Vocabulary in Checking Out Me History

Caribbean Creole/dialect form of 'them,' used here to refer to the colonial educators who controlled what the speaker was taught. It carries a distancing tone, marking those people as outsiders imposing their will.

Caribbean Creole spelling of 'what,' reflecting the spoken dialect of the narrator. Its use signals that the poem is written in the speaker's own voice, not in the language of his colonisers.

Caribbean idiom meaning to strike back, defeat, or push back against someone. Here it describes Toussaint's military victory over Napoleon's forces.

A large organised unit of soldiers, typically several hundred strong. In this poem it refers to the military force Napoleon sent to crush the Haitian uprising.

The ability to imagine and plan for a future that does not yet exist. The poem uses it to show that Toussaint could see beyond his enslaved condition toward freedom and nationhood.

A guiding light or source of inspiration that others can follow, especially in dark or difficult times. The poem uses it to honour Toussaint as a symbol of hope for the Haitian Revolution.

A persistent source of pain, trouble, or irritation to someone powerful. Calling Toussaint 'a thorn' to Napoleon means he was a constant, sharp obstacle the empire could not remove.

A member of a community of self-liberated enslaved Africans and their descendants who escaped plantations and established free settlements, especially in Jamaica. Nanny of the Maroons led one such community in armed resistance.

Actively creating or shaping something for oneself through effort and determination, as a sculptor cuts a form from raw material. The speaker uses it to say he is deliberately constructing his own sense of self.

A person's understanding of who they are — their culture, history, and sense of self. In this poem it is something the speaker must reclaim because colonial education tried to erase it.

Investigating or actively looking into something for oneself. The speaker uses it to mean he is now seeking out and examining his own history rather than accepting what he was told.

A nation governed by elected representatives of its people rather than by a monarch or colonial power. 'First Black Republic' refers to Haiti becoming the first nation led by formerly enslaved Black people.