Jean-Jacques Dessalines (September 20, 1758 - October 17, 1806) was a leader of the Haitian slave rebellion and an Emperor of Haiti (1804 - 1806).
Dessalines was born as a slave in Grande-Riviere-du-Nord on Haiti. He first served as an officer in the French army and later rose to become a commander in the revolt against the same colonial power. After the capture of Toussaint L'Ouverture in 1801, Dessalines became leader of the revolution and, after defeating the French troops sent by Napoleon in November 1803, he declared Haiti independent on January 1, 1804, in Gonaïves. He assumed the office of Governor General, but then he declared himself emperor of Haiti in 1805. Dessalines was trying to keep the sugar industry and plantations running and producing with slavery. The colored people and the black people both fought against this system that he was bestowing upon them. During his reign, Haiti became a nation of two castes. The black peasants resided on the countryside producing their own food and working their own land, while in the towns the colored richer people had dominated both commerce and politics. Even though a majority of whites left the island, racial conflicts still arouse among the blacks and colored. The black Haitians were the poor and rural area people. The colored and light-skinned Haitians were those that were richer and wealthier. Since Dessalines was born as a slave, as an adult he took grudge against the whites and the light-skinned people. Once in power he demanded that all of the remaining whites be eliminated, in order words murdered and any light-skinned seen in the process. Dessalines was obsessed in making Haiti and all black nation in which no whites would never again own property or land. Dessalines took over lands and property that held any value either by any means necessary, including force and murder. His goal was to own a majority if not all of the productive plantations He was assassinated in 1806 after an oppressive rule.
The national anthem of Haiti, La Dessalinienne, is in his honor.
See also: History of Haiti