Hello and welcome to This Day from Radiotopia. My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, March 1811, a freedom fighter by the name of Henri Christoph, who had been a key player in the

Haitian independence movement, ascends to the title of King of Haiti

and installs a constitutional monarchy. The kingdom of Haiti would not last for many years,

you know, a generation at most, and King Henri was the only monarch to rule the kingdom of Haiti,

and he has long been a fascinating and misunderstood character.

We've discussed the Haitian Revolution on this show.

A bunch talked about how it inspired slave rebellions here in the U.S. But let's talk about the kind of phase just after that.

As Haiti builds its new country,

and here we are talking about a freedom fighter turned king

and what the U.S. made of a black king so close to its shores.

Here, as always, Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley.

Hello there.

Hello, dirty.

Hey there.

And our special guest for this episode is Marlina Doubt, professor of French, African-American studies and history at Yale.

Her recently published book is The first and last king of Haiti.

It is all about Henri Christoph Marlina.

Thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm delighted to be here.

You have three jobs.

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