July 30, 2019 • 23 mins
Vincent Ogé was a free man of color in Saint-Domingue, or modern-day Haiti, in the mid- to late-18th century. He petitioned for the rights of wealthy free men of color – a class distinct from free Black slaves – but he upheld the institution of slavery. Ogé was not a revolutionary, and it’s hard to know the degree to which self-preservation, internalized racism and white supremacy, classism, ego, and compassion informed his decisions, separately. But his activism and sensationalized execution set the stage for the extension of rights to free men of color and heralded the uprising of enslaved people in Saint-Domingue.
His resistance isn’t a model to follow to a T. It was exclusionary and executed at the expense of more marginalized and mistreated people, under the specific circumstances of that time. What Ogé did do was challenge racist colonial practices and advocate for the civil rights of an exclusive group of people of color. The question is, how can we put our specific privileges and powers to work in a meaningful way?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
How often have you heard a guy start a sentence
with I have a daughter when commenting on some societal
issues specific to girls and women. Empathy is easy when
an issue gets so close to you, when the privilege
of not having had to deal with a problem is
lost and the problem pops your personal bubble. I'm Eve
(00:27):
Jeff Cooke and this is Unpopular a podcast about people
in history who didn't let the threat of persecution keep
them from speaking truth to power. Vincen o Ja Jean
or Vincent o j the Younger was born in Dondon
Parish in San Domains, North Province sometime around seventeen fifty.
(00:53):
Sandman was a French colony on the island of Hispaniola
from the mid seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century.
O Ja's father was a white man named Jacques o
j and his mother was a Mulatta named Angelique o s.
Mulatta was the word used to describe a girl or
woman who was of mixed race with one black parent
(01:15):
and one white parent. Vinson was named after his paternal uncle,
a merchant in the port city of Cape Francaie. French
people who colonized the island became planters, and brought in
hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans. The mixed race children
of the white planters and the enslaved women were freed
(01:37):
and set up as property owners, and a mixed race
class of property owners formed equal in wealth to white
folks into the seventeen sixties. The richest free planters of
color were basically treated like members of the colonial ruling class,
but the petit blanc, the white people who were merchants, artisans,
(02:00):
and the like, were less powerful and wealthy than the
white planters, and they were especially anti black and anti
free people of color and supportive of slavery. As free
people of color became a threat to colonists access to
land in capital, and their loyalty was questioned, race was
(02:20):
further weaponized and colonial authorities began enacting legislation that discriminated
against people of color. People of color were assigned racial
descriptions like mulattro libra or care to own libra, and
white people were given titles lexia and demoiselle, while free
people of colors were disparagingly called lenon, a term that
(02:41):
basically meant the so called By the seventeen seventies, colonists
had even began labeling freeborn people of color as affranci,
a pejorative that meant freedman or ex slave. Though the
affranci could own land and had some advantages over enslaved people,
they could not hold administrative positions or work as doctors
(03:04):
or lawyers. Still, they chose to align themselves with the
French over enslaved people in the colony and the hopes
of being accepted by the white colonists. They often upheld
the institution of slavery, as did O J, a choice
that complicates O J's and other wealthy people of color's
history of resistance to the restriction of black people's rights.
(03:26):
In effect, the human rights of free people of color
took precedent over those of enslaved black people and poor
white people. Free people of color had property and were taxpayers,
and so the issue of abolition of slavery took a
back seat to the issue of racism for many free
people of color. More radical revolutionaries, though, did press for
(03:48):
abolition anyway. By the seventeen eighties, there were far more
enslaved people than French colonists in sandolog and there were
as many free people of color as there were white people.
Don't Don't where o Jay was born acknowledged Sano Monk's
post seventeen seventy racial laws and authorities did attempt to
(04:09):
separate white people and free people of color through practices
like distancing people of color from their French family names. Still,
white people and people of color remained connected to a degree.
Don't Don't located in the mountains as well as the
surrounding areas like the nearby port city of Cape, France,
saw a lot of military preparations and personnel when o
(04:31):
Ja was growing up, Though local enslaved and freemen of
color were enrolled in military units, it is not clear
whether o j had military or militia experience in its
youth and young adulthood. Dumb Done was also the first
place in sand Monk where coffee was planted, and Oja's
family took advantage of a coffee boom in the area.
