Haiti was a source of inspirations for slaves and African American freemen-women prior to the Civil War. It still is for many

Beall-Dawson house museum, Rockville Maryland

I found it interesting that the surrounding community around the Beall-Dawson house, which was a slave plantation prior to the Civil War, was inhabited by slaves and free African-Americans and they called the community “Haiti.” At the time, Haiti was practically taboo for the establishment in the U.S. because of the example it represented. The Haitian revolution led by General Toussaint Louverture (who was born into slavery and then became a freeman who fought with France and then led the rebellion against it) was perhaps the only slave uprising in history in which the slaves took power and retained it. This was an awful example for the U.S. southern slaveholders who northern political leaders didn’t want to defy. Haiti at first was not even recognized by the U.S. even though their recent revolution of independence paralleled ours of 1776. Nevertheless, for African Americans, Haiti was a source of pride and inspiration as it is for many to this day.