WEBVTT - Vincent Ogé: Privilege and Protest 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.960 How often have you heard a guy start a sentence 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:09.160 with I have a daughter when commenting on some societal 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.840 issues specific to girls and women. Empathy is easy when 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.240 an issue gets so close to you, when the privilege 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.520 of not having had to deal with a problem is 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:27.080 lost and the problem pops your personal bubble. I'm Eve 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:31.280 Jeff Cooke and this is Unpopular a podcast about people 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.560 in history who didn't let the threat of persecution keep 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:41.560 them from speaking truth to power. Vincen o Ja Jean 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.120 or Vincent o j the Younger was born in Dondon 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:49.880 Parish in San Domains, North Province sometime around seventeen fifty. 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.600 Sandman was a French colony on the island of Hispaniola 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.920 from the mid seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century. 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.520 O Ja's father was a white man named Jacques o 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:07.560 j and his mother was a Mulatta named Angelique o s. 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.160 Mulatta was the word used to describe a girl or 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:15.000 woman who was of mixed race with one black parent 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:20.240 and one white parent. Vinson was named after his paternal uncle, 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:25.600 a merchant in the port city of Cape Francaie. French 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:29.560 people who colonized the island became planters, and brought in 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:34.480 hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans. The mixed race children 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.639 of the white planters and the enslaved women were freed 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.080 and set up as property owners, and a mixed race 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.840 class of property owners formed equal in wealth to white 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:52.400 folks into the seventeen sixties. The richest free planters of 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.120 color were basically treated like members of the colonial ruling class, 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.760 but the petit blanc, the white people who were merchants, artisans, 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.400 and the like, were less powerful and wealthy than the 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:08.600 white planters, and they were especially anti black and anti 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:13.399 free people of color and supportive of slavery. As free 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.480 people of color became a threat to colonists access to 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.720 land in capital, and their loyalty was questioned, race was 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:25.720 further weaponized and colonial authorities began enacting legislation that discriminated 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:29.560 against people of color. People of color were assigned racial 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:33.880 descriptions like mulattro libra or care to own libra, and 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.600 white people were given titles lexia and demoiselle, while free 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.560 people of colors were disparagingly called lenon, a term that 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:46.919 basically meant the so called By the seventeen seventies, colonists 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:51.360 had even began labeling freeborn people of color as affranci, 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.920 a pejorative that meant freedman or ex slave. Though the 0:02:55.960 --> 0:03:00.280 affranci could own land and had some advantages over enslaved people, 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:04.359 they could not hold administrative positions or work as doctors 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.920 or lawyers. Still, they chose to align themselves with the 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.239 French over enslaved people in the colony and the hopes 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:15.160 of being accepted by the white colonists. They often upheld 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:19.079 the institution of slavery, as did O J, a choice 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.960 that complicates O J's and other wealthy people of color's 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.360 history of resistance to the restriction of black people's rights. 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.160 In effect, the human rights of free people of color 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.880 took precedent over those of enslaved black people and poor 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:37.960 white people. Free people of color had property and were taxpayers, 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.600 and so the issue of abolition of slavery took a 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.440 back seat to the issue of racism for many free 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:48.040 people of color. More radical revolutionaries, though, did press for 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:53.960 abolition anyway. By the seventeen eighties, there were far more 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.800 enslaved people than French colonists in sandolog and there were 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.720 as many free people of color as there were white people. 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.720 Don't Don't where o Jay was born acknowledged Sano Monk's 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:09.200 post seventeen seventy racial laws and authorities did attempt to 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.720 separate white people and free people of color through practices 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:17.080 like distancing people of color from their French family names. Still, 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:20.719 white people and people of color remained connected to a degree. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.039 Don't Don't located in the mountains as well as the 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:27.159 surrounding areas like the nearby port city of Cape, France, 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.000 saw a lot of military preparations and personnel when o 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:35.599 Ja was growing up, Though local enslaved and freemen of 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:39.400 color were enrolled in military units, it is not clear 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.760 whether o j had military or militia experience in its 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.880 youth and young adulthood. Dumb Done was also the first 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:50.520 place in sand Monk where coffee was planted, and Oja's 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.280 family took advantage of a coffee boom in the area. 