Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
The Black Jacobins summary
C.L.R. James
Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
4.6 (63 ratings)
28 mins
13 key ideas
Audio & text
What is The Black Jacobins about?
The Black Jacobins (1938) traces the remarkable history of the revolution in the French colony of San Domingo (modern day Haiti). It describes the events that helped the revolution become the first successful slave rebellion in history.
In particular, The Black Jacobins views the events through the prism of the revolution’s greatest figure, Toussaint L’Ouverture. It shows how he, a former slave who was inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution, successfully defeated the European empires and helped to destroy the brutal practice of slavery in San Domingo.
About the Author
C.L.R. James (1901–1989) was a Trinidadian academic and writer. He was the author of many books on Marxism, history and cricket. He was a pioneer in the field of postcolonial literature and an influential political activist.
In recognition of his work, he was awarded Trinidad and Tobago’s highest honour, the Trinity Cross.
Table of Contents
The Black Jacobins
summarized in 13 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 13
The very prosperous French colony of San Domingo was sustained by the brutal practice of slavery.
In the late seventeenth century, France acquired the colony of San Domingo (modern-day Haiti) in the West Indies. Over the next century, this colony was to prove very prosperous for the French. Its soil was fertile, allowing crops like indigo, cotton, sugar and coffee to be grown.
Yet, there was a problem: to grow and harvest these crops, a huge amount of labor was needed, and this wasn’t readily available. The original native population of the island had all but been wiped out by European colonists, and the climate made it almost impossible for European laborers to carry out the back-breaking work.
The solution to this problem was to use African slaves. In San Domingo, along with the other European colonies in the Americas, huge numbers of African people were forcibly transported from their homelands to work as slaves. The scale of the slave trade was enormous; by the late eighteenth century, there were about half-a-million slaves in San Domingo alone.
Life for the slaves was incredibly brutal. Although the French government laid down rules about how they must be treated, these rules were more often than not ignored. The colonists saw the slaves as their property to do with as they wished. They forced the slaves who worked in the fields to do incredibly exhausting tasks from dawn until dusk in the intense heat.
They also subjected their “property” to the most inhumane treatment. Punishments for even the smallest of misdemeanours were harsh, and whippings and beatings became very common. For worse crimes, the punishments were horrific; for example, there were even cases of slaves being filled with gunpowder and blown up.
This violent and degrading system kept the colony of San Domingo prosperous in its raw materials, allowing many settlers to become very rich.
Want to see all full key ideas from The Black Jacobins?
Key ideas in The Black Jacobins
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
Who should read The Black Jacobins
- Students of history and postcolonial studies
- Anyone who wants to understand why people revolt
- Anyone interested in how political ideas can change the world
Categories with The Black Jacobins
Books like The Black Jacobins
What our members say
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
Start growing with Blinkist now
25 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers