Beaubrun Ardouin

Who was Beaubrun Ardouin?

Alexis Beaubrun Ardouin was a Haitian historian and politician. He is best remembered for his eleven-volume Etudes sur l'Histoire d'Haïti, published in 1865. His Etudes have served as a valuable resource for later historians. Beaubrun Ardouin also wrote the first Haitian textbook, Géographie de l'Ile d'Haïti and Instruction sur le Jury.

Ardouin's historical writing attempted to put the Haitian Revolution in the context of other nationalist revolutions in the Americas and denied that it had any special racial or class implications. He was a man of mixed race himself, from a family that was free before the revolution, and he argued that the former free people of color were the natural leaders both of the revolution and of post-independence Haiti. His great intellectual opponent was Thomas Madiou, who sought to repair the reputation of the great black heroes of the Haitian revolution, especially Toussaint Louverture, and to portray the revolution as a successful slave uprising instead of as a national independence movement.

Beaubrun Ardouin was elected Senator in 1832 and served on the Council of Secretaries of State in 1845.