>> i see both of them are true. [laughter] >> thank you both. >> -- engineering that led to the financial crisis. agreed got out of hand. so, we don't have to agree. but we are not disagreeable. >> thank you both very much. ..

and so i'm very excited to be here on january 8, the 200th anniversary for when they launched a revolution and try to conquer new orleans. you might be wondering, why did the slaves pic january 8, 1811, 200 years ago today? or three reasons the slaves chose january peak, 1811. let me describe to you a scene.

1811, the planters gathered, cut open a king cake. it was an epiphany. after cutting open the king cake, the dancing began. they danced english dances, french dances, men spoke to gamble at the tables outside the room. you never saw anything more brilliant or at a french colonial aired at 3:00 in the morning they would bring an turtling gumbo served at huge tables of 70 people each. after the initial parties, many planters would go on to mixed-race and other such celebrations. when william claiborne the american governor took over control of the city in 1804, french planters and 49 the only way they could win the royalty

was to have a party. i reach her description of what they served at the party. 196 bottles of madeira. 144 bottles of champagne, 100 bottles of her mactavish one, 67 bottles of brandy, 81 bottles of porter, 258 bottles of ale and 11,360 spanish cigars. the morning after that party seemed like a pretty good time to revolt. [laughter] now the next reason displays shows january 1811 is because in december and in the fall of 181012 linklater and the governor is reaching proxy work. they had just conquered west florida during the legal

military filibuster and various rumors in the air that the spanish were going to send a counterattack from cuba to restate baton rouge. in december, will claiborne ordered the two guns were the most skilled in. but to baton rouge for the spanish. the planters were drinking occur in the ball as he still celebrate carnivals. the american military was fighting the spanish was florida. and to top it all off a rain storm blew in. by january 6th, of course they reported the roads were lengthy and months. why was this rainstorm significant quakes for two reasons. the first is the arraignment the slave could not work. there is nothing to do in the plantation in the middle of the pouring rain. the second is that it is impossible to move heavy artillery when the roads were covered in mud. the slave army armed with axes,

musket would be facing an american military whose strongest fighting for us for hundreds of miles away and you could not bring out the best weaponry. it was a perfect time. i want to sell you a little bit about the leaders of the revolt. there were 11 separate leaders and i'm going to talk about for them. the first was charles torme whose name i hope will be in every textbook in the next few months or years. charles lundy was an interesting man to say the least. he was the son of a white planter and served as the driver on his plantation. slave drivers were at the top of the hierarchy. beneath was the oversea driving beneath the driver with the slaves. charles lundy administered the punishments for the ladies. he held the keys to all the doors when the slaves escape.

drivers like charles were often regarded as the traitors they race. in the white planters were regarded as close accomplices. charles would convene with his master every morning to discuss in the sugar would be planted in how the work was going. but charles was doing something else with the liberties granted to him as a traitor. on the weekends he would visit his wife a few plantations down. as he traveled he would meet up with paco and colina and in need of native bichon teatime. quattro is over six feet tall, which at a time the height was around five-foot four, a living figure. he was recently brought from africa in 1806. the ashanti kingdom was a very warlike environment spread over the coast of africa. they would meet with charles and

they would discuss plans for what would become the largest revolt in american history. charles was the ultimate sleeper cell, using his privilege not to aid the planters, but to subvert them. on january 6 was the final meeting between harry kanner who also was the son of the planter and was born in virginia. they met together in january 6. what did the slaves discuss? what were their motives? how did they organize? these are questions which no historian can answer definitively. please do not write anything down and they kept their actions completely secret from the planters. but let me tell you what the slaves would've known, what they would have been familiar with.

