1869–1994: (The Sovereignty of Memory and the Burden of Proof): The difficulty of writing a verified Haitian history stems from the repeated physical destruc…

1869–1994: (The Sovereignty of Memory and the Burden of Proof): The difficulty of writing a verified Haitian history stems from the repeated physical destruction of internal archives by foreign intervention and internal strife. Key evidence, including the 1804 Acte d’Indépendance, has been lost to fire or sold into the hands of foreign collectors. To overcome this “impossibility” of local documentation, the authors utilized the diplomatic reports of Great Powers as a surrogate archive. This methodological approach aims to cut through a “lush jungle of myth” while acknowledging that the primary record of the Haitian people is often found in the confidential files of their former colonizers. The resulting narrative is framed as a “true, complete, and verifiable” attempt to document a story that the world’s first Black republic was often prevented from keeping for itself.