On the Road to Citizenship: The Complex Route to Integration of the Free People of Color in the Two Capitals of Saint-Domingue

In January 1804, the once wealthy colony of Saint-Domingue declared its independence from France and adopted the Amerindian name "Haiti." Independence was the outcome of the extraordinary uprising of the colony's slaves. Although a central event in the history of the French in the New World, the full significance of the revolution has yet to be realized. This book chapter studies the challenges of the integration of the free people of color in the two capitals of Saint-Domingue. Several studies  underline the special position of these free people of color. The evidence that this chapter supplies of the social integration of free people of color, notwithstanding colonial racism, has larger implicacions. One is that the growing significance of the free people of color sparked racializing resistance from self-described "American patriots."