Inside the Kingdom of Hayti, 'the Wakanda of the Western Hemisphere' Marlene Daut , University of Virginia January 23, 2019 6.47am EST Marvel’s blockbuster “ Black Panther ,” which recently became the first superhero drama to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award , takes place in the secret African Kingdom of Wakanda. The Black Panther, also known as T’Challa, rules over this imaginary empire – a refuge from the colonialists and capitalists who have historically impoverished the real continent of Africa. But fans of the box-office hit might not realize that they don’t need to look to the make-believe world of the Black Panther to find a modern-day black kingdom that aspired to be a safe haven from racism and inequality. The fictional kingdom has a real-life corollary in the historic Kingdom of Hayti, which existed as a sort of Wakanda of the Western Hemisphere from 1811 to 1820. The Haitian Revolution led to the creation of the ...