This chapter proposes Haitian song and opera as untapped sources for literary analysis and important forerunners in the development of Haitian literature. It demonstrates how the early writers of Haiti used music to challenge the country’s foreign detractors and showcase its artistic achievement, preserving regional vernaculars, offering social commentary, and eloquently heightening the irony of Haiti’s freedom in a world of ‘enlightened’ enslavers. It looks at the contributions of Juste Chanlatte (1766–1828), a prominent Haitian statesman and writer whose many songs and two operas left an indelible mark on early Haitian music and letters. Next, it expounds on the popularity and political expediency of a particular musical-literary genre: the contrafactum. Created by setting original Haitian lyrics to preexisting French melodies, the genre enjoyed a remarkable efflorescence in early Haiti with over one hundred examples published from 1804 to 1820. Through analyses of two musical works by Chanlatte, the chapter shows how early Haitians gave topical relevance to the music of their former French oppressors and literary expression to the ambitions of their nation.

On 1 January 1804, General Jean Jacques Dessalines officially declared the independence of Haiti. The decades that followed were critical for the new country’s development and were a period of dynamic change as well as colonial continuities. The struggles and debates of the early decades illustrate the contentious post-colonial process of building a black nation-state in a world dominated by racialized slavery. Jean Jacques Dessalines, the first head of state, and subsequent leaders embarked on a political, economic, and social experiment in the Americas: to establish the first black state and fulfill the radical Age of Revolution promises of freedom and equality. This chapter examines how Haitians sought to interpret their revolution’s ideals, in particular the meaning of liberty, and the competing definitions that shaped the country’s political, social, cultural, and economic development. The chapter begins in 1804 and follows the development of the Haitian nation-state until the Revolution of 1843. Across these four decades, we see how various groups in the new country sought to define its economic and political direction as well as create a new culture. Integral to this work were questions of landownership, the organization of labor, and systems of government.

This chapter turns to the black New York actor Ira Aldridge, who began building his transatlantic fame in 1825 with London performances in the popular play The Death of Christophe, King of Hayti. These performances helped construct complicated but popular notions of Haitian sovereignty and black celebrity. London’s illegitimate theatre remade figures of black power in its own image, undercutting Haiti’s legitimacy while using popular conceptions of Haiti to launch the first African American tragedian to international fame.