Enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, led by Dutty Boukman, held a Vodou ceremony that became a pivotal act of resistance. This gathering sparked a mass uprising against slavery, marking the beginning of the Haitian Revolution.

Saint-Domingue was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer specifically to the Spanish-held Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, now the Dominican Republic. The borders between the two were fluid and changed over time until they were finally solidified in the Dominican War of Independence in 1844.