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This article represents an attempt at a comprehensive account of the life of Juste Chanlatte, an essential figure of early independent Haiti. Born a free man of color in colonial Saint-Domingue, Chanlatte was among the earliest to join the armed struggle to gain civil rights for his socio-racial class in 1791, but his reputation comes mostly from his writings and publications in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution. Chanlatte became a prominent civil servant in the early years of independence, acting as secretary to the country’s first head of state, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and then to Henry Christophe, who would become king of Haiti. In his capacity at the court he authored not only pamphlets and official communications but also poems and some of Haiti’s first plays. Chanlatte survived the collapse of Christophe’s regime in 1820 and lived the rest of his life as a dignitary of the Republic of Haiti, participating in the negotiations and ceremonies that secured France’s recognition of the island’s independence.