i'm not sure how many of you know about the revolution that occurred in haiti in 1791 to 1803. today i think what i think of haiti can we think of the devastating scenes we see on television. in 1811, haiti was a beacon of hope to oscillates across the american atlantic because haiti was the site of the first successful slave revolt in the history of the new world. not only was it a slave revolt, this is a political revolution. they declared racism illegal and banned the french, who settled haiti or santo domingo, just like they settled here in new orleans. i want to read to you from the haitian declaration of independence, which i think can give you some sense of the political ideologies that was flowing through the slave quarters. let us imitate those people were

extending their concern in the future and driving to leave an example of cowardice for prosperity prefer to be exterminated rather than lose their place at one of the world's three people. they want on. may the french chumbawamba approach our coast. if not by the memory of the cruelties they have inflicted, at least by the terrible resolution that we are about to devote

slaves permeated every part of the society in the slaves on louisiana coast are very aware of political developments, very aware of republican ideology. copies of the french documents from the french revolution were found in the slave quarters in the 1800s. in fact, a few years before the revolt, and the white colonial

officials had expelled a french diplomat for spreading the word. the slaves involved in planning the revolt had a complex political ideology. but i want to dive back into what happened today 200 years ago. i touch about the rain. it was pouring rain when charles deslondes gather 25 black slaves from the president woodlawn plantation. everyman assembled knew his participation in the revolt would mean a certain death sentence -- near certain death sentence. there's a world in louisiana had ever been but successful and arson direction was clear. the planters are distracted by mardi gras, the american military distracted by fighting a proxy war against the spanish

come in the rain preventing heavy artillery from being moved out into the coast. the slaves believed they just might have a chance. no records are right to tell us what charros i outside of encouragement in those final hours before they launched the revolt, but i want to reach of a passage from another revolt that has been a year later that leader said to his name in the final moments. i think it gives us an idea of what might've been said. this later took a plan team in a sharpened machete comest not supplanting with a machete and said this as i will try it for the stomachs of the way. in the wake of the uprising, planters only asked one slave wife he decided to revolt. and he said, i wanted to go to the city and killed the weights. certainly the violence was a precondition to black freedom. there is no way for them to secure independence for their emancipation of complete military control. otherwise the white military

forces americans in the planter militia to execute. this is a system of slavery at its most basic level, a system of violence, either kill or be killed. of the slaves made final prep dictation, men well and gilbert lay asleep in their beds and quarters decorated with family portraits and furniture imported from france. even the darkness man well plantation had a shadow, shielding from the rain. i don't know how many of you have traveled to the plantations, but they are beautiful. that wealth was known even after he was famous throughout the rest of the country. the french painters in new orleans were famous as the wealthiest and richest planters in all of north america. his sanitation still stands today said that without slavery, cultivation must seize the country be destroyed in the

great river resume its empire for the demolish sanitation. slaves built in new orleans and the slaves built the plantations of the german coast. slaves made the wealth that made new orleans a famous city. the city would not have survived. they built the levee that prevented the river from taking over new orleans. john wester him said that in 1806 and its truth remains resonant today. my while andrea woke a freight this morning 200 years ago. his advisor, his right-hand man, standing in his room with an ax, a plantation tool transmuted into an icon of violence and interaction. meanwhile andrei knew what to do. he ran. as he ran, they cut through like slices leaving scars he would bear for the rest of his life.

he saw the slave strafing their axes into body of this one, gilbert andre. manuel andre escaped and letting him go was the slave rebels first estate. first let me say something very interesting after killing gilbert andre. they went to the andre plantation and took out the militia uniforms and put them on. these are slaves donning the card of the military. they were described as very epaulet. they waved flags. this was a political -- politically motivated revolt. when they put on uniforms there making a statement. we are not slaves. we are no longer slaves. we are free men and will fight to death for freedom. it is set according to oral folklore here on the german coast but the slaves shed to

chance. one was on to new orleans and the other was freedom or death. the slaves began to march towards new orleans. a dimension they were wearing military uniforms and the flying flags, and beating drums and merchant information. these men were organized and sophisticated and knew what they were doing. not almost as soon as the revolt began, betrayals also started because the surest way to freedom and a slave society was not to participate in the revolt but to betray one. france while the tiny woke up and fight on the morning a few hours after manuel andre had been attacked. a slave named dominique told him there was a large number of rebel slaves pillaging the firms in killing way. upon a ordered dominique to travel and war and the other

