Haiti
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Who heard “the shot heard 'round the world”? Answer: Haitians. “If the Americans can do it, then we can do it.” After the defeat of the British at Yorktown, the Haitian Revolution was “game on”.
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After a 13-year insurrection, the Haitians rose unassisted from abject slavery to become the Western Hemisphere's second free and independent republic. Venezuelan independence: 1810, Mexican: 1810, Haitian: 1804.
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Haitians were initially very divided. The French had set up a sub-class of “mulattoes” who dressed in European clothing and were permitted to own slaves. In this context, one of the great heroes of history arose, Toussaint Louverture, “the man who defeated Napoleon's army”. Toussaint was a herbalist (the only health care Haitians had). He volunteered as a medic, but quickly rose to the rank of general in the revolutionary forces due his skills in tactics and diplomacy.
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After the failure of Napoleon's 35,000 soldier invasion Toussaint was invited to a “peace conference”. There he was captured and sent to France, where he died. It was this act of treachery that finally united all sectors of Haitian society. They realized the French were without honor, and only the application of deadly force would free them.
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Upon independence, the Haitians forbade race as a basis of social ranking, and they made their national motto “L'Union Fait Le Force” (Solidarity Makes Strength) as a reminder that they were only able to attain freedom when they united.
South America:
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Simone Bolivar, the liberator of South America, initially tried a revolution of “pure blooded” descendants of Spanish settlers. He was defeated by the Spanish with a loss of thousands of his patriots. He eventually came to Haiti, where he met with president Alexandre Petion. Bolivar said, “M. Le President, you have many battle-hardened soldiers. Loan them to me so I can fight my way into Venezuela and free my people, as you have freed your own.” Petion replied, “Snr. Bolivar, I will give you all that you ask, but in return you must make a solemn promise, that wherever you go you will liberate all of the slaves you encounter.”
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The bargain was struck, and Bolivar invaded Angostura (now Ciudad Bolivar) in 1817. Shortly afterward he met with José Antonio Páez, who led the mixed-race llaneros. These were cattle-herders who spent more time in the saddle than on their feet. As a result they made expert cavalry. Paez was a military genius, who won every battle, usually against overwhelming odds.
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Together they traveled through South America, liberating countries and freeing slaves. Thirty years before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, all the slaves in South America had been freed.
And, YOU WON'T READ ABOUT ANY OF THIS IN SCHOOL.