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.279 Ojay's family's wealth was linked to the coffee estate, but 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.520 his personal wealth was built after he spent time in Bordeaux, 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:05.520 France as an apprentice to a goldsmith. Returning to San 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:10.240 domin around seventeen seventy four or seventeen seventy five. He 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:14.440 brokered houses and apartments and capt Francie to wealthy white people. 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:19.000 He conducted business with merchants and saw Domint's major ports, 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:22.799 and he assumed the practices of the colonists by employing 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.400 a free Mulatta woman as a housekeeper, a job that 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:33.559 usually included sexual duties and purchasing enslaved Africans. Side note, 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:37.320 many free people of color and San Domant were slave owners. 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.120 In a seventeen eighty nine letter, o J said he 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.080 was worth more than three hundred and fifty thousand livres, 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.880 the currency of France. O J was one of the 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.000 wealthiest freemen of color in San Domont, and he was 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.760 of a high status within the colonies class of free 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.240 planters of color. His wealth did put him in closer 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.600 proximity to whiteness, as notaries did not identify him as 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.520 a man of color or require him to show his 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:12.560 freedom papers. Generally, wealthy families of color remained politically conservative 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.680 and under the radar. When the French Revolution broke out 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:21.680 in seventeen eighty nine, the loss of privilege afforded to 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.680 them by the colonial establishment was a high stake. Julian 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.960 Raymon a free man of color and wealthy indigo planter 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.159 and Saint Domin did move to France in the mid 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:35.880 seventeen eighties and challenged the French government to pass racial 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:40.320 reforms for wealthy freemen of color in Saint Domin, but 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.840 Ramon was an anomaly, and so has been. Saint o j. 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.680 O J left Saint Domint for France at the end 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.640 of seventeen eighty eight in the hopes of increasing his 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.160 assets after having to figure out a way to repay 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.479 a debt he had. Only some of his experiences in 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:01.120 France in the beginning of seventeen eighty nine are recorded. 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.640 It's known that he visited his sisters in Bordeaux and 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.839 that he partitioned the naval ministry in March to give 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.960 him more time to repay his creditors. But by September 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.040 of that year, after the start of the French Revolution, 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.840 oh J had joined a group that called itself Cologne 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:24.840 a Mary Kaye a k A. American Colonists. The group 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.520 published a pamphlet that called for the doing a way 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.320 of legal separations between white people and citizens of color 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.119 in the French colonies. The Cologne also published a Calle 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:38.680 do d'Or lance or List of Demands addressed to the 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:42.640 National Assembly. O Ja helped write both of these texts. 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.600 One of the reforms demanded in the list was for 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:49.679 people of color and white people to be treated equally, 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.320 so that quote the Creoles constitute a single group and 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:57.000 that they be regarded as a population of brothers. The 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.320 text also called for the representation of freemen of color 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:04.880 in the government and their right to education. In late September, 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:09.000 Julienne Ramon joined the Cologne as they fought to get 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.160 seats in the French National Assembly. They also pressured the 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:16.640 Colonists to grant wealthy freemen of color voting rights. They 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:19.320 had the support of the Societe des Amis de Nois, 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.800 or the Society of the Friends of Blacks, a group 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:27.560 of mostly white abolitionists. To be clear, their vision of 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.640 racial equality was not one as simple as black people 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.760 should be equal to white people. It was beholden to 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:39.080 maintaining the privileges of class and sex. Both Raymon and 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.920 o j enslaved people, and they argued that making wealthy 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:46.720 freemen of color political equals to white people would strengthen 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.600 the system of slavery and solidified their loyalty to France. 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.479 O J envisioned himself as a member of the colonial 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:59.040 elite and was pretty self aggrandizing. He even began to 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:03.760 pose as a O'Neal militia officer. Oh J was petitioning 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.360 for the rights of free people of color who lived 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:10.079 in saw Do Moan, but back on the island, political 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.600 unrest and protest among free people of color was growing. 