Cécile Fatiman was born to an African slave woman and a White Corsican man, and was sold as a slave to the French colony of Saint Domingue in the Caribbean. Cécile was a mambo, which is a high priestess in voodoo whose primary responsibility lies in maintaining the rituals and relationship between the spirits and the community. As a mambo Cécile presided over a ceremony with hougon Dutty Boukman at the Bois Caïman in August 1791. This voodoo ceremony encompassed both a religious ritual and a meeting that planned a slave rebellion against the French planters in Northern Saint-Domingue. During this ceremony Cécile cut the throat of a pig an offered its blood to the attendees, and appeared to be possessed by the goddess Erzulie. Along with Dutty Bouman she urged the audience to take vengeance against their French oppressors and “cast aside the image of the God of the oppressors”. It was also prophesized that that the slaves Jean François, Biassou, and Jeannot would be leaders of a resistance movement and revolt that would free the slaves of Saint-Domingue. After, the ceremony at Bois Caïman Northern Saint-Domingue was in destruction as slaves violently burned and killed across the region.
On January 1, 1804 Saint-Domingue became the independent Republic of Haiti, the first Black-led republic in the world. Haitian independence had a profound effect on the histories of both Europe and the Americas. The successful Haitian Revolution inspired other Latin American nations to launch their own liberation movements. It also helped double the size of the United States because it led France to sell the Louisiana territory to the United States because of its impending war with Great Britain and the slave revolt in Haiti.
Not only was Cécile instrumental in the creation of the Haiti she later became a First Lady through her marriage to President Louis Michel Pierrot. As a First Lady she was the most visible woman in her country and served as a role model at the time. It is also important to note that her role in the Haitian revolution gave her husband the opportunity to run for a political office because of the success of the slave revolt.
Cécile Fatiman was a warrior that drove the slaves of Saint Domingue to fight for their freedom and break their chains of repression. She did not slaughter anyone with machetes or fought in battle, but it was her spiritual guidance and power that led other slaves to do so. Cecile Fatiman has had a huge impact on the world, and still is highly respected in the Haitian culture today. Haitians from across the diaspora still pay tribute to her and other notable revolutionary figures by partaking in the tradition of eating Soup Joumou on New Years Day as a tribute to the newly freed slaves who ate the previously forbidden soup on the first day of independence. Haitians have continued this tradition as a way to show their forever gratitude to the fearless and courageous leaders who led them out of French repression. If it were not for individuals like Cécile Fatiman who knows how much longer slavery in the Western Hemisphere would have lasted. It is truly amazing that she was apart of the planning of the most successful slave rebellion in the world. This is why Cécile Fatiman is the Radical Change Agent for the Council for Change.
