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Sanité Belair, heroine of independence, was executed 224 years ago.
Two hundred and twenty-four years ago, on October 5, 1802, Sanité Belair fell under the bullets of a firing squad in Cap. A revolutionary and officer in Toussaint Louverture's army, she remains one of the great heroines of the fight for Haiti's independence.
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By NAGO News
2 min read
An Emancipated Woman Becomes an Officer
Born Suzanne Bélair in Verrettes in 1781, she was an emancipated woman who was nicknamed Sanité. In 1796, she married Charles Bélair, Toussaint Louverture's nephew, aide-de-camp, and lieutenant. Engaged in the Haitian Revolution, she became a sergeant and then a lieutenant, facing French troops of the Saint-Domingue expedition. She encouraged her husband to join the independence fighters.
The Insurrection of Artibonite
In August 1802, the couple took up arms in the mountains of Verrettes against General Leclerc's expedition, which was sent to reinstate slavery. They rallied the population of Artibonite, and women fought alongside them. The insurgents first occupied the heights of Artibonite.
Leclerc sent Jean-Jacques Dessalines against them. The insurgents had to retreat into the woods, and Sanité Belair was captured by the French. Charles Belair surrendered in an attempt to save her. Both were taken to Cap, in chains.
The Trial and Death
A military commission chaired by Clervaux unanimously condemned them to death. Charles Belair was to be shot, and Sanité Belair decapitated. On the day of execution, she demanded to die like a soldier. The executioner could not make her bow her head on the block, and an officer of the detachment had her shot.
She is counted among the four most symbolic heroines of the 1804 independence, along with Catherine Flon, Cécile Fatiman, and Dédée Bazile. Her portrait appears on the ten gourde bill issued in 2004. In 2022, she was the main character in Dust Opera, a play by Jean D'Amérique.
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