Pompée Valentin Vastey (1781Vastey stated that he was born in 1781 in Ennery, Haiti in a letter that he wrote to the celebrated British abolitionist Thomas Clarkson dated from Sans Souci, November 29, 1819. See Griggs 179. - 1820), or Pompée Valentin, Baron de Vastey, was a

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

an writer, educator, and politician. Vastey was what people at the time called a "

mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...

," because he was born to a white

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

father and a black Haitian mother. He served as secretary to King

Henri Christophe Henri Christophe (; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti. Christophe was of Bambara ethnicity in West Africa, and perhaps of Igbo descent. Beginning with t ...

and tutor to Christophe's son,

Victor Henri Victor Henri (6 June 1872 – 21 June 1940) was a French-Russian Physical chemistry, physical chemist and physiologist. He was born in Marseilles as a son of Russian parents. He is known mainly as an early pioneer in enzyme kinetics. He publishe ...

. Vastey also claimed to have fought in Toussaint's army and is said to have been the second cousin of the French novelist and playwright

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

(Daut 56; see also, Griggs 181). Vastey is best known for his essays on the history and contemporary circumstances of Haiti.

Selected works

* ''Le Système Colonial Dévoilé'' (1814) * '' Notes à M. le Baron de V. P. Malouet... en réfutation du 4ème volume de son ouvrage, intitulé: Collection de mémoires sur les colonies, et particulièrement sur Saint-Domingue'' (1814) * ''Le Cri de la Patrie, ou Les intérêts de tous les Haytiens'' (1815) * ''Le Cri de la Conscience, ou Réponse à un écrit, imprimé au Port-au-Prince, intitulé: Le peuple de la République d’Hayti, à Messieurs Vastey et Limonade'' (1815) * ''Réflexions adressées aux Haïtiens de partie de l'Ouest et du Sud sur l’horrible assassinat du Général Delvare...'' (1816) * ''Réflexions sur une lettre de Mazères : ex-colon français, adressée à M. J.C.L. Sismonde de Sismondi, sur les noirs et les blancs, la civilisation de l'Afrique, le royaume d'Hayti, etc.'' (English: ''Reflexions on the Blacks and Whites: Remarks upon a Letter Addressed by M. Mazères, a French Ex-Colonist, to J. C. L. Sismonde de Sismondi''), (1816) * ''Réflexions Politiques sur quelques Ouvrages et Journaux Français Concernant Haïti'' (English: ''Political Remarks upon Certain French Publications and Journals Concerning Haiti''), 1817 * ''Essai sur les Causes de la Révolution et des Guerres Civiles en Haïti'' (English: ''An Essay on the Causes of the Revolution and Civil Wars of Haiti''), 1819

Notes

Bibliography

* Quevilly, Laurent. ''Le Baron de Vastey'', (Books on Demand, 2014, .) Présentation en ligne= http://www.bod.fr/index.php?id=1786&objk_id=1236505. * Chris Bongie, ''The colonial system unveiled'', édition critique du ''Système colonial dévoilé'' traduit en anglais, Liverpool University Press, 2014. * * Griggs, Earl Leslie and Thomas Prator. ''Henry Christophe and Thomas Clarkson: A Correspondence'' (Berkeley : U of California P, 1952). * Bongie, Chris. “‘Monotonies of History’: Baron de Vastey and the Mulatto Legend of Derek Walcott's The Haitian Trilogy.” '' Yale French Studies'' 107 (2005): 70-107. * Daut, Marlene. "Un-Silencing the past: Boisrond-Tonnerre, Vastey, and the Re-Writing of the Haitian Revolution." ''

South Atlantic Review The ''South Atlantic Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the South Atlantic Modern Language Association. It was established in 1935 and publishes articles and reviews in the fields of language and literature. As of ...

'' 74.1 (2009): 35–64. *Daut, Marlene. ''Baron de Vastey and the Origins of Black Atlantic Humanism''. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 1781 births 1820 deaths Haitian educators Haitian essayists male essayists Haitian male writers Haitian people of French descent Haitian people of Mulatto descent Haitian politicians {{Haiti-politician-stub