l’esclavage.”^31 Although most Haitian texts were written by mulattos until the last quarter of the
nineteenth century, mulattos, who for a large part, could trace their heritage to those who had
been property owners rather than slaves in colonial Saint-Domingue, Vastey’s text begins a
tradition in which Haitian writers will posit Haitian identity as black, and hence more associated
with those who had been slaves. Assuming a black identity, regardless of European ties, will be a
defining feature of the major Haitian poets, whether black or mulatto, treated in this study.^32
Along with those by Haiti’s earliest poets, Vastey’s text sets the foundations of print culture
through which political concerns will be articulated and through which national identity could
begin to be constructed. Throughout the nineteenth century, Haitian poets, journalists, and
essayists view writing as an indispensable means of legitimizing claims to sovereignty and as a
salient feature of modern civilization. Along with the entries in L’Abeille haytienne, Vastey’s
essays confirm the necessity of not being silent during these early years in spite of political
upheaval and pressing societal and economic concerns.
Vastey’s claims about the superiority of literature resurface with more extensivecommentary in the 1830s in the theories put forth by Emile Nau and others in the journal Le
Républicain and its successor L’Union. These editors call for poetry in particular to be written,
and indeed the literary and expository texts in these journals usher in the Romantic poetry which
will dominate the century. Many factors may provide an explanation for this emphasis, among
them the fact that poetry had already been written in both the Haitian republic and the kingdom
of earlier years. Furthermore, Haitians in the 1830s believed the native Taino Indians to have
also had a poetic tradition. Although this consisted of oral poetry, as outlined in various articles
(^31) Pompée Valentin Vastey, Réflexions sur une Lettre de Mazères (Cap Henry: P. Roux, 1816) 84.
(^32) I should specify that the term “mulatto", or the French “mulâtre,” was used throughout the nineteenth century to
refer to those of combined African and European descent. This is used to differentiate them from black Haitians,
entirely of African descent, which then as now account for over 90% of Haiti’s population.