Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall on her book Slave Revolt on Screen

Listen to Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall discuss her latest book Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games. The Haitian Revolution (1791 - 1804) was one of the most important events of modern world history. Taking place in what was then a French colony called Saint-Domingue, the Revolution was the first successful uprising of enslaved Africans in the New World. The Revolution sent shockwaves throughout the Atlantic world, terrifying enslavers while stirring hope among enslaved people. Despite its importance, the Haitian Revolution rarely appears on film; however, an increasing number of video games have featured stories about slave resistance in Haiti. Why has this topic seemed so radioactive to Hollywood executives, but attractive to certain game studios? What films and games on the Revolution exist, and how do they portray this key episode in Black history? And why should historians pay attention to games on topics like the Haitian Revolution, as sites of memory? These questions, and more, will be addressed.

[@maroonrebel]

RastafarI love. Thank you Dr.Sepinwall for an illuminating presentation about a topic close to my heart. I want to know as much as possible about the Haitian Revolution on screen and other platforms. First, I graduated from UC Berkeley in 1993 and me and some other students came to the Stanford campus with a group of the refugees who fled Ayiti after JBA was ousted in 1991. I don’t think that I met Dr. Sepinwall at that meeting. Second, I’m surprised that the Script writer for the Toussaint Louverture’s mini series, used the word “plantation” instead of “Habitation”? And, Dr. Sepinwall used the term “New World” in reference to the European colonial presence in the Western Hemisphere since 1492. I wish that we could discuss other ways to name that event. Thirdly, was literacy not allowed for enslaved blacks in French and Spanish colonies? I know that enslaved blacks could not learn to read and write in the English colony- USA. Lastly, are the video games that you showed designed by Haitians who are working with the Assassins Creed franchise? Blessed love.#1804 #Ayiti Blessed love.