planters to flee for their lives. he then ordered his wife and children to head to the swamp, jack in the swamps which had refuge for many escaped slaves and marines. but he did not see this plantation that day. he believed that he could defeat any ragtag band of slave rebels. he thought the slave army when it's a little, a mere group of criminals. his arrogance and contempt for his slaves was well known. it was reported he had a slave named gustav who treated like a dog, talking and table scraps under the table. so he was quite confident that he said a good chance of success against slave rebels. he did not have to wait on and what he saw most of any very big surprise. around the bend of the levee came the slave army dividing into companies, each under a

headman officer, like many militia uniforms administers plantation chanting beating drums, flying flags musket as many unhorsed taxes on food. displays quickly dispatched. it is said that gustav swung one of the axes. you can see his grave out along the river wrote this day. though in one example of historical anisha kameny books said that he beat back the slave revolt. one example of how violent the history that been written is. i want to zoom back into our lives, what is happening right here where we stand today about this time in the first warning came. the western edges of the city. as for the first to hear the news. within hours there is a traffic jam miles long of refugees, fleeing to the german coast. the slaves had formed a complete

evacuation of planters from the german coast. they were in control of the book 30 miles of coast from what is now the airport, was controlled by slaves. all of the white planters were fleeing in terror. the accounts are secret very surprised when correspondent. fear and panic made it not possible to estimate the force of the bergen. the residents of new orleans were utterly terrified because they too were the stories of hating him as a beacon of liberty or as a testament to political ideals, but rather as a warning about what would happen if the last control because the slave rebels that haiti had defeated 80%. they've got 80% at one of the great generals of europe had sent to fight them in france -- from france to fight them. just think about that one more

time. slave rebels bringing to their knees the enemies of one of the great generals of your. tell us what they feared. they feed the two would be brought to their knees and executed. now you might be wondering what chance do the slave rebels have of success? how close do they really come to conquering new orleans? i want to take you back to the primary sources to give you an idea what commodore john shaw content admiral in control of northern side of. commodore john shaw wrote that the 68 regular troops in new orleans were quote unquote a weak detachment. he went on to say all were on alert. general confusion and dismay prevailed throughout. scarcely a single person possessed a must-have for protection of himself and property. 68 regular troops, a weak detachment or protecting the defenseless city of unarmed

residents peered out against the slave army now numbering between 20500, fighting for their freedom in the marching towards the city. i don't know about you, but i think the outfit that point were on the side of the slave. know what happened next? the american military marched out into the field will play. they knew the survival of new orleans depended on the defeat of the slave army. and they came upon the slaves at 2:00 a.m. they could see light and new slaves for their. there is much evidence the slaves were camped out in the plantation resting and eating. general wade hampton, the american general ordered a full-scale attack after extensive preparation, they realize the slaves were all gone. it was a trick, a classic rouge. this is the first american

military to waste hours attacking an empty plantation. general wade hampton was so tired his men were so exhausted they could not proceed further. so they stopped to rest. not far from new orleans. this is a classic west african military west african militaries unique. you draw the enemy out from the center of power into a territory you know better and understand and wear down the enemy until they are destroyed. that's what the rebels of the taliban or intending to do. they marched up river. i mentioned earlier the slaves had made a mistake. they abut manuel andre lives. manuel andre crossed the river somehow. when he got to the other sites on the alert at the planters on that side of the river what was going on. these men gathered together a force designed to teach. the crust of the river about 40 or 59th and marched on the river. it was not long, sometime after sunrise on tomorrow, january

