06/10/2026
Born in Verrettes around 1781, Suzanne “Sanité” Bélair became one of the women who took part in the armed struggle against colonial rule. She married Charles Bélair, an officer close to Toussaint Louverture, in 1796.
In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte sent an expedition commanded by General Charles Leclerc to regain control of Saint-Domingue. Toussaint was captured and deported. With emancipation under threat, Sanité and Charles joined renewed resistance in the mountains of the Artibonite.
Their story reveals the divisions within the revolution. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who would later lead Haiti to independence, was still serving the French when the couple was captured. He ordered their transfer to Leclerc.
Sanité had been seized during a surprise attack. Charles subsequently surrendered. A French military commission at Le Cap, today Cap-Haïtien, sentenced both to death. Charles was condemned to a firing squad; Sanité, because she was a woman, was sentenced to beheading.
According to historian Thomas Madiou’s account, published decades later, she encouraged Charles to face death courageously, refused a blindfold and resisted being positioned for beheading. She demanded and ultimately received ex*****on by firing squad.
On October 5, 1802, both were killed. Sanité never saw the independent Haiti proclaimed on January 1, 1804.
Remembering her brings women’s participation in the revolution into view. They fought, organized and faced the same colonial repression as their male comrades. Sanité’s place in Haitian history rests on that struggle and on her refusal to submit, even at the moment of death.
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