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:29.720 Let's pause here for a quick break. My sister is 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:34.160 notoriously bad at dining out. She doesn't get what she 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:38.160 hasn't had before. And if I can manage talking her 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.840 into getting something she's never had before, or trying something 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.120 of mine that she would never order herself, she goes 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:49.320 into the experience with the most apprehension. I want her 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.400 to live her best life, but this is nearly impossible 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:54.960 when she's so afraid to try foods that she's not 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.800 familiar with. She told me that she'd rather just stick 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.640 with what she knows will be a satisfying mill then 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:06.319 potentially be disappointed. And I get that justification, though I 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:10.120 could never but so many people have status quo bias 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:14.120 in one decision or the next for different reasons. Just 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.080 as it sounds a person has a status quo bias 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.040 when they prefer things to stay the same by doing 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:23.080 nothing or by doing the same thing they've always done. 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.360 There's a little to no risk involved in keeping things 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.080 the same. You pretty much know what you're in for. 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.240 When you choose to make a change, there's a potential 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:36.240 for something really really great to happen or for everything 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:40.120 to go downhill. A person may have this bias just 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:46.160 because they're familiar with something or someone that's comforting, that's safe, 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:49.520 or a person could be operating out of loss aversion 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.760 which makes them choose not losing over potentially gaining a lot. 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.840 Those status quo bias happens in people from all walks 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.600 of life. It operates differently in different people and different 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.480 segments of society. Often it can come down to holding 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:09.520 onto what you have being entirely more important than risking 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:17.000 what you have with the hope of satisfaction. That's especially 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.439 true when your disadvantage or had to fight hard for 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:24.559 what you already have, or changing the status quo can 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.920 be a perceived loss or anticipate a personal loss. When 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.760 you're in some position of privilege or power, the potential 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:35.520 for losing that privilege or power is completely unappealing, even 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:38.480 when that potential is imagined or would result in a 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.319 benefit for society at large. Think of men who claim 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:46.000 they are the most persecuted or disadvantaged group because of 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.840 the gains women have made in rights and equality over 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.439 the years. Wanting to stick to the status quo can 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:56.160 be rationalized in many ways. In Oga's case, he was 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.880 willing to uphold the status quo of slavery while simultaneously 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.400 rejecting the status quo that denied free people of color 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:08.079 equal rights and citizens status. We are not them, he said, 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.880 and that is not okay. Oh J already had a 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.880 better lot in life than enslaved black people, and he 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:22.520 wished to maintain that separation. Being considered property is undoubtedly 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.520 a more oppressive in cruel life than the one oh 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:29.679 J was living. O Ja's classism and eagerness to distinguish 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.440 his lot from that of enslaved people of African descent 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.959 were baseless functions of the colonialists in white supremacist systems 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:41.720 that created and maintained his status. Still, his bias was 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.880 a problematic strategy of survival. At the same time he 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:50.720 deemed other black people property, he was still marginalized, still 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:55.400 less than a citizen, and yet he fought against racism. 0:12:55.440 --> 0:13:00.520 The dissonance is real. There was the and to keep 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.240 his head in the sand, as did many free people 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.520 of color, for a survival or for whatever other reason. 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.440 O Jay's vision of equality was limited, and there was 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:12.720 a thin line between what could be viewed as his 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:17.160 desire for assimilation and his desire for freemen of color 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:21.120 to advance in society at the expense of enslaved people. 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:24.880 He did rebel and fight for change, but he was 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:30.640 attempting to navigate a maze of complicated conditions. The bias, privilege, 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:36.880 self importance, societally induced desperation, discrimination, racism, and mistreatment that 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:40.360 all combined to form the cocktail that catalyzed his action. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:46.520 Means that his story is nowhere near black and white. 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.080 When we left off in Oja story, the Cologne of 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.160 Mary Kaine had partitioned for representation in the National Assembly 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.600 and for the acknowledgement of their civil and political rights. 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.920 Degrading prejudices and fall politics had made free people of 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.160 color be treated like slaves and Saint de Mont they said. 