january 9th, that they encountered the slave army. as of the slaves are traveling at forrest march the very short distance as many mounted. what did the slave army do next? the spanish by new orleans wrote without the next. the black were not intimidated by this army uniform themselves in the line. they did not blink in the face of this militia. they formed themselves in the firing line, which is exactly the right thing to do from the military active. what are the slaves thinking at this moment? again will never know. but i want to read to you a quote from the slaves of thought from louisiana sugar plantation sysop award for his own freedom. he said, we are now fighting in a no more glorious death in today for freedom, before i race to go back into bondage again, to be hunted by dogs, through swamps, set upon the block and

sold for gold and silver, knowing gladly we would die first. in the slaves took their place in the firing line. we don't know exactly how the battle unfolded as many battles that was quickly engulfed with smoke and chaos inscriptions of the revolt or pure chaos. what happened next, either the slaves ran out of ammunition or they discharge their weapons too soon. and the plantar militia broke

their names were french, german, spanish, west african and anglo-american. politics of the slave workers with atlantic. there is no single ideology, no later that serve the agenda. rather the slave counted did the ranks mentz from revolutionary

hotbeds as congo, haiti and louisiana molin colonies in islam. but amidst this chaos and complexity, planters deigned only to assign the descriptor, guilty. the german coast uprising had raised serious questions in the orleans territory but the strength of american power, the extent of the spanish guy, the possibility of haitians to a revolution on american soil and about the character of america's newly acquired french citizen. the planters realized the urgency of the questions and answer them with 100 dismember corpses in a set of show trials intended peak to the local slave population. in letters to newspaper accounts, william claiborne, governor of the oregon territory and planters sought to rate the separate sound of history. they describe the slaves to break him, the depressed and enhance the division who have suppressed the rebel army, even though he had been resting in a

plantation a few miles away when the slaves encountered the militia. 200 years later on the bicentennial of this revolt, we must look back on this story. for despite the toxics, the story of the 1011 uprising is one central history. this is not just a story about black history or louisiana history. this is a story about american history. charles the wanda deserve a place in our historical past long country as well as other figures we know that today. these men saw violence as a means to an end they never realized, but they did not achieve those goals and that does not mean the sum total of the story was easily depressed. rather 200 years later we must reckon with the politics of the unsaved come with the world the slaves made here in new orleans

and with the humanity, bravery and heroism of the men who find dead for their liberty. on the understanding their stories can we come to understand the true history of this city, louisiana, the south in the nation. thank you. [applause] thank you. i'm happy to answer any questions about fiction. if you can come up to the microphone over here, it would be great. >> thank you for that excellent, excellent condition. my name is tina edmonds. i'm west african. i'm nigerian. and my question is, what was it that piqued your interest in writing this book? what was your motivation?

how did you see it tonight not editing? >> i started out in haskell taken investigative journalism in college studied american history. picking up on mentions of this revolt is that one in new orleans and there's nothing known about it. as a young man and as a journalist, that's her to raise my hackles. i said i want to figure out what happened. so i started doing a little research. my first question was why is this bowler slaver of american history sounds trivial. is that what further, i realized that those accounts were very biased and i wanted to write a counter narrative for truth of what happened. as they started to dig further relays this was a story, ultimately about the heroism of the men who resisted slavery a story of bravery, courage, men willing to to fight and die.

as a 23-year-old guy, that's a story that is easy to fall in love with. >> you know, let me -- there's two comments. the first one designed deferent. and i very much relate to some of those is having suffered for something you think should not have happened and you're willing to die. even as a 16-year-old, we all know it's about the oil in nigeria, being outside in the other site not getting it. so it's a kindred spirit, that type of thing. so i agreed a nice set i'm willing to die for this. the other comment i also want to make is one of the anthropology is news that i was evil. and she said to me, she said the

