The New York Times is running a series that explores Haitian history. Corruption and American propping up of Papa Doc Duvalier (rightly) get a lot of blame. Something that was something I had no idea of was that when Haiti successfully rebelled against the French in 1804, the French demanded the Haitians pay reparations for "lost property" including slaves. I don't know if the series explains why the Haitians agreed to the demand, but agreeing meant that unlike the U.S. Haiti started off with a crushing debt that hamstrung its economy. Haiti was also a pariah state since the U.S. was a long way from eliminating slavery and Britain didn't want to give Jamaica and Barbados any uppity ideas. It's paywalled, but it's an interesting look at some history that deserves to be remembered.
As for why Haiti agreed to the payments, it's more like "agreed" ... after being persuaded by a whole bunch of French warships of their coast. It was basically armed robbery. It's a pretty striking illustration of how a single injustice can echo down multiple generations.
