1805: Colonial officials in Brazil issued a prohibition against black members of the Rio de Janeiro militia displaying portraits of the Haitian leader Jean-J…

1805: Colonial officials in Brazil issued a prohibition against black members of the Rio de Janeiro militia displaying portraits of the Haitian leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines. This ban reflected the global reach of the “Haitian contagion” and the fear that the successes of the black republic would inspire similar movements in South America. The mere image of the Haitian general was considered a subversive symbol of racial defiance and anti-colonial resistance. Even without direct physical contact, the visual culture of the Haitian Revolution reached as far south as the Portuguese Empire. This action demonstrated the desperation of slaveholding regimes to erase the symbolic power of the new black state.