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Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life
Toussaint Louverture’s life was one of hardship, triumph, and contradiction. He was born a slave on Saint-Domingue yet earned his freedom and established himself as a small-scale planter. He even purchased slaves of his own.
Philippe Girard shows how Louverture transformed himself from lowly freedman into revolutionary hero as the mastermind of the bloody slave revolt of 1791. By 1801, Louverture was governor of the colony where he had once been a slave. But his lifelong quest to be accepted as a member of the colonial elite ended in despair: he spent the last year of his life in a French prison cell. His example nevertheless inspired anticolonial and black nationalist movements well into the twentieth century.
Based on voluminous primary-source research, conducted in archives across the world and in multiple languages, Toussaint Louverture is the definitive biography of one of the most influential men in history.
Philippe Girard shows how Louverture transformed himself from lowly freedman into revolutionary hero as the mastermind of the bloody slave revolt of 1791. By 1801, Louverture was governor of the colony where he had once been a slave. But his lifelong quest to be accepted as a member of the colonial elite ended in despair: he spent the last year of his life in a French prison cell. His example nevertheless inspired anticolonial and black nationalist movements well into the twentieth century.
Based on voluminous primary-source research, conducted in archives across the world and in multiple languages, Toussaint Louverture is the definitive biography of one of the most influential men in history.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published November 22, 2016
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February 6, 2019
The figure of Toussaint Louverture seems to grow larger as time goes on. The leader of the Haitian Revolution, Louverture has been alternately depicted as a Spartacus-like figure who avenged the victims of slavery, or a calculating politician who intended to hold the slave system in place while reengineering it to benefit a new black elite. Both of these depictions are too simplistic. In this biography, Philippe Girard does an admirable job of recreating Louverture's life. In doing so he paints a more complicated yet ultimately still impressive picture of a man who rose from slave origins to challenge the most powerful empire of his time.
Much of Louverture's pre-political life is difficult to know. This is due to the very fact that he was a slave. He himself did not want to discuss it and his memoir mentions that entire period of his life with the single haunting phrase, "I was slave. I dare to announce it." The military phase of the revolution did not even begin until Louverture was 50 years old, by then a relatively elderly freedman (the details of how he gained his freedom is similarly obscure) in a colony where he was already nearing the peak of life expectancy. For the period of his life when he was in bondage as well as his family background, the book relies on reconstructions of slave life in Haiti and Louverture's parents origins in the West African kingdom of Allada, which is located in present-day Benin. It is notable that today Louverture is honored in that country with a giant statue. Many Haitians can in fact trace their lineages back to Allada, a knowledge that is denied to most African-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans of the British empire.
I have always been curious as to how a slave uprising was able to arm, train and organize itself to the point where it defeated a powerful European empire in battle. To be honest this book glosses over the subject and I was not much more enlightened as to how the Haitians organized themselves. Essentially a small elite of freedmen were the leaders of the revolt, but how they managed arms, communication and training remains mysterious. From a military standpoint, Louverture clearly proved himself to be a capable general. Among other things he cunningly used time and the natural environment as a deliberate weapon to wipe out European armies, which he knew could not last long in the tropical climate.
The French Revolution, occurring around the same time as the revolution in Haiti, also played a huge role in the victory of the former slaves. The revolution in Paris inspired the Haitians, many of whom were aware of its universal tenets. It also divided the French as to whether they could continue holding their black subjects in unfreedom. The revolution threw France into domestic turmoil and hampered its ability to mount an effective military response. Some in France had already been pushing for abolition and the uprising in Haiti gave another strong nudge to these efforts.
For a time the French tried to reconcile with the black revolutionaries, who were also initially willing to accept freedom and equal rights within the empire. After much back and forth and several wars fought using black soldiers against the British and Spanish empires in the Caribbean, the French eventually showed themselves to be constitutionally incapable of accepting the rights of their black subjects. They were unable to deal with men like Louverture as equals in the long-term. This was a tragedy both for Haiti and for France.
Contrary to popular belief, Louverture was not an undeterrable radical. In fact he was a wise and pragmatic man, even at the expense of alienating his followers who understandably desired to avenge themselves on their former slave-masters. Louverture brutally suppressed several anti-white uprisings by his followers, which alienated them while failing to truly win the support of the French metropole. He desired the recognition and respect of Europeans and attempted to reach agreements with them on equal terms rather than seeking vengeance at all costs. For this he was later held up by abolitionists in the United States as the quintessential example of a moderate free black political leader. This is not how we tend to think of him today.
