Paul Clammer with Phil Leonard: The King of Haiti (and how one Bristolian helped defend a slave revolution)

How did a man born enslaved on a plantation defeat Napoleon’s invading troops and become king of the first free Black nation in the Americas? Writer Paul Clammer explores the extraordinary story of Henry Christophe in Black Crown.

Christophe fought as a child soldier in the American War of Independence, became one of Toussaint Louverture’s leading generals during the Haitian Revolution and, after independence, crowned himself King Henry I. His ambition to build a modern Black state won support from British abolitionists – and even a Bristolian who served as admiral in his navy. A Black Enlightenment leader, he commissioned literary works, epic fortresses and opulent palaces while resisting French plots against him.

Bristol-based Paul Clammer has lived and worked in Haiti and is the author of Bradt Travel Guides’ Haiti and more than forty Lonely Planet guidebooks.