(04:54):
Ojay's family's wealth was linked to the coffee estate, but
his personal wealth was built after he spent time in Bordeaux,
France as an apprentice to a goldsmith. Returning to San
domin around seventeen seventy four or seventeen seventy five. He
brokered houses and apartments and capt Francie to wealthy white people.
(05:15):
He conducted business with merchants and saw Domint's major ports,
and he assumed the practices of the colonists by employing
a free Mulatta woman as a housekeeper, a job that
usually included sexual duties and purchasing enslaved Africans. Side note,
many free people of color and San Domant were slave owners.
(05:39):
In a seventeen eighty nine letter, o J said he
was worth more than three hundred and fifty thousand livres,
the currency of France. O J was one of the
wealthiest freemen of color in San Domont, and he was
of a high status within the colonies class of free
planters of color. His wealth did put him in closer
proximity to whiteness, as notaries did not identify him as
(06:02):
a man of color or require him to show his
freedom papers. Generally, wealthy families of color remained politically conservative
and under the radar. When the French Revolution broke out
in seventeen eighty nine, the loss of privilege afforded to
them by the colonial establishment was a high stake. Julian
(06:25):
Raymon a free man of color and wealthy indigo planter
and Saint Domin did move to France in the mid
seventeen eighties and challenged the French government to pass racial
reforms for wealthy freemen of color in Saint Domin, but
Ramon was an anomaly, and so has been. Saint o j.
O J left Saint Domint for France at the end
(06:47):
of seventeen eighty eight in the hopes of increasing his
assets after having to figure out a way to repay
a debt he had. Only some of his experiences in
France in the beginning of seventeen eighty nine are recorded.
It's known that he visited his sisters in Bordeaux and
that he partitioned the naval ministry in March to give
(07:08):
him more time to repay his creditors. But by September
of that year, after the start of the French Revolution,
oh J had joined a group that called itself Cologne
a Mary Kaye a k A. American Colonists. The group
published a pamphlet that called for the doing a way
of legal separations between white people and citizens of color
(07:31):
in the French colonies. The Cologne also published a Calle
do d'Or lance or List of Demands addressed to the
National Assembly. O Ja helped write both of these texts.
One of the reforms demanded in the list was for
people of color and white people to be treated equally,
so that quote the Creoles constitute a single group and
(07:53):
that they be regarded as a population of brothers. The
text also called for the representation of freemen of color
in the government and their right to education. In late September,
Julienne Ramon joined the Cologne as they fought to get
seats in the French National Assembly. They also pressured the
Colonists to grant wealthy freemen of color voting rights. They
(08:16):
had the support of the Societe des Amis de Nois,
or the Society of the Friends of Blacks, a group
of mostly white abolitionists. To be clear, their vision of
racial equality was not one as simple as black people
should be equal to white people. It was beholden to
maintaining the privileges of class and sex. Both Raymon and
(08:39):
o j enslaved people, and they argued that making wealthy
freemen of color political equals to white people would strengthen
the system of slavery and solidified their loyalty to France.
O J envisioned himself as a member of the colonial
elite and was pretty self aggrandizing. He even began to
pose as a O'Neal militia officer. Oh J was petitioning
(09:03):
for the rights of free people of color who lived
in saw Do Moan, but back on the island, political
unrest and protest among free people of color was growing.
Let's pause here for a quick break. My sister is
(09:29):
notoriously bad at dining out. She doesn't get what she
hasn't had before. And if I can manage talking her
into getting something she's never had before, or trying something
of mine that she would never order herself, she goes
into the experience with the most apprehension. I want her
to live her best life, but this is nearly impossible
(09:52):
when she's so afraid to try foods that she's not
familiar with. She told me that she'd rather just stick
with what she knows will be a satisfying mill then
potentially be disappointed. And I get that justification, though I
could never but so many people have status quo bias
in one decision or the next for different reasons. Just
(10:14):
as it sounds a person has a status quo bias
when they prefer things to stay the same by doing
nothing or by doing the same thing they've always done.
There's a little to no risk involved in keeping things
the same. You pretty much know what you're in for.
When you choose to make a change, there's a potential
for something really really great to happen or for everything
(10:36):
to go downhill. A person may have this bias just
because they're familiar with something or someone that's comforting, that's safe,
or a person could be operating out of loss aversion
which makes them choose not losing over potentially gaining a lot.
