By becoming independent on January 1, 1804, at the cost of a long and bloody war, Haiti became the symbol of the first successful slave revolt in the modern world.
Among the revolutionaries, Toussaint Louverture and Jean Jacques Dessalines are often cited. But very few recognize the role of a woman who actively contributed to the Haitian revolution: Sanite Bélair.
Young emancipated native of Verrettes, wife of Charles Bélair, but above all lieutenant of Toussaint Louverture, she participated alongside her husband in the 1802 battles against the Napoleonic expedition led by General Leclerc who came to restore slavery in the colony of Santo Domingo.
Captured by the enemy, her husband Charles surrendered to join her. Both condemned to death, Charles was shot while Sanité was to be beheaded. But after having fiercely opposed this death unworthy of a soldier according to her, she finally suffered the same fate as her husband.
Courage and Dignity are the qualities of Sanite.
MCBRIGHTPIX 