Thomas Madiou

Who was Thomas Madiou?

Thomas Madiou was a Haitian historian. His work Histoire d'Haïti is considered one of the most valuable documents of Haitian literature. His history tried to repair the reputation of the black leaders of the Haitian Revolution, especially Toussaint Louverture, portraying the struggle as a justified rebellion against the terrible oppression of slavery. This placed his work in contrast to the history written by Beaubrun Ardouin, appearing a few years after Madiou's, which tried to place the Haitian Revolution in the context of the other independence struggles in Latin America and deny it a class or racial character. Ardouin was trying to make Haiti fit into the community of nations in the Americas in the 1830s while Madiou was stressing what made Haiti unique.

Born in Port-au-Prince, Madiou left Haiti at age ten to study in France at the Royal College of Angers. He later studied in Rennes, France and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Letters there. He then attended the Law School of Paris for two years before returning to Haiti. It was then that he began writing Histoire d'Haïti. Madiou also worked as Director of Le Moniteur, the official government publication, in 1849.