Those status quo bias happens in people from all walks
(10:57):
of life. It operates differently in different people and different
segments of society. Often it can come down to holding
onto what you have being entirely more important than risking
what you have with the hope of satisfaction. That's especially
true when your disadvantage or had to fight hard for
(11:20):
what you already have, or changing the status quo can
be a perceived loss or anticipate a personal loss. When
you're in some position of privilege or power, the potential
for losing that privilege or power is completely unappealing, even
when that potential is imagined or would result in a
benefit for society at large. Think of men who claim
(11:42):
they are the most persecuted or disadvantaged group because of
the gains women have made in rights and equality over
the years. Wanting to stick to the status quo can
be rationalized in many ways. In Oga's case, he was
willing to uphold the status quo of slavery while simultaneously
rejecting the status quo that denied free people of color
(12:03):
equal rights and citizens status. We are not them, he said,
and that is not okay. Oh J already had a
better lot in life than enslaved black people, and he
wished to maintain that separation. Being considered property is undoubtedly
a more oppressive in cruel life than the one oh
(12:25):
J was living. O Ja's classism and eagerness to distinguish
his lot from that of enslaved people of African descent
were baseless functions of the colonialists in white supremacist systems
that created and maintained his status. Still, his bias was
a problematic strategy of survival. At the same time he
(12:46):
deemed other black people property, he was still marginalized, still
less than a citizen, and yet he fought against racism.
The dissonance is real. There was the and to keep
his head in the sand, as did many free people
of color, for a survival or for whatever other reason.
(13:07):
O Jay's vision of equality was limited, and there was
a thin line between what could be viewed as his
desire for assimilation and his desire for freemen of color
to advance in society at the expense of enslaved people.
He did rebel and fight for change, but he was
attempting to navigate a maze of complicated conditions. The bias, privilege,
(13:30):
self importance, societally induced desperation, discrimination, racism, and mistreatment that
all combined to form the cocktail that catalyzed his action.
Means that his story is nowhere near black and white.
When we left off in Oja story, the Cologne of
Mary Kaine had partitioned for representation in the National Assembly
(13:54):
and for the acknowledgement of their civil and political rights.
Degrading prejudices and fall politics had made free people of
color be treated like slaves and Saint de Mont they said.
That's despite the fact that on August seventeen, eighty nine,
the National Assembly had approved the Declaration of the Rights
of Man and the Citizen, which said that quote men
(14:17):
are born and remain free and equal in rights. But
in reality, the enslavement of black people continued in the
French Caribbean colonies and people of color did not get
the benefits of citizenships. The Cologne believed that the declarations
should apply to free people of color in the colonies too.
(14:37):
They even invoked the Code Noir, a decree passed by
Francis King Louis the fourteenth and sixteen eighty five that
in part granted freed slaves the same rights as free
born people. But in December of seventeen eighty nine, the
French National Assembly rejected their petition, and in March of
seventeen ninety the French colonies were granted the rights of
(15:00):
form colonial assemblies and the colony was given nearly complete autonomy.
On March, deputies approved voting instructions for the colonies, allowing
every one age five or older who owned land or
those who lived in a parish for two years and
pay taxes to gather to form provincial assemblies. But the
(15:20):
issue of whether free people of color could be involved
in electoral procedures was left vague. This intentional ambiguity would
pose a problem in Sandmint. We'll be back after this break.
(15:46):
In seventeen nine, political and social tensions were increasing in Sandman.
It drought hit the colony and enslaved people were escaping
from their plantations at higher rates. White people were becoming
increasingly violent towards free people of color and white sympathizers,
and as white people began to gather in parish assemblies,
(16:06):
they would lock out free people of color. Free people
of color began petitioning their parish assemblies for their political
rights and to eliminate discrimination. By early seventeen ninety, the
issues of independence, rights for free people of color, and
slavery were causing a bunch of turmoil and Saint Domin.
(16:26):
Having met no success in his appeals for rights in France,
o J headed back to Saint Doman, still determined to
win citizenship for free people of color. He arrived in
the colony on October seventeenth, seventeen ninety. After traveling from
Paris to London to Charlestown, o J minimized the extent
of his involvement in the revolt that began within days
(16:49):
of him getting back, But just as soon as he returned,
he went to the Garden Riviere to meet up with
the Jean Baptiste Chavane, a free veteran of color who
fought for equal rights based on his and others records
of malicious service. In late October, cheven and o j
wrote to the governor and provincial Assembly demanding the enforcement
(17:11):
of the voting regulations that have been passed down from Paris.
