I wrote this paper over Pesach

In the years leading up to the Haitian Revolution, there was a massive influx of slaves from Africa. The majority of these slaves were men. This large influx of African men is often considered to be one of the causes of the uprising. (Geggus 7) What is often overlooked however, is the way that these demographic changes affected the daily lives of slaves, and the dynamics of slave communities. Measuring these changes would require looking at plantation records to see the change in female-male ratios on each individual plantation, since not all plantations or regions were affected in the same way. This new African slave population was focused in the South and the mountain coffee-plantations, whereas the rebellion started in the North and was led largely by creoles. (Geggus 8) The overall male-female ratio in Saint Domingue in the 1780s was twelve males for every ten females. This ratio was more equal than the eighteen males to every ten females of the 1730s. The majority of the creole slave population however, were women. (Geggus 10) Nevertheless, women were living in a male-dominated society in a variety of ways: The patriarchal culture of the time ensured that white men were in roles of authority, from a governmental to a domestic level; within the slave hierarchy, those positions of authority not filled by white men were primarily filled by black men. Then, there was the sexual exploitation by white men, and, perhaps, some exploitation by black men as well, though due to the lack of written records, the sexual power hierarchies within the slave communities themselves are impossible to measure. Given the male majorities of slave communities as well as the fact that skilled positions with the authority they entailed were reserved for men, slave societies were male-dominated. The large influx of new African men may have made a male-dominated community seem more so. On the other hand, it could have signified new opportunities for relationships, both romantic and platonic.

Trends in fertility are an important assessment of the health of the female population: lessened fertility is often a sign of malnutrition and/or overwork. (Geggus 11) In the years leading up to the Revolution, fertility was declining for enslaved women in the northern part of Saint-Domingue, while it was rising for women in the west and south. That the Revolution broke out in the North, the area least affected by the influx of African men, where women’s work and health conditions were worsening as their avenues for freedom were being closed off, and that it was carried out by the Creole population were women constituted the majority, speaks both to the exaggerated importance of men to the revolution, and to the under-explored importance of women. Arguably conditions for men were declining in the North at the same time as those of women, but at the very least this data shows that the Revolution was not merely reacting to the frustrations of enslaved men, but was reacting to the frustrations of enslaved women as well.

If the worsening conditions and outlooks for enslaved women were a major factor of the Revolution however, what role did those women play? Were their frustrations merely an added motivation for their male family members to raise arms, did they actively urge their male family members to do so, or did they take a more active role, perhaps taking up arms themselves?