Celebrating the Battle of Vertières: The Universal Dimension of Haitian Culture, History & Politics of Memory

The CUNY Haitian Studies Institute, the newest CUNY-wide research unit housed at Brooklyn College, is organizing the very first Haitian art exhibit on campus entitled “The Universal Dimension of Haitian Culture: History and Politics of Memory” at the Brooklyn College Library.

The exhibit will present the work of nine Haitian artists who will be present at the opening. They are women and men of different age groups, with different, unique styles, but all representing the essence of their homeland: Haiti.

Following the exhibit, Professor Pierre Buteau, a well-known Haitian historian, flying from Haiti, will give a lecture on “The National and International Dimensions of the Haitian Revolution”. It will celebrate the Battle of Vertières which occurred on November 18, 1803. It was the decisive battle in which the Indigenous Army of Saint Domingue defeated Napoleon’s French army which had been sent to the island to re-establish slavery. This victory led Haiti to become the first black nation to win its independence by force against colonizers. News of this victory consequently rippled across the western hemisphere and influenced the struggle for the liberation of slaves in many colonies and plantations.