Oje's letter to the Provincial Assembly of Cap Francie set
the following, Gentlemen, a prejudice too long maintained is about
to fall. I am charged with a commission, doubtless very
honorable to myself. I require you to promulgate throughout the
(17:33):
colony the instructions of the National Assembly of the eighth
of March, which gives, without distinction to all free citizens
the right of admission to all offices and functions. My
pretensions are just, and I hope you will pay due
regard to them. I shall not call the plantations to rise.
That means would be unworthy of me. Learn to appreciate
(17:56):
the merit of a man whose intention is pure. When
I solicited from the National Assembly a decree which I
obtained in favor of the American colonists, formerly known under
the injurious epithet of men of mixed blood. I did
not include in my claims the condition of the negroes
who live in servitude. You and our adversaries have misrepresented
(18:19):
my steps in order to bring me into discredit with
honorable men. No, no, gentlemen, we have put forth a
claim only on behalf of a class of freemen who,
for two centuries have been under the yoke of oppression.
We require the execution of the decree of the eighth
of March. We insist on its promulgation, and we shall
(18:41):
not cease to repeat to our friends that our adversaries
are unjust, and that they know not how to make
their interests compatible with ours. Before employing my means, make
use of mildness. But if contrary to my expectation, you
do not satisfy my demand, I am not cerebral for
the disorder into which my just vengeance may carry me.
(19:06):
O j and Chavan mobilized a group of free militiamen
of color who went through the parish, disarming white planters.
Cap Francie sent forces to attack the group, and on
October j Chavan and their group of men held their
ground in Grand Riviere against the larger group of colonial forces.
(19:29):
Before a second colonial force could make it there, O
Jay's group had scattered. They had headed into the mountains,
moving toward the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, now the
Dominican Republic. They made it into Spanish territory on November six,
but after a week all of the men had been
arrested or turned themselves in, possibly with the hopes of
(19:50):
being granted asylum. Instead, authorities sent them back to Cap Francai.
Oj and Chavan were interrogated in secret. O Jay claimed
that his actions were only ever political and that he
did not leave any of the violence. Still, Oje was
neither sent to France for trial nor judged publicly. In
(20:12):
Saint de Moon, he and Chavan were tortured and executed
in public, their heads put on pikes. The execution was
a brutal display of intimidation, as colonial authorities were worried
that the rebels who were still at large might be
planning a revolt. But the end of o j story
(20:35):
was not the end of rebellion in sad Monk the
barbarity of the execution helped turrn ties in favor of
free people of color. In May of seventeen ninety one,
the French National Assembly granted some freeborn people of color
the rights of voting citizens and eligibility to be seated
in future assemblies. Enslaved people whom o j and many
(20:58):
other free people of color used to associate themselves with,
soon took up arms in their own fight for emancipation.
When the revolution broke out against French colonial rule and
Saint de Monk, people of color were split in their support.
Some resisted with enslaved people, some took the side of
the white colonists, and some tried to remain neutral. But
(21:24):
in seventeen ninety three slavery was abolished in the north
of Saint de Monk, and the next year slavery was
abolished in France and all of its colonies. The revolution
ended in eighteen o four, with Haiti declaring independence from France.
O Jay's fight had nothing to do with freeing enslaved
(21:45):
people in Saint Domin. He was not a revolutionary, but
his death and rebellion lit a match beneath a flammable
web of conflict among white planters, poor white people, French
colonial authorities, free full of color landowners, and enslaved people.
One person's freedom and equality are linked to that of
(22:06):
the next. O Jay's rebellion, execution, and the subsequent flabor
bolts and revolution form a very real, very violent, very
complex allegory for the idea that none of us are
free until all of us are free. It is probably
not worthwhile to view Vincent oh Ja as a saint
(22:29):
of revolution, or even as a liberator for the people.