haitians and told a fascinating story of courage, of how people just refuse to be in a foreign land. because of that the sheep had to go back. and most of them really most of them are hebrews. in 2400 local issue, he's a sergeant. he saw people dress the way we dress at home. he saw people whose names are very close to what we had. i'm an asian french they say you know what, we can understand it even though we can't speak the language. so i'm standing at to see people are really the same in some form or another, whether it's true what they have suffered or with hair going through or what they know. and the sense of kindred spirit goes beyond race, go beyond

everything. whether it's an injustice like martin luther king said, when one of us is suffering and injustice, it's actually all of us are suffering and injustice. again, what to thank you. >> thank you for sharing that story. there's great admiration. one of my professors at harvard said to me, you know, we are talking about my interest in slavery. he said you know, there's a question about white people writing about slave history and by people writing the history of america. he said that's not what it abood. these are shared stories and whether white or black it's important we share those stories to come to understand them. so when the story, even though i might, i can think of no greater role models and charles deslondes and it's an inspiring story and wanted to share. >> i'm curious about how the revolts impacted people in new orleans. the three people of color, the

slaves to a lot of them got along pretty well at the people here, french, spanish. over the impacts after the revolts of the people in the city? >> absently, he was a free black militia as you might have known. after the revolt the government took new orleans, offered accommodation to the free black militia for not participating in the revolt. would be a participate of the slaves gotten closer? i don't know. but a severely date the free black militia would've gone on the side of the way planters. as to the impacts on the slaves -- you know, the slave quarters, i think that oral history still survives. and i met earlier today with some descendent of the rebel slaves who have kept the stories live. if you think the stories of life now here in the german coast, how much more powerful the story

must abandon 1820 reteam 30. or in 1860 come when the slaves in new orleans five and won their freedom, even at the emancipation prop nation specifically excluded the parishes from emancipation. i think the story and the martyrdom of the slaves in 1811 served as an inspiration and a really powerful store that resonated throughout slave quarters. in its immediate aftermath, the head turnpikes spread 40 miles out of the city's from the served as tremendous message. i mean, i can't imagine the sort of fear, feelings and emotions that must've incited the people sat around nervously, wondering what would happen next. >> as you know, the black native card was bought with the confederacy. it's interesting to think about with their posture might have been at that point. from same for those works was

identified with the wife and to identify what the creoles, considering different status, i can't envision them going along with the slaves who revolt at all. >> i appreciate that story. it's when you can speculate on. >> time to wait. i missed her talk yesterday at the library. he dedicated this is a story that's been pretty much buried in history, so it had to of been pretty difficult to to cover a lot of this. so what were some of the source materials you used and how did you come up with what she really wanted to find about this revolt? >> absently. the question is about my sources. this was a lot of work. it started first with gathering together every sort of description from planters, travelers to describe would have been revolt. the bulk of my work was with

plantar ledgers and statements of financial accounts on the court testimony. another ledgers or list. they'll say something like walker was spread over an 1806, buffer $600 and so does feel pain 1811. the court testimony will also say something. devos go on for pages and they are full of data, but it's all fragmentary. so what i did as they took all of those lists and put them into an excel database so you could cross-reference each slave and what they participated in the revolts, where they come from, what work they did on the plantation. and i took all planned not to knock those databases lan maps and so is literally sitting library with koreans. i would color it green or

orange. once i had the list of slaves, would have been, they participate, i would knew where things happen. the district piece together the temporal hooks and so i knew from the descriptions of planters and military officials in certain events happen and where work i'm using google maps to figure out how it would've taken to walk from one place to another so you can say this was 2:00 a.m. and 50 mouser here, this would've happened at this time. then i turn them out to fragmentary evidence that i figured out spatially into a chronological narrative. this whole process sounds simple, but it took about a year. once i'd done that, a layered on travelers accounts and other secondary sources about with slave labor fight for what what plantations loctite, et cetera, et cetera in order to build a picture of how the slaves would've felt or with the plantations of lake and down like in the sorts of things. it's piecing together a complex

