.
Their masters rewarded them with better food, clothes, and housing in or-
der both to increase their prestige among the slaves and to secure their loy-
alty. They were collaborators with the master, playing a central role in the
management of the plantations.4
At the same time they were community leaders among the slaves. Often
chosen because of the respect they already enjoyed on the plantation, as
drivers they achieved more power, adding fear to this respect, as well as the ability to help weak or sick slaves and to allow some to leave the plantations at night or on weekends. A manual for prospective plantation masters advised them to be wary of their drivers, who excelled at maintaining an illu-
sion of perfect devotion to the whites but were also close to the most rebel-
lious of the slaves on the plantation, whom they spared from punishment.
The author wrote this manual in the wake of the slave revolts of the 1790s,
which had probably shaped his perspective on the matter. Indeed to the
surprise of many masters, drivers took a leading role in organizing and car-
rying out the insurrection of 1791.5
Revolution was still years away when Philipeau wrote again to Madame
de Mauger in 1787. He complained again about the “abominations being
committed” by a new manager assigned to the plantation, who took little
interest in the work of the slaves and spent his days entertaining in his
house. He was selling cotton grown on the plantation, along with lumber
cut from the Mauger lands, for his own profit. “Your manager will grow
rich at your expense,” Philipeau warned. The slaves, meanwhile, were “dy-
ing of hunger” even though the warehouses of the plantation were full of
food. The manager kept it to feed his personal slaves and his pigs.6
This time Mauger wrote back, but her response disappointed Philipeau.
We cannot know exactly what she wrote; after reading her letter, the
woman who had helped Philipeau write to Mauger burned them, as he had
asked Madame de Mauger to do with his. But his response suggests the
content: “There is no need to advise me, dear mistress, to make sure the
plantation is productive,” he wrote. Mauger apparently encouraged him to
work harder but ignored his urgent pleas; the plantation manager would
not be removed. “You do not want to listen to us. What will we do?” he
wrote despairingly. The friend who wrote for him added in a postscript that
as he heard her response, the “miserable” Philipeau cried and said that “he
would no longer work with the same courage to expand the fortune of a
38
av e n g e r s o f t h e n e w w o r l d
stranger.” But the story was not over. In a few years the loyal Philipeau
would have his revenge.7
For those Africans who survived the horrors of the middle passage, arrival
in Saint-Domingue was followed by another torture: branding. Masters
marked their ownership by burning their initials into the flesh of their
Similar Books