O J did use his wealth and status to uplift
others and sacrifice his life to win a representation and
rights for a small portion of the population of black
people and san domnt wealthy freeman of color. His activism
was instrumental in helping to encourage the spirit of revolution
(22:52):
in the colony, but he was not a model rebel
with a flawless vision of liberation. Maybe it's better to
view o J's story and resistance as an editable template
for using our specific personal talents, advantages, and powers to
protest the things we are compelled to change, even when
(23:13):
our plans are not as grand as flipping the whole
world upside down. Our producer Is, Andrew Howard, Holly Fry,
and Christopher Hasiotis are our executive producers, and you can
subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart
Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be
(23:35):
back next week with another episode of Unpopular
How often have you heard a guy start a sentence
with I have a daughter when commenting on some societal
issues specific to girls and women. Empathy is easy when
an issue gets so close to you, when the privilege
of not having had to deal with a problem is
lost and the problem pops your personal bubble. I'm Eve
(00:27):
Jeff Cooke and this is Unpopular a podcast about people
in history who didn't let the threat of persecution keep
them from speaking truth to power. Vincen o Ja Jean
or Vincent o j the Younger was born in Dondon
Parish in San Domains, North Province sometime around seventeen fifty.
(00:53):
Sandman was a French colony on the island of Hispaniola
from the mid seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century.
O Ja's father was a white man named Jacques o
j and his mother was a Mulatta named Angelique o s.
Mulatta was the word used to describe a girl or
woman who was of mixed race with one black parent
(01:15):
and one white parent. Vinson was named after his paternal uncle,
a merchant in the port city of Cape Francaie. French
people who colonized the island became planters, and brought in
hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans. The mixed race children
of the white planters and the enslaved women were freed
(01:37):
and set up as property owners, and a mixed race
class of property owners formed equal in wealth to white
folks into the seventeen sixties. The richest free planters of
color were basically treated like members of the colonial ruling class,
but the petit blanc, the white people who were merchants, artisans,
(02:00):
and the like, were less powerful and wealthy than the
white planters, and they were especially anti black and anti
free people of color and supportive of slavery. As free
people of color became a threat to colonists access to
land in capital, and their loyalty was questioned, race was
(02:20):
further weaponized and colonial authorities began enacting legislation that discriminated
against people of color. People of color were assigned racial
descriptions like mulattro libra or care to own libra, and
white people were given titles lexia and demoiselle, while free
people of colors were disparagingly called lenon, a term that
(02:41):
basically meant the so called By the seventeen seventies, colonists
had even began labeling freeborn people of color as affranci,
a pejorative that meant freedman or ex slave. Though the
affranci could own land and had some advantages over enslaved people,
they could not hold administrative positions or work as doctors
(03:04):
or lawyers. Still, they chose to align themselves with the
French over enslaved people in the colony and the hopes
of being accepted by the white colonists. They often upheld
the institution of slavery, as did O J, a choice
that complicates O J's and other wealthy people of color's
history of resistance to the restriction of black people's rights.
(03:26):
In effect, the human rights of free people of color
took precedent over those of enslaved black people and poor
white people. Free people of color had property and were taxpayers,
and so the issue of abolition of slavery took a
back seat to the issue of racism for many free
people of color. More radical revolutionaries, though, did press for
(03:48):
abolition anyway. By the seventeen eighties, there were far more
enslaved people than French colonists in sandolog and there were
as many free people of color as there were white people.
Don't Don't where o Jay was born acknowledged Sano Monk's
post seventeen seventy racial laws and authorities did attempt to
(04:09):
separate white people and free people of color through practices
like distancing people of color from their French family names. Still,
white people and people of color remained connected to a degree.
Don't Don't located in the mountains as well as the
surrounding areas like the nearby port city of Cape, France,
saw a lot of military preparations and personnel when o
(04:31):
Ja was growing up, Though local enslaved and freemen of
color were enrolled in military units, it is not clear
whether o j had military or militia experience in its
youth and young adulthood. Dumb Done was also the first
place in sand Monk where coffee was planted, and Oja's
family took advantage of a coffee boom in the area.
(04:54):
Ojay's family's wealth was linked to the coffee estate, but
his personal wealth was built after he spent time in Bordeaux,
France as an apprentice to a goldsmith. Returning to San
domin around seventeen seventy four or seventeen seventy five. He
brokered houses and apartments and capt Francie to wealthy white people.
(05:15):
He conducted business with merchants and saw Domint's major ports,
and he assumed the practices of the colonists by employing
a free Mulatta woman as a housekeeper, a job that
usually included sexual duties and purchasing enslaved Africans. Side note,
many free people of color and San Domant were slave owners.