mosaic of fragmentary evidence into a narrative. >> daniel, i'm amazed at the kind of tactical knowledge that the slave revolt pad. i'm curious and how do you surmise that she came up with this knowledge or came up with the type takes to read this, especially the organizational capabilities. >> absolutely coming? organizational ability. slave drivers were very aware of organizing large and complex groups of people. sugar planting is a very difficult thing to do. it requires immense technical skills, involve sophistication of the process of granulated sugars is one of the more industrial processes available at the time. and i charles the sophistication to run a plantation was very good or can it groups of people. so then the question becomes if we know these men were good

theaters, could organize and execute various large-scale movements and activities, where are they developing in the military perspective? how do they learn military type takes? now, there's been an excellent body of scholarship on the influence of west african military type geeks. 70% of the slaves here in new orleans have been brought over from africa either directly or friends transshipment pants leg. many of them captured more, so they were very familiar with especially the congolese mershon t. traditions of warfare. and most are present both in tahiti and in louisiana. finally a think as i mentioned earlier, the slaves are mentioned everywhere, watching what the planters did, how they behaved. i find it hard to believe they wouldn't have learned and understood from the discipline and movements of the white militia and the american military how exactly those groups for.

i spent a lot of time reading things like old entry manuals to try and figure out how military tactics worked at the time and what would make sense and how one fought a war with muskets of the sort. i was struck as they went to the sources just how correct the slaves movements were. it was really just need to come to the realization of how sophisticated the slaves were. yes, sir. >> i have a question about most of the plantations in this region being of french or spanish to send planters. when you compare the flavorful tear in the cultural issues with the slaves and also the plantation owners, did you see a difference between this region versus a more anglo plantation owner in other parts of the country in relation to things like ned turner and some other rebellions? >> the question was about regional differences. it will be the outcome of the slavery here was very different from the rest of the country in

one major way and that this is a sugar territory. they were not growing cotton or tobacco. among americans ways, this is known as the most brutal place in the american continent to be in a sugar plantation for roughly seven years. sugar planting requires 16 hour days of labor. one french planter wrote in his diary, how come we harvest sugar if we only work 16 hours a day? the answer he wrote is to consume men and animals. now is how the process of sugar planting went. and so just briefly to describe how they maintained order in this plantations, there were three primary most of punishments for the first was whipping. to take stakes in plant them in the legs to the third. -- to a third and then they would beat the slaves. others had torture devices,

including -- excuse me, including collars to prevent slaves from eating. finally they would kill or decapitate anyone they feared was involved in the dvd. so slavery here, whether french or american was incredibly brutal. part of that was because of the nature of sugar drowned in the immense fortunes to be crowned in the huge labor demands. part of that was because of the brutality necessary for the complexity of the slaves. i've been asked this question several times and i don't know no affinity with internet, but i'd like to go into it because it's one of the more interesting questions, which was, why if these planters on their slaves and they were responsible for producing wealth of work in a plantation with a wound or kill slaves? way when they want to keep them healthy? they want to treat them well.

it's a common misperception. slaveowners in the ideal world would want to treat their slaves well and treat them healthy. but the slaves were not very thrilled about being slaves. on the level of violence at the planters perforce two years was necessary to keep the slaves from revolting, working. there is no way to treat a slave very well and keep them healthy and not punish anyone and have them actually work on a sugar plantation slaves. in order to force the slaves they require tremendous brutality of violence in the very essence of slavery in its most basic level is the faith to the death essentially, you know, who will land, the planter with a slave. designing to the question? >> i like to know, are you

planning on breaking any other books about louisiana, new orleans history? when it comes to mind that you may be interested in was there was one of the largest -- in 1887, a sugar strake of the workers. it's another story that does not get much play in history books. i'm not particular topic seems to be perfect as a second part of debut trilogy about louisiana , new orleans, metro-area history. are you aware? >> i'm definitely aware of the event and i read about it. it is remarkable. i think some of that event since the testimony to how one to how one of the in this country. he think about what happens during reconstruction here in louisiana.

