By Marlene L. Daut

In 1998, an international organization, whose mission is to promote peace and security across the world, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), named August 23rd as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. This date was chosen to honor the Haitian Revolution, which started on the night passing from August 22nd to August 23rd in 1791. 

UNESCO’s official statement honors Haiti for changing the world’s longstanding views on slavery: “On the night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in Saint Domingue, today the Republic of Haiti, saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. It is against this background that the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is commemorated on 23 August each year."

Today, almost everyone agrees that slavery is wrong and unacceptable, but like UNESCO, we must remember to include Haiti’s important role in bringing about this consensus.

In 1945, after World War II, a set of laws called the Nuremberg Charter declared slavery a “crime against humanity.” However, these laws didn’t mention that Haiti had already set this example in 1807. Later, in 2001, the International Court of Justice repeated this declaration, and that same year, France also repeated this with the Taubira Law.

Even though none of these organizations recognized Haiti, it’s important to know that Haiti was the first country to end slavery and declare slavery and the slave trade crimes against humanity, not the United States, Great Britain, or France. This fact makes Haiti a leader in one of the biggest human rights movements in history, that of ending slavery. 

If you'd like to learn more about Haiti's pivotal role in taking the world from slavery to freedom, please have a look at my longer article: "How Haiti Destroyed Slavery and Led the Way to Freedom Throughout the Atlantic World."

As I wrote in the above article, first published in 2024, "my hope is that those who write about slavery’s abolition for the public sphere will not elide or skip over the Haitian Revolution and its precursors in early modern Ayitian and enslaved African resistance. It was not the United States, Great Britain, or France that first ended slavery. It was Ayiti/Haiti. This bare fact puts Haiti at the vanguard of one of largest and most extensive human rights movements in the world, something that should be taught in every classroom. The first abolitionists were the enslaved themselves."

To cite this article: Marlene L. Daut, "OTD in Haitian History (August 23, 1791): The Haitian Revolution Formally Begins." King of Haiti's World Blog, August 23, 2025 <https://marlenedaut.com/blog/otd-in-haitian-history-august-23-1791-the-haitian-revolution-formally>