(05:39):
In a seventeen eighty nine letter, o J said he
was worth more than three hundred and fifty thousand livres,
the currency of France. O J was one of the
wealthiest freemen of color in San Domont, and he was
of a high status within the colonies class of free
planters of color. His wealth did put him in closer
proximity to whiteness, as notaries did not identify him as
(06:02):
a man of color or require him to show his
freedom papers. Generally, wealthy families of color remained politically conservative
and under the radar. When the French Revolution broke out
in seventeen eighty nine, the loss of privilege afforded to
them by the colonial establishment was a high stake. Julian
(06:25):
Raymon a free man of color and wealthy indigo planter
and Saint Domin did move to France in the mid
seventeen eighties and challenged the French government to pass racial
reforms for wealthy freemen of color in Saint Domin, but
Ramon was an anomaly, and so has been. Saint o j.
O J left Saint Domint for France at the end
(06:47):
of seventeen eighty eight in the hopes of increasing his
assets after having to figure out a way to repay
a debt he had. Only some of his experiences in
France in the beginning of seventeen eighty nine are recorded.
It's known that he visited his sisters in Bordeaux and
that he partitioned the naval ministry in March to give
(07:08):
him more time to repay his creditors. But by September
of that year, after the start of the French Revolution,
oh J had joined a group that called itself Cologne
a Mary Kaye a k A. American Colonists. The group
published a pamphlet that called for the doing a way
of legal separations between white people and citizens of color
(07:31):
in the French colonies. The Cologne also published a Calle
do d'Or lance or List of Demands addressed to the
National Assembly. O Ja helped write both of these texts.
One of the reforms demanded in the list was for
people of color and white people to be treated equally,
so that quote the Creoles constitute a single group and
(07:53):
that they be regarded as a population of brothers. The
text also called for the representation of freemen of color
in the government and their right to education. In late September,
Julienne Ramon joined the Cologne as they fought to get
seats in the French National Assembly. They also pressured the
Colonists to grant wealthy freemen of color voting rights. They
(08:16):
had the support of the Societe des Amis de Nois,
or the Society of the Friends of Blacks, a group
of mostly white abolitionists. To be clear, their vision of
racial equality was not one as simple as black people
should be equal to white people. It was beholden to
maintaining the privileges of class and sex. Both Raymon and
(08:39):
o j enslaved people, and they argued that making wealthy
freemen of color political equals to white people would strengthen
the system of slavery and solidified their loyalty to France.
O J envisioned himself as a member of the colonial
elite and was pretty self aggrandizing. He even began to
pose as a O'Neal militia officer. Oh J was petitioning
(09:03):
for the rights of free people of color who lived
in saw Do Moan, but back on the island, political
unrest and protest among free people of color was growing.
Let's pause here for a quick break. My sister is
(09:29):
notoriously bad at dining out. She doesn't get what she
hasn't had before. And if I can manage talking her
into getting something she's never had before, or trying something
of mine that she would never order herself, she goes
into the experience with the most apprehension. I want her
to live her best life, but this is nearly impossible
(09:52):
when she's so afraid to try foods that she's not
familiar with. She told me that she'd rather just stick
with what she knows will be a satisfying mill then
potentially be disappointed. And I get that justification, though I
could never but so many people have status quo bias
in one decision or the next for different reasons. Just
(10:14):
as it sounds a person has a status quo bias
when they prefer things to stay the same by doing
nothing or by doing the same thing they've always done.
There's a little to no risk involved in keeping things
the same. You pretty much know what you're in for.
When you choose to make a change, there's a potential
for something really really great to happen or for everything
(10:36):
to go downhill. A person may have this bias just
because they're familiar with something or someone that's comforting, that's safe,
or a person could be operating out of loss aversion
which makes them choose not losing over potentially gaining a lot.
