Hérard Dumesle (16 June 1784 – 22 June 1858) was a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an poet and politician.

Politics

Dumesle, a

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

, opposed the government of

Jean-Pierre Boyer Jean-Pierre Boyer (; 15 February 1776 – 9 July 1850) was one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution, and the president of Haiti from 1818 to 1843. He reunited the north and south of the country into the Republic of Haiti in 1820 and also ann ...

and formed a group of like-minded young mulattoes called the Society for the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Dumesle's cousin,

Charles Rivière-Hérard Charles Rivière-Hérard (; 16 February 1789 – 31 August 1850) also known as Charles Hérard aîné (, ''Charles Hérard eldest'') was an officer in the Haitian Army under Alexandre Pétion during his struggles against Henri Christophe. He was ...

, led the Revolution of 1843 which forced President Boyer to flee the country. Rivière-Hérard then succeeded Boyer as

President of Haiti The president of Haiti (, ), officially called the president of the Republic of Haiti (, , ), is the head of state of Haiti. Executive power in Haiti is divided between the president and the government, which is headed by the prime minister of ...

. Dumesle served as president of the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

and later as a Minister during his cousin's rule. After an 1844

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

, both Dumesle and Rivière-Hérard were forced into exile. They settled in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and remained there for the rest of their lives.

Works

As a poet, Dumesle's most remembered work is the historical ''Macanda''. He is also known for composing a poem in honor of Jonathas Granville, the director of the Lycee of Port-au-Prince: "Dithyrambe élégiaque sur la mort de Jonathas Granville."

Notes

References

* * Foreign ministers of Haiti Mulatto Haitians 1784 births 1858 deaths 19th-century Haitian poets Haitian male poets Haitian emigrants to Jamaica 19th-century Haitian male writers {{Haiti-politician-stub