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.

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