the same violent struggles continue. one of my favorite professors, my thesis advisor, she told me in 1865, when the slaves and richard slavery, what do they do? they organize political organizations. they get elected to congress. there's a massive emergence in 1865 or 1866. those were predated the emancipation. there is a tremendous level of political awareness and political organization, political debate within slave quarters. the political debate you see reflected again in reconstruction. when you let the level of violence with which sugar planters in new orleans even after the war were willing to use to continue and further their own economical twist on it. >> a couple of questions. he answered quite articulate before about the process of research. but where did you come by

villagers in the primary sources? >> pleasures are actually thanks to genealogist. harvard has a wonderful library and the genealogical pledgers were in the library at harvard so that was wonderful. >> the second part was about the writing process itself. if you talk about that and in terms of -- i have not read the book, how dense this was and whether this would be good for high school population. it's been absolutely, my thesis with academic and full of theory and i like to think about sorted the google maps burgeon asserted here is the overview of what happened and why. when i wrote this book it was sort of -- i don't know if he's grocery, all these analyses are the way i think about it. this technology has an impact in the way we think. so i've tried to this book as much as possible for a popular audience. my goal with this book was not to rate dry economic tracks, but

to reach his wife not if it's possible. i go with the book is to change the way we think about slavery and to make sure the revolt that specifically leaders are recognized every textbook on every high school history class, every elementary school class to discuss his labor. i don't see how you can talk about lavery, especially in louisiana without talking about the largest revolts in american history and leaders of this. i hope for me or know this won't be the end told story and i hope there'll be three or five or six more books about this revolt. so the book is written in a narrative style, which i hope will be engaging. it's hard for me to just plug my book and tell you it's well-written and illustrating it. but it's a total page turner and if you start reading it tonight, you probably won't stop until the morning when you finish it. [laughter] as to whether it's appropriate for high school students, i think absolutely.

i think the sooner people start to read and consider and deal with the truths of the past, the better they will be able to understand it, to make sure we don't make the same mistakes again. and so i spoke to eighth graders yesterday were incredibly engaged and asked some wonderful questions. and i don't think that this story is one that should be kept from children. in fact, i think of a young man, when i was younger, i would've loved to hear the story because too often when we think about slavery and when slavery is taught in schools, slavery is -- we are taught to think about the slaves as victims, to think about slavery guilty to a depressing. when we look back we feel ashamed and rightfully so. there also moments of hair with them like the 1811 revolt. the more we can recognize tremendous avery of the men to resist it, the more we can celebrate the past. the more we can look upon these

people as having some of the same ideals we struggled for today freedom and liberty, the more we can see that it's part of our story and relate to part of our story, rather than reading a narrative history that talks about what happened in washington d.c., thomas jefferson was talking about and who he was sleeping with and all that. the more we can move on to thinking about common people, people here working on slave plantations and what they contribute to the course of american history. the better understanding american history will be. yes sir, can you come up to the microphone please. trying to enforce the rules here. >> i actually had a couple questions. one was, what was going on in here because obviously there is a french revolution. when was slavery abolished in france and later in britain,

leaving the north americas slaveholders. the second thing was this interesting thing that she hinted that about a brutalized laxly of culture and coexisting within obvious view and knowledge were freed men of color who are armed and obviously identified with the white slave owners. further examples of black moses from the privileged classes trying to lead to revolts or franchise were brutalized, you know, compatriot? fino commented that out then? that also brings to mind, did manual ever, mr. baker ever

sorted for you feel what might have motivated his trusted slave driver to turn against him. you know, it's interesting speculation, a great novel airports motivated. >> it'd be a great movie. if you know any film producers let them>> it'd be a great movi. if you know any film producers let them know. to answer your first question, there associate the haitian revolution and the ideology and the tremendous impact on the french revolution. the group called the society of the friends of blacks who played a major role in the revolution and they were conversant and in touch with the rebels in haiti. by about 18 a way to reaching 10, by the time the revolution was occurring, britain had become the number one anti-slavery umpire in the world. the research ships on the high seas as britain no longer had slave colonies. there is no slavery and plant.