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.280 That's despite the fact that on August seventeen, eighty nine, 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.120 the National Assembly had approved the Declaration of the Rights 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.640 of Man and the Citizen, which said that quote men 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:21.320 are born and remain free and equal in rights. But 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.560 in reality, the enslavement of black people continued in the 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.080 French Caribbean colonies and people of color did not get 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.000 the benefits of citizenships. The Cologne believed that the declarations 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.760 should apply to free people of color in the colonies too. 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.960 They even invoked the Code Noir, a decree passed by 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.720 Francis King Louis the fourteenth and sixteen eighty five that 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:48.640 in part granted freed slaves the same rights as free 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:52.800 born people. But in December of seventeen eighty nine, the 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:56.720 French National Assembly rejected their petition, and in March of 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.880 seventeen ninety the French colonies were granted the rights of 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:04.920 form colonial assemblies and the colony was given nearly complete autonomy. 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:11.240 On March, deputies approved voting instructions for the colonies, allowing 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:14.200 every one age five or older who owned land or 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.320 those who lived in a parish for two years and 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:20.800 pay taxes to gather to form provincial assemblies. But the 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.000 issue of whether free people of color could be involved 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:29.440 in electoral procedures was left vague. This intentional ambiguity would 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:45.120 pose a problem in Sandmint. We'll be back after this break. 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:50.880 In seventeen nine, political and social tensions were increasing in Sandman. 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.720 It drought hit the colony and enslaved people were escaping 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:58.680 from their plantations at higher rates. White people were becoming 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.440 increasingly violent towards free people of color and white sympathizers, 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:05.800 and as white people began to gather in parish assemblies, 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:09.720 they would lock out free people of color. Free people 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.680 of color began petitioning their parish assemblies for their political 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:18.520 rights and to eliminate discrimination. By early seventeen ninety, the 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.720 issues of independence, rights for free people of color, and 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.920 slavery were causing a bunch of turmoil and Saint Domin. 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.120 Having met no success in his appeals for rights in France, 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:32.560 o J headed back to Saint Doman, still determined to 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:37.200 win citizenship for free people of color. He arrived in 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:41.800 the colony on October seventeenth, seventeen ninety. After traveling from 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:46.040 Paris to London to Charlestown, o J minimized the extent 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.560 of his involvement in the revolt that began within days 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.640 of him getting back, But just as soon as he returned, 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:55.160 he went to the Garden Riviere to meet up with 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.880 the Jean Baptiste Chavane, a free veteran of color who 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.080 fought for equal rights based on his and others records 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:06.840 of malicious service. In late October, cheven and o j 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:11.080 wrote to the governor and provincial Assembly demanding the enforcement 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:14.480 of the voting regulations that have been passed down from Paris. 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:19.240 Oje's letter to the Provincial Assembly of Cap Francie set 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:25.480 the following, Gentlemen, a prejudice too long maintained is about 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.960 to fall. I am charged with a commission, doubtless very 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:33.000 honorable to myself. I require you to promulgate throughout the 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:36.200 colony the instructions of the National Assembly of the eighth 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:40.720 of March, which gives, without distinction to all free citizens 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:44.720 the right of admission to all offices and functions. My 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.120 pretensions are just, and I hope you will pay due 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:52.000 regard to them. I shall not call the plantations to rise. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.679 That means would be unworthy of me. Learn to appreciate 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.240 the merit of a man whose intention is pure. When 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.080 I solicited from the National Assembly a decree which I 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:07.160 obtained in favor of the American colonists, formerly known under 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:11.080 the injurious epithet of men of mixed blood. I did 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:14.040 not include in my claims the condition of the negroes 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:18.919 who live in servitude. You and our adversaries have misrepresented 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:21.919 my steps in order to bring me into discredit with 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:26.240 honorable men. No, no, gentlemen, we have put forth a 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:30.240 claim only on behalf of a class of freemen who, 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.679 for two centuries have been under the yoke of oppression. 