An Analysis of C.L.R. James's The Black Jacobins [Paperback]

Today we take it for granted that history is much more than the story of great men and the elites from which they spring. Other forms of history  the histories of gender, class, rebellion and nonconformity  add much-needed context and color to our understanding of the past. But this has not always been so. In CLR Jamess The Black Jacobins, we have one of the earliest, and most defining, examples of how history from below ought to be written.

James's approach is based on his need to resolve two central problems: to understand why the Haitian slave revolt was the only example of a successful slave rebellion in history, and also to grasp the ways in which its history was intertwined with the history of the French Revolution. The book's originality, and its value, rests on its author's ability to ask and answer productive questions of this sort, and in the creativity with which he proved able to generate new hypotheses as a result. As any enduring work of history must be, The Black Jacobins is rooted in sound archival research  but its true greatness lies in the originality of James's approach.

Ways in to the Text  Who was C.L.R. James?  What does The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution Say?  Why does The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution Matter?  Section 1: Influences  Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context  Module 2: Academic Context  Module 3: The Problem  Module 4: The Author's Contribution  Section 2: Ideas  Module 5: Main Ideas  Module 6: Secondary Ideas  Module 7: Achievement  Module 8: Place in the Author's Work  Section 3: Impact&nbsl#Ô