The bulk of that money went to the descendants of former french colonists and slaveholders in france. We found some evidence that there were complaints at the time that this money didn't amount to much, because generation after generation it was divied up between grandchildren and great grandchildren. Many of these families already had made so much money on the slave trade that these were just almost like small dividends long after entering their bank accounts. But i think like what this double debt did was exactly what the baron of mccaw, that french emissary of the king, hoped it would do when he left the colony. He said, under this regime, hate would undoubtedly become highly profitable and costless
In 1791, enslaved Haitians did the seemingly impossible. They ousted their French masters and created the first free Black nation in the Americas.
But France made Haitians pay for that freedom.
A team of reporters from The New York Times looked at the extent and effect of the ensuing payments.
Guest: Catherine Porter, the Toronto bureau chief for The New York Times.
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Background reading:
- The first people in the modern world to free themselves from slavery and create their own nation were forced to pay for their freedom. A Times investigation explores Haiti’s reparations to France.
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.