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.520 We require the execution of the decree of the eighth 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:41.400 of March. We insist on its promulgation, and we shall 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.360 not cease to repeat to our friends that our adversaries 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.560 are unjust, and that they know not how to make 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:52.320 their interests compatible with ours. Before employing my means, make 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:56.679 use of mildness. But if contrary to my expectation, you 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.560 do not satisfy my demand, I am not cerebral for 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.720 the disorder into which my just vengeance may carry me. 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.760 O j and Chavan mobilized a group of free militiamen 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.200 of color who went through the parish, disarming white planters. 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.480 Cap Francie sent forces to attack the group, and on 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:22.080 October j Chavan and their group of men held their 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:26.120 ground in Grand Riviere against the larger group of colonial forces. 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.000 Before a second colonial force could make it there, O 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:35.600 Jay's group had scattered. They had headed into the mountains, 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:39.520 moving toward the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, now the 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:44.200 Dominican Republic. They made it into Spanish territory on November six, 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:47.040 but after a week all of the men had been 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.960 arrested or turned themselves in, possibly with the hopes of 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:56.080 being granted asylum. Instead, authorities sent them back to Cap Francai. 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:01.520 Oj and Chavan were interrogated in secret. O Jay claimed 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.679 that his actions were only ever political and that he 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.520 did not leave any of the violence. Still, Oje was 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:12.040 neither sent to France for trial nor judged publicly. In 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:17.080 Saint de Moon, he and Chavan were tortured and executed 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:21.840 in public, their heads put on pikes. The execution was 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:26.920 a brutal display of intimidation, as colonial authorities were worried 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.720 that the rebels who were still at large might be 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:35.040 planning a revolt. But the end of o j story 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.359 was not the end of rebellion in sad Monk the 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:42.159 barbarity of the execution helped turrn ties in favor of 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.760 free people of color. In May of seventeen ninety one, 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.960 the French National Assembly granted some freeborn people of color 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.760 the rights of voting citizens and eligibility to be seated 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:58.520 in future assemblies. Enslaved people whom o j and many 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:01.639 other free people of color used to associate themselves with, 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.440 soon took up arms in their own fight for emancipation. 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.200 When the revolution broke out against French colonial rule and 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.760 Saint de Monk, people of color were split in their support. 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:17.080 Some resisted with enslaved people, some took the side of 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:24.800 the white colonists, and some tried to remain neutral. But 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:28.440 in seventeen ninety three slavery was abolished in the north 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:31.560 of Saint de Monk, and the next year slavery was 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:36.080 abolished in France and all of its colonies. The revolution 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:40.640 ended in eighteen o four, with Haiti declaring independence from France. 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:45.280 O Jay's fight had nothing to do with freeing enslaved 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:49.480 people in Saint Domin. He was not a revolutionary, but 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:53.480 his death and rebellion lit a match beneath a flammable 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:57.920 web of conflict among white planters, poor white people, French 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:02.919 colonial authorities, free full of color landowners, and enslaved people. 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:06.879 One person's freedom and equality are linked to that of 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:11.840 the next. O Jay's rebellion, execution, and the subsequent flabor 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:17.280 bolts and revolution form a very real, very violent, very 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:20.280 complex allegory for the idea that none of us are 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:25.520 free until all of us are free. It is probably 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:29.160 not worthwhile to view Vincent oh Ja as a saint 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:32.840 of revolution, or even as a liberator for the people. 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:36.760 O J did use his wealth and status to uplift 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:40.600 others and sacrifice his life to win a representation and 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:43.840 rights for a small portion of the population of black 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:48.840 people and san domnt wealthy freeman of color. His activism 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:52.359 was instrumental in helping to encourage the spirit of revolution 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:55.879 in the colony, but he was not a model rebel 0:22:56.119 --> 0:23:00.520 with a flawless vision of liberation. Maybe it's better to 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:05.000 view o J's story and resistance as an editable template 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:09.960 for using our specific personal talents, advantages, and powers to 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:13.880 protest the things we are compelled to change, even when 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:16.720 our plans are not as grand as flipping the whole 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:24.320 world upside down. Our producer Is, Andrew Howard, Holly Fry, 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:28.240 and Christopher Hasiotis are our executive producers, and you can 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:31.440 subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:35.320 Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:37.919 back next week with another episode of Unpopular