Those status quo bias happens in people from all walks
(10:57):
of life. It operates differently in different people and different
segments of society. Often it can come down to holding
onto what you have being entirely more important than risking
what you have with the hope of satisfaction. That's especially
true when your disadvantage or had to fight hard for
(11:20):
what you already have, or changing the status quo can
be a perceived loss or anticipate a personal loss. When
you're in some position of privilege or power, the potential
for losing that privilege or power is completely unappealing, even
when that potential is imagined or would result in a
benefit for society at large. Think of men who claim
(11:42):
they are the most persecuted or disadvantaged group because of
the gains women have made in rights and equality over
the years. Wanting to stick to the status quo can
be rationalized in many ways. In Oga's case, he was
willing to uphold the status quo of slavery while simultaneously
rejecting the status quo that denied free people of color
(12:03):
equal rights and citizens status. We are not them, he said,
and that is not okay. Oh J already had a
better lot in life than enslaved black people, and he
wished to maintain that separation. Being considered property is undoubtedly
a more oppressive in cruel life than the one oh
(12:25):
J was living. O Ja's classism and eagerness to distinguish
his lot from that of enslaved people of African descent
were baseless functions of the colonialists in white supremacist systems
that created and maintained his status. Still, his bias was
a problematic strategy of survival. At the same time he
(12:46):
deemed other black people property, he was still marginalized, still
less than a citizen, and yet he fought against racism.
The dissonance is real. There was the and to keep
his head in the sand, as did many free people
of color, for a survival or for whatever other reason.
(13:07):
O Jay's vision of equality was limited, and there was
a thin line between what could be viewed as his
desire for assimilation and his desire for freemen of color
to advance in society at the expense of enslaved people.
He did rebel and fight for change, but he was
attempting to navigate a maze of complicated conditions. The bias, privilege,
(13:30):
self importance, societally induced desperation, discrimination, racism, and mistreatment that
all combined to form the cocktail that catalyzed his action.
Means that his story is nowhere near black and white.
When we left off in Oja story, the Cologne of
Mary Kaine had partitioned for representation in the National Assembly
(13:54):
and for the acknowledgement of their civil and political rights.
Degrading prejudices and fall politics had made free people of
color be treated like slaves and Saint de Mont they said.
That's despite the fact that on August seventeen, eighty nine,
the National Assembly had approved the Declaration of the Rights
of Man and the Citizen, which said that quote men
(14:17):
are born and remain free and equal in rights. But
in reality, the enslavement of black people continued in the
French Caribbean colonies and people of color did not get
the benefits of citizenships. The Cologne believed that the declarations
should apply to free people of color in the colonies too.
(14:37):
They even invoked the Code Noir, a decree passed by
Francis King Louis the fourteenth and sixteen eighty five that
in part granted freed slaves the same rights as free
born people. But in December of seventeen eighty nine, the
French National Assembly rejected their petition, and in March of
seventeen ninety the French colonies were granted the rights of
(15:00):
form colonial assemblies and the colony was given nearly complete autonomy.
On March, deputies approved voting instructions for the colonies, allowing
every one age five or older who owned land or
those who lived in a parish for two years and
pay taxes to gather to form provincial assemblies. But the
(15:20):
issue of whether free people of color could be involved
in electoral procedures was left vague. This intentional ambiguity would
pose a problem in Sandmint. We'll be back after this break.
(15:46):
In seventeen nine, political and social tensions were increasing in Sandman.
It drought hit the colony and enslaved people were escaping
from their plantations at higher rates. White people were becoming
increasingly violent towards free people of color and white sympathizers,
and as white people began to gather in parish assemblies,
(16:06):
they would lock out free people of color. Free people
of color began petitioning their parish assemblies for their political
rights and to eliminate discrimination. By early seventeen ninety, the
issues of independence, rights for free people of color, and
slavery were causing a bunch of turmoil and Saint Domin.
(16:26):
Having met no success in his appeals for rights in France,
o J headed back to Saint Doman, still determined to
win citizenship for free people of color. He arrived in
the colony on October seventeenth, seventeen ninety. After traveling from
Paris to London to Charlestown, o J minimized the extent
of his involvement in the revolt that began within days
(16:49):
of him getting back, But just as soon as he returned,
he went to the Garden Riviere to meet up with
the Jean Baptiste Chavane, a free veteran of color who
fought for equal rights based on his and others records
of malicious service. In late October, cheven and o j
wrote to the governor and provincial Assembly demanding the enforcement
(17:11):
of the voting regulations that have been passed down from Paris.
