Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life

About this book

The definitive biography of the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture leader of the only successful slave revolt in world history Toussaint Louvertures life was one of hardship triumph and contradiction. Born into bondage in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) the richest colony in the Western Hemisphere he witnessed first-hand the torture of the enslaved population. Yet he managed to secure his freedom and establish himself as a small-scale planter. He even purchased slaves of his own. In Toussaint Louverture Philippe Girard reveals the dramatic story of how Louverture transformed himself from lowly freedman to revolutionary hero. In 1791 the unassuming Louverture masterminded the only successful slave revolt in history. By 1801 he was general and governor of Saint-Domingue and an international statesman who forged treaties with Britain France Spain and the United States-empires that feared the effect his example would have on their slave regimes. Louvetures ascendency was short-lived however. In 1802 he was exiled to France dying soon after as one of the most famous men in the world variously feared and celebrated as the "Black Napoleon." As Girard shows in life Louverture was not an idealist but an ambitious pragmatist. He strove not only for abolition and independence but to build Saint-Domingues economic might and elevate his own social standing. He helped free Saint-Domingues slaves yet immediately restricted their rights in the interests of protecting the islands sugar production. He warded off French invasions but embraced the cultural model of the French gentility. In death Louverture quickly passed into legend his memory inspiring abolitionist black nationalist and anti-colonialist movements well into the 20th century. Deeply researched and bracingly original Toussaint Louverture is the definitive biography of one of the most influential people of his era or any other.