america was not isolated because they were huge slave plantation, which totally dwarfed what was going on here. new orleans was the slave atlantic. the second question was about the fascinating question of freed blacks in new orleans who had a position in society and whether they would have decided with the whites are slaves. i haven't spent enough time studying the question to give it the best possible answer, so i think i'll defer to other experts on that one. the third question about manuel andre in the slave owners, with a the slaves. and the fascinating reality is that the planters despite the revolt showed little interest

action. there are re-examination of whether it should continue. of course the secret of slavery is not part together profitable. here, new orleans is nothing. sugar planting is the basis of the society. so there is no similar soul-searching among the white population, as far as i can tell. rather there is an effort to rate history. and for some philosophers who speculated on this issue, her rights as questions come at the planters even conceive of what it happened? did they understand what was going on or did they really believe that these men were crazed criminals? there's a possibility they could you didn't understand humanity. save actions, the idea of politically engaged, at give, rock, black man standing at the very ideology that slaves were not people.

they think the minute the planters start to try to think about the politics, humanity of their slaves, it's a no go topic area for them. if they start to think about that, the entire ideology which forms the basis of advisor livelihood falls apart. how to planters think about slaves? 's about the same as an expensive car today. the difference however was that the slaves who as i said maybe seven or eight years recruit him for years. investment of baby food double your money. good sugar planter within eight years. it's tremendously, tremendously profitable. part of the face of all of that any in the face of all that history. i think was very hard for the planters to realize or understand what was going on or indeed deal with some of the moral lessons is raised. did i answer all of your

questions? okay, thanks. yes. >> a major part of your book is about the anisha of this event and the broader issue of the anisha in history. one thing interesting to me -- dominated the wonderland. after katrina, and a lot of residents of the neighborhood and region that didn't flood, one of the first things you heard on the media was in contrast to what happened in the superdome that newer have always gotten along well. you heard it over and over again. there's never a racial problem in new orleans. it brought to mind the question of, is it a cultural thing or in the broader context of history have you with at how certain events are recorded to become part of the culture, even if there's an adversary relationship versus one word is pushed aside? >> i talked a little bit about

this is a fascinating example of the topic he becomes a pet theory they are three ways in which an event he comes by later the first is an illiterate population does not write down what they did or why. so because slaves did not record thoughts, in some sense they will be forever lost in history a must to go through efforts to reclaim her try to figure out what they were thinking or saying. the second is that the process environment that archives are created. when someone decides these documents are worthy of protect data and keeping in savings and these documents are not. so even if the planters decided the diary should've been kept in a plantation or put in a bank or preserved at a courthouse? probably not. third moment of violence is when we return to archives. and so i think oftentimes people write stories for very explicit, political purposes and certainly

for the past 200 years some of those political purposes do not include exhuming this revolt. you know, make 100 doesn't resonate with her interest in what is to be american. people had trouble dealing with that or conceiving of how we should write about that for why that would be an important moment in our history. they think or at least i hope that now, my generation which grew up after the civil rights movement in an age where we have a black president i think what do things differently or at least i hope we do and sort of with a fresh eye. i certainly hope that will be true and we will start to uncover and bring up and learned about many more moments of her stories that have gone untold. >> i wanted to thank enough for a fascinating and enlightening

presentation. danielle, thank you very much. >> to find out more about daniel rasmussen in his book, visit his website, it rasmussen.net. >> well-known author kitty kelley has written about frank sinnott truck, nancy reagan, the bush family among other topics. and now opera. kitty kelley, does opera have a role in the political world? >> no question. being probably one of the most powerful women, she has immense power because she's a communicator and she influences millions and millions of people, just as president obama. really back in 2000 when george bush was running against al gore, poor ratings for much higher. after bush appeared