Civil commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax proclaimed emancipation in the northern province amid warfare and enslaved people’s resistance. Freedom came with labor obligations. The measure was a major breach in racial slavery, but legal emancipation and control over one’s work were not yet the same.
People in this event
No images or videos for this event yet.
Related Events
Free African Society builds independent mutual aid 12 April 1787
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones founded the Free African Society in Philadelphia. Members supported people during illness and assisted widows and children. Such independent institutions strengthened...
Campaigners formed the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Petitioning, evidence gathering, and public mobilization targeted British participation in trafficking. Its institutional...
Banneker challenges Jefferson’s racial assumptions 19 August 1791
Benjamin Banneker sent Thomas Jefferson his almanac and a letter challenging slavery and racial prejudice. A Black mathematician and astronomer used his own work to confront claims of intellectual...
Enslaved people launch the Saint-Domingue uprising 22 August 1791
A mass uprising began in northern Saint-Domingue during the night of 22–23 August. Enslaved Africans and their descendants attacked the plantation order. Their collective struggle transformed an...
France recognizes citizenship for free men of color 4 April 1792
A French law extended equal political rights to free men of color in the colonies. Their struggle against discriminatory status helped force the change. However, the law excluded enslaved people...
👉 Emancipation is proclaimed in northern Saint-Domingue Current 29 August 1793
Civil commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax proclaimed emancipation in the northern province amid warfare and enslaved people’s resistance. Freedom came with labor obligations. The measure was a major...
The Convention abolishes colonial slavery 4 February 1794
France’s National Convention abolished slavery in its colonies after revolution in Saint-Domingue had already forced emancipation onto the agenda. Black political representatives and insurgents were...
Tula leads an uprising against slavery in Curaçao 17 August 1795
An uprising began at the Knip plantation and spread as enslaved people demanded freedom. Tula argued against their continued enslavement in light of changes elsewhere in the Caribbean. The rebels...
Colonial authorities execute leaders of the Curaçao revolt 3 October 1795
Tula and other leaders were executed after the uprising was suppressed. Extreme punishment aimed to deter further collective resistance. Remembering their demands centers enslaved people’s struggle...
Ona Judge escapes from the Washington household 21 May 1796
Ona Judge left the Philadelphia household of George and Martha Washington to seek freedom. Her escape challenged the power of even the republic’s most prominent family to own people. Self-emancipation...
Revolutionary manifestos appeared in Salvador during the Bahia Conspiracy. Participants included working people and people of African descent, with demands for liberty and an end to discriminatory...