Teaching

Source Collection: Pennsylvania Newspapers React to Refugees from Haitian Revolution

Michael Caraballo

Overview

These newspaper articles report on the situation of the white and Black refugees fleeing Haiti because of the uprising. The articles detail how the cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia met the influx of these refugees.

Essay

How did some Americans respond to the Haitian Revolution, the most successful slave revolt in history? How might the early republic of America have dealt with the influx of white, Black, and biracial immigrants fleeing St. Dominique? How do newspaper entries depict the influx of migrants coming to America and the battles in St. Dominique? 

The three selected sources were published in the Pennsylvania Gazette were published in October 1791, July 1793, and December 1797, providing a narrative surrounding the Haitian Revolution, the wealthy migrants, and the reactions of the “French Negros,” through the lens of the United States’ first refugee crisis. Starting in 1791, the Pennsylvania Gazette published multiple articles describing the early days of the revolution. Two years following this article, the Pennsylvania Gazette ran a letter discussing the influx of White colonist refugees in Baltimore, Maryland comparing it to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which is described as a “refuge for distressed allies.” Finally, the 1797 Gazette article detailed a failed insurrection by “French Negroes“ in Charleston, South Carolina. Although published a couple years apart from one another; the relationship between these three articles define how Black and white refugees were treated within North and Southern States and further reflect the disparity between some states’ solidarity and others wariness. 

Some key elements of these articles to highlight for student discourse can include annotating the articles for words that may evoke emotional responses from readers and how those words might sway them to think one way or another. Another way to interact with these primary sources is by asking students how these articles may or may not shape the United States’ dealing with slave insurrection in the near future. Comparing and contrasting the depictions of the Black and white people referenced in these three Gazette articles is another way to enlighten discussion on how news shapes ideas of race, social, or economic class structures in the early republic United States.

Primary Sources

The Pennsylvania Gazette: Magnitude of the Insurrection (12 October 1791)

Annotation
The magnitude of the Haitian insurrection quickly became clear as alarmed observers related that considerable armies were being raised to fight the rebels. It is noteworthy that such reports even to northern U.S. newspapers expressed little sympathy for the rebels.

The Pennsylvania Gazette: White Refugees (17 July 1793)

Annotation
This newspaper article reports sympathetically on the situation of the white refugees fleeing Haiti because of uprising. The articles details how the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia met the influx of these refugees.

The Pennsylvania Gazette: Free blacks and mulattos flee (4 December 1793)

Annotation
Along with whites, free blacks and mulattos were also among those who fled the Haitian uprising. Mulattos could own slaves and plantations, and many of them did. Free blacks often manned the militias used to hunt down runaway slaves. Like the white settlers, both groups therefore had reason to flee. But, as this source relates, states such as South Carolina feared the consequences of their influence on the state’s own slave population.

The Pennsylvania Gazette: U.S. Vigilance (13 December 1797)

Annotation
The Haitian uprising stoked the fears of whites in the United States that a similar uprising would occur among enslaved populations in their country. This article relates how vigilance remained at a high pitch and rumors of rebellion were enough to cause a virtual panic as slaveowners dreaded the possible importation of rebellion from Saint Domingue.

Document Based Question

How do these articles relate and differ from one another when describing the events of the Haitian Revolution?

How might the articles change people perceptions of white and Black French refugees?

How might have the events of the Haitian Revolution refugee crisis shaped American's perceptions of future international crises?

Bibliography

Babb, W. C. (1954). French Refugees From Saint Domingue To The Southern United States: 1791-1810. Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection. (302018862). Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/french-refugees-saint-domingue-southern-united/docview/302018862/se-2.

Blackburn, Robin. “Haiti, Slavery, and the Age of the Democratic Revolution.” The 
William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 4, 2006, pp. 643–674. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4491574.

Foreman, Nicholas. “The History of the United States’ First Refugee Crisis.” 
Smithsonian Magazine. January 2016. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-united-states-first-refugee-crisis-180957717/.

Knight, Franklin. “The Haitian Revolution.” The American Historical Review, vol. 105. 
Oxford University. (February, 2000).
 

Lundy, Garvey F. “Early Saint Domingan Migration to America and the Attraction of Philadelphia.” Journal of Haitian Studies 12, no. 1 (2006): 76–94. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41716763. 

Credits

Michael Caraballo, Intern for the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

How to Cite This Source

"Source Collection: Pennsylvania Newspapers React to Refugees from Haitian Revolution," in World History Commons, https://worldhistorycommons.org/source-collection-pennsylvania-newspapers-react-refugees-haitian-revolution [accessed October 14, 2025]

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