Sanité Bélair
Suzanne Bélair, called Sanite Bélair, (1781 – 5 October 1802),[1] was a Haitian revolutionary and lieutenant in the army of Toussaint Louverture.
Born an affranchi in Verrettes, Haiti, she married Brigade commander and later General Charles Bélair in 1796. She was an active participant in the Haitian Revolution, became a sergeant and later a lieutenant during the conflict with French troops of the Saint-Domingue expedition.
Capture and execution
Chased by Faustin Répussard's column of the French army, the Belairs took refuge in the Artibonite department. Répussard launched a surprise attack on Corail-Mirrault, and captured Sanité Bélair.[2] Her husband turned himself over as well to avoid being separated from her. Both were sentenced to death, her spouse was to be executed by firing squad and she by decapitation because of her sex. As she watched Bélair's execution, she calmly asked him to die bravely, then went to her own execution, refusing to wear a blindfold.[1] It is said that at her capture, when threatened with beheading, she successfully asserted the right to an honorable soldier’s death by musketry, and standing before their muzzles cried “Viv libète! A ba esclavaj!” (“Long live freedom! Down with slavery!”)
Legacy
Sanite Bélair is considered as one of the heroes of the Haitian Revolution. In 2004, she was featured on the ten-gourd banknote of the Haitian gourde for the "Bicentennial of Haiti" Commemorative series.
References
- ^ a b James, Cyril Lionel Robert (1963). The Black Jacobins; Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution (2d ed., rev ed.). New York: Vintage Books. p. 252. ISBN 0394702425. OCLC 362702.
- ^ Madiou, Thomas (1803). Histoire d'Haïti: 1799-1803. Editions H. Deschamps. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
Further reading
- Jomini, Antoine-Henri. (1842). Histoire critique et militaire des guerres de la Révolution. Brussels.
External links
- Mémoire de Femmes: Sannite Belair - (in French)
Image
- Charles And Sanite Belair - Painting by British artist, Kimathi Donkor[1], (2002).
- v
- t
- e
- Slavery in Haiti
- French Revolution
- François Mackandal
- Vincent Ogé
- Bois Caïman
- Croix-des-Bouquets
- Morne Pelé
- 1st Tannerie
- 1st Port-au-Prince
- Cap-Français
- Marmelade
- Fort-Dauphin
- 1st Tiburon
- Acul
- La Bombarde
- 2nd Tiburon
- Les Gonaïves
- Port-Républicain
- 1st Dondon
- 2nd Tannerie
- Saint-Marc
- Léogane
- Saint-Raphaël
- Trutier
- 3rd Tiburon
- 1st Verrettes
- Grande-Rivière
- Las Cahobas
- Mirebalais
- 2nd Verrettes
- Petite-Rivière
- 2nd Dondon
- 1st Irois
- Jean-Rabel
- 2nd Irois
- Jacmel
- War of Knives
- Saint-Domingue expedition
- Ravine-à-Couleuvres
- Kellola
- Plaisance
- Crête-à-Pierrot
- 2nd Port-au-Prince
- Blockade of Saint-Domingue
- Môle-Saint-Nicolas
- Vertières
- Armistice of March 30, 1798
- Law of 20 May 1802
- Haitian Declaration of Independence
- 1804 Haitian massacre