Oje's letter to the Provincial Assembly of Cap Francie set
the following, Gentlemen, a prejudice too long maintained is about
to fall. I am charged with a commission, doubtless very
honorable to myself. I require you to promulgate throughout the
(17:33):
colony the instructions of the National Assembly of the eighth
of March, which gives, without distinction to all free citizens
the right of admission to all offices and functions. My
pretensions are just, and I hope you will pay due
regard to them. I shall not call the plantations to rise.
That means would be unworthy of me. Learn to appreciate
(17:56):
the merit of a man whose intention is pure. When
I solicited from the National Assembly a decree which I
obtained in favor of the American colonists, formerly known under
the injurious epithet of men of mixed blood. I did
not include in my claims the condition of the negroes
who live in servitude. You and our adversaries have misrepresented
(18:19):
my steps in order to bring me into discredit with
honorable men. No, no, gentlemen, we have put forth a
claim only on behalf of a class of freemen who,
for two centuries have been under the yoke of oppression.
We require the execution of the decree of the eighth
of March. We insist on its promulgation, and we shall
(18:41):
not cease to repeat to our friends that our adversaries
are unjust, and that they know not how to make
their interests compatible with ours. Before employing my means, make
use of mildness. But if contrary to my expectation, you
do not satisfy my demand, I am not cerebral for
the disorder into which my just vengeance may carry me.
(19:06):
O j and Chavan mobilized a group of free militiamen
of color who went through the parish, disarming white planters.
Cap Francie sent forces to attack the group, and on
October j Chavan and their group of men held their
ground in Grand Riviere against the larger group of colonial forces.
(19:29):
Before a second colonial force could make it there, O
Jay's group had scattered. They had headed into the mountains,
moving toward the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, now the
Dominican Republic. They made it into Spanish territory on November six,
but after a week all of the men had been
arrested or turned themselves in, possibly with the hopes of
(19:50):
being granted asylum. Instead, authorities sent them back to Cap Francai.
Oj and Chavan were interrogated in secret. O Jay claimed
that his actions were only ever political and that he
did not leave any of the violence. Still, Oje was
neither sent to France for trial nor judged publicly. In
(20:12):
Saint de Moon, he and Chavan were tortured and executed
in public, their heads put on pikes. The execution was
a brutal display of intimidation, as colonial authorities were worried
that the rebels who were still at large might be
planning a revolt. But the end of o j story
(20:35):
was not the end of rebellion in sad Monk the
barbarity of the execution helped turrn ties in favor of
free people of color. In May of seventeen ninety one,
the French National Assembly granted some freeborn people of color
the rights of voting citizens and eligibility to be seated
in future assemblies. Enslaved people whom o j and many
(20:58):
other free people of color used to associate themselves with,
soon took up arms in their own fight for emancipation.
When the revolution broke out against French colonial rule and
Saint de Monk, people of color were split in their support.
Some resisted with enslaved people, some took the side of
the white colonists, and some tried to remain neutral. But
(21:24):
in seventeen ninety three slavery was abolished in the north
of Saint de Monk, and the next year slavery was
abolished in France and all of its colonies. The revolution
ended in eighteen o four, with Haiti declaring independence from France.
O Jay's fight had nothing to do with freeing enslaved
(21:45):
people in Saint Domin. He was not a revolutionary, but
his death and rebellion lit a match beneath a flammable
web of conflict among white planters, poor white people, French
colonial authorities, free full of color landowners, and enslaved people.
One person's freedom and equality are linked to that of
(22:06):
the next. O Jay's rebellion, execution, and the subsequent flabor
bolts and revolution form a very real, very violent, very
complex allegory for the idea that none of us are
free until all of us are free. It is probably
not worthwhile to view Vincent oh Ja as a saint
(22:29):
of revolution, or even as a liberator for the people.
O J did use his wealth and status to uplift
others and sacrifice his life to win a representation and
rights for a small portion of the population of black
people and san domnt wealthy freeman of color. His activism
was instrumental in helping to encourage the spirit of revolution
(22:52):
in the colony, but he was not a model rebel
with a flawless vision of liberation. Maybe it's better to
view o J's story and resistance as an editable template
for using our specific personal talents, advantages, and powers to
protest the things we are compelled to change, even when
(23:13):
our plans are not as grand as flipping the whole
world upside down. Our producer Is, Andrew Howard, Holly Fry,
and Christopher Hasiotis are our executive producers, and you can
subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart
Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be
(23:35):
back next week with another episode of Unpopular
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Host
Yves Jeffcoat
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