In the end Louverture was betrayed by Napoleon (who refused to recognize him as an equal during his lifetime, though later had some kind words to say about the Haitian general while he was in his own prison cell) and died a miserable death in a prison cell in France. In his absence, it was in fact Jean-Jacques Dessalines who emerged as the truest radical of Haitian black nationalism. Dessalines declared total independence from the French empire with the words "Independence or death...Anathema to the French name, eternal hatred to France, that is our cry." He renamed the island then known as Saint Domingue as "Haiti," a word taken from the language of its former Taino inhabitants. Whereas Louverture had died insisting on his rights as a Frenchman, Dessalines radically broke from the empire. It was an understandable and likely inevitable decision given all that had occurred since the uprising began. Yet it set Haiti down a lonely and difficult path that it is still traversing today.
I found this to be an excellent history, accounting for the necessarily difficult task of finding sources about the origins of a man who was born as a slave. Louverture was only a number on a spreadsheet for most of his life, recorded in the slave column next to livestock and crop figures. In the end he showed that the world that he was a man, and history remembers him as such. He was however a much more nuanced than the avenging figure we tend to think of him as. This book does a valuable service in shedding light on Louverture as he actually existed. He was a flawed, pragmatic genius, and ultimately a tragic hero.
Much of Louverture's pre-political life is difficult to know. This is due to the very fact that he was a slave. He himself did not want to discuss it and his memoir mentions that entire period of his life with the single haunting phrase, "I was slave. I dare to announce it." The military phase of the revolution did not even begin until Louverture was 50 years old, by then a relatively elderly freedman (the details of how he gained his freedom is similarly obscure) in a colony where he was already nearing the peak of life expectancy. For the period of his life when he was in bondage as well as his family background, the book relies on reconstructions of slave life in Haiti and Louverture's parents origins in the West African kingdom of Allada, which is located in present-day Benin. It is notable that today Louverture is honored in that country with a giant statue. Many Haitians can in fact trace their lineages back to Allada, a knowledge that is denied to most African-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans of the British empire.
I have always been curious as to how a slave uprising was able to arm, train and organize itself to the point where it defeated a powerful European empire in battle. To be honest this book glosses over the subject and I was not much more enlightened as to how the Haitians organized themselves. Essentially a small elite of freedmen were the leaders of the revolt, but how they managed arms, communication and training remains mysterious. From a military standpoint, Louverture clearly proved himself to be a capable general. Among other things he cunningly used time and the natural environment as a deliberate weapon to wipe out European armies, which he knew could not last long in the tropical climate.
The French Revolution, occurring around the same time as the revolution in Haiti, also played a huge role in the victory of the former slaves. The revolution in Paris inspired the Haitians, many of whom were aware of its universal tenets. It also divided the French as to whether they could continue holding their black subjects in unfreedom. The revolution threw France into domestic turmoil and hampered its ability to mount an effective military response. Some in France had already been pushing for abolition and the uprising in Haiti gave another strong nudge to these efforts.
For a time the French tried to reconcile with the black revolutionaries, who were also initially willing to accept freedom and equal rights within the empire. After much back and forth and several wars fought using black soldiers against the British and Spanish empires in the Caribbean, the French eventually showed themselves to be constitutionally incapable of accepting the rights of their black subjects. They were unable to deal with men like Louverture as equals in the long-term. This was a tragedy both for Haiti and for France.
Contrary to popular belief, Louverture was not an undeterrable radical. In fact he was a wise and pragmatic man, even at the expense of alienating his followers who understandably desired to avenge themselves on their former slave-masters. Louverture brutally suppressed several anti-white uprisings by his followers, which alienated them while failing to truly win the support of the French metropole. He desired the recognition and respect of Europeans and attempted to reach agreements with them on equal terms rather than seeking vengeance at all costs. For this he was later held up by abolitionists in the United States as the quintessential example of a moderate free black political leader. This is not how we tend to think of him today.
In the end Louverture was betrayed by Napoleon (who refused to recognize him as an equal during his lifetime, though later had some kind words to say about the Haitian general while he was in his own prison cell) and died a miserable death in a prison cell in France. In his absence, it was in fact Jean-Jacques Dessalines who emerged as the truest radical of Haitian black nationalism. Dessalines declared total independence from the French empire with the words "Independence or death...Anathema to the French name, eternal hatred to France, that is our cry." He renamed the island then known as Saint Domingue as "Haiti," a word taken from the language of its former Taino inhabitants. Whereas Louverture had died insisting on his rights as a Frenchman, Dessalines radically broke from the empire. It was an understandable and likely inevitable decision given all that had occurred since the uprising began. Yet it set Haiti down a lonely and difficult path that it is still traversing today.
I found this to be an excellent history, accounting for the necessarily difficult task of finding sources about the origins of a man who was born as a slave. Louverture was only a number on a spreadsheet for most of his life, recorded in the slave column next to livestock and crop figures. In the end he showed that the world that he was a man, and history remembers him as such. He was however a much more nuanced than the avenging figure we tend to think of him as. This book does a valuable service in shedding light on Louverture as he actually existed. He was a flawed, pragmatic genius, and ultimately a tragic hero.
