Dutty Boukman

Background In about 1767, Dutty Boukman was born in the region of Senegambia (present-day Senegal and Gambia), where he was a Muslim cleric. He was captured in Senegambia, and forced into slavery in the Caribbean, first to the island of Jamaica, then Saint-Domingue, modern-day Haiti, where he became a Haitian Vodou houngan priest. He was known to some of his followers as "Zamba" Boukman. The name Dutty likely refers to the plantation where Boukman was enslaved, Dutih. Laurent Dubois argues that Boukman may have practiced a syncretic blend of traditional African religion and a form of Abrahamic religion.

Ceremony at the Bois Caïman Contemporaneous accounts place the ceremony at Bois Caïman on or about 14 August 1791 at the Choiseul plantation.

According to the Encyclopedia of African Religion, "Blood from the animal was given in a drink to the attendees to seal their fates in loyalty to the cause of liberation of Saint-Domingue." By drinking the blood, the attendees were making an oath that if broken would kill them. Scholars have linked this ceremony to traditional West African rituals, that enslaved people adapted for their cause. Boukman was not the first to attempt a slave uprising in Saint-Domingue, as he was preceded by others, such as Padrejean in 1676, and François Mackandal in 1757. However, his large size, warrior-like appearance, and fearsome temper made him an effective leader and helped spark the Haitian Revolution.

A second meeting, with similar intentions to the ceremony, occurred on the same night at Morne Rouge. This gathering of around two hundred enslaved people, mostly those with privileged assignments, was attended by both Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Dutty Boukman. During the meeting, a date was selected for the slave uprising along with other specifics. This information was disseminated among the plantations of the enslaved drivers and coachmen that attended.

The next night, Boukman led his group of rebels north to recruit more enslaved people from plantation and estates like Molines, Laplaigne, Sacanville, and Pillat. Upon hearing the news of his death, slave leaders and rebels mourned his loss and held services to honor him. Some of the rebels demanded the execution of all white prisoners as retribution, but another formerly enslaved leader, Jean François, took control and prevented this.

Legacy and references in popular culture The band Boukman Eksperyans was named after him. A fictionalized version of Boukman appears as the title character in American writer Guy Endore's novel Babouk, an anti-capitalist parable about the Haitian Revolution. He is mentioned in Victor Hugo's novel Bug-Jargal. Haitians honored Boukman by admitting him into the pantheon of loa (guiding spirits). The Boukman ("Bouckmann") uprising is retold in the Lance Horner book The Black Sun. "The Bookman" is one of several devil masquerade characters still performed in Trinidad Carnival. Haitian community activist Sanba Boukman, assassinated on 9 March 2012, took his name from Boukman. In the 2014 film Top Five, the main character, André Allen (played by Chris Rock), is in the midst of a promotional tour for a Boukman biopic called Uprize. In the Edwidge Danticat short story A Wall of Fire Rising, the character of Little Guy is cast as Boukman in his school play. KRS-One cites Boukman on his track, "Black, Black, Black"