The light of knowledge follows the impulse of revolutions: Prince Saunders, Baron de Vastey and the Haitian influence on antebellum black ideas of elevation and education

This article details the influence that Haitian ideas about education had on early black intellectuals. Following the successful slave revolution, leaders of the new Haitian state set out to develop a new educational system. African-American observers paid close attention to these developments and often attempted to mimic them. Especially important was the black traveller and activist Prince Saunders, who was hired by the Haitian King Henry Christophe to build schools. Combining social and intellectual history, this article argues that black intellectuals in the North were inspired by the memory and symbol of Haiti to develop an education system and elevation ideology that served explicitly political purposes.