May 6, 2017
Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life, by Philip Girard, is a biographical account of the life, rise to power, and fall of Toussaint Louverture, the revolutionary Haitian leader who overthrew the French colonial government in the French Colony of Saint-Domingue and ruled as an autocratic "Governor General" until his overthrow and capture by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. Louverture was a mixed character throughout his life. He was born a slave to parents who were nobility in the tribe they were taken from, in the Gold Coast region of Africa. This gave his family an air of nobility in Saint-Domingue, a colony beset by numerous racial, class and social divisions. The colony he was born in was the biggest producer of sugar in the world, and at the time, this required numerous slave workers to operate on plantations in order to turn a profit. Hundreds of thousands of slaves were brought to the colony from Africa, and the population ratio of slave to white colonist was vastly skewed in the slaves favour. This led to perennial fears of slave uprisings, which often led to harsh repression of slave restiveness from colonial planters, plantation owners and managers. Torture and summary execution were the norm for slaves suspected of wrongdoing. Even though legal means for slaves to fight against unjust accusations existed on paper in the court system, this tool was rarely used due to fear of retribution by angry whites, and to favouritism for planters amongst the colonies judiciary.
Louverture was born into this system of repression. He started first as a normal slave - planting and processing sugar cane, but soon came to be recognized as a skilled animal handler. He kept the Breda plantation, in the Northern region of Cap, and eventually gained a privileged position as a carriage driver. He was reportedly an outspoken and charismatic figure, and made close friends with both fellow slaves and white plantation managers. This network of contacts would serve him well in the future. Louverture also grew up a staunch Catholic, and disliked the growing influence of traditional African religion in Saint-Domingue, and its mixture with Christian doctrine.
Girard notes Louverture's early life is not well documented, and is name appeared little in written records before his rise to power. Even so, biographical accounts of his life by close supporters and dissenters, and newly discovered records in France, reveal interesting tidbits of his life. Louverture was freed from slavery in his 40's, possibly due to his close connection and friendship with his plantations managers. Louverture, as a freed black man, was still subject to racial prejudice on the colony - "Big" whites (plantation owners and colonial elite), and "little whites" (local residents, colons and various staff) both looked down on people of different background. This became increasingly an issue in 1780's Saint-Domingue, which began to experience social upheaval akin to the growing revolutionary movement in mainland France. As enlightenment ideas became the norm in revolutionary France, colonial whites began to entrench themselves in racism, violence and terror, and used these tools to try and retain autonomy or independence in order to protect the racialized slave system in Saint-Domingue. This repression led to a natural swing in the other direction, as outraged slaves and freed blacks raged against rising injustice. Slave revolts soon became the norm, and other forms of resistance, including assassinations, labour strikes and such soon became prevalent. Saint-Domingue, like mother France, was slipping into chaos.
Louverture was initially reluctant to join the revolutionary side. He had a vested interest in the current system, as he had gone into business with his old managers, running a small subsistence farm as well as a fair sized coffee plantation, and even buying slaves himself. His first priority at the time appeared to be freeing his large family. He bought freedom for his sons, his wife, his brother in law, and so on. Even so, after some particularly gruesome events involving the execution of friends, Louverture decided to gingerly and cautiously join in. He initially kept to the sidelines of the revolution, letting other leaders take charge militarily while he utilized his extensive network of family and contacts in Cap to generate support for a rebellion. Eventually, however, Louverture joined the fray - he moved to Western Saint-Domngue, near the border with Spanish Santo Domingo, and launched operations against French colonials, French troops, and a wide array of British and Spanish occupiers. The rebels quickly went from insurgents, to Spanish agents, and back to French soldiers as the political system in France proper changed. Louverture was at first third wheel in a triumvirate of insurgent rebels, but soon over the reigns due to his contact with Spanish and French government agents. His soldiers successfully invaded large swathes of the colony, and expelled first British, and then turning on the Spanish, Spanish forces from Saint-Domingue. Louverture then broke with his fellow revolutionaries, switching his allegiance back to France.
At this point (mid 1790's) Louverture began to take more and more power in Saint-Domingue. Initially an agent of the French government, he began to fight off rebel rivals and consolidate his grip on the colony. He intimidated French government officials from the mainland, staging mock protests, and even going so far as to subject them to mock executions, to show who was in charge. He paid lip service to his superiors on paper, and refused to reduce troop numbers in the colony even when peace was made with Britain and Spain in the area. He sent in soldiers and capture the entire colony of Santo Domingo in 1801 and proclaimed an end to slavery then. He ruled his territory much like Napoleon in France - by writ and dictate. He had a tireless energy, and a was constantly reading and dictating letters to his subordinates. He would arrive in far flung administrative areas for surprise inspection, and brokered no insubordination. When his style for economic recovery of the area - the creation of paid indentured servitude for former slaves (nominally the same as slavery in many accounts) backfired and a revolt began in the Cