Silencing the past? I didnt even know parts of this exsisted

While I am even less then casual student of Caribbean history, I was aware that there was a Haitian Revolution that ended in 1804.   I knew nothing of the Sans Pouci or even how immerse it was in size or the human toll it took to build. I am also ashamed that I had forgotten that there was King of Haiti for a time named Henri Christophe.  I only remember him in passing from a old history text book in high school. But that's where it stops for the most part.  But, I  knew about the massacre of the white French population.  I knew that 1 out of every 5 or 6 white French Haitian were killed and the rest fled the island as fast as they could.  This is the story that I remember as it was the one that I was taught.  I actually had a question on in that same class in high school.  That was the take-away - the whites were killed - end of story.

Trouillot's work was a right-to-the-point account of what is left out in the story or what might be lost in the facts.  Using the history of the Alamo brought into perspective a better understanding of what facts might be missing or how ones view point can be glorified.  The end line of "While some debate what history is or was, others take it in their own hands", sums up the examples he uses for the Haitian Revolution, the landing of Columbus or even the Alamo.  History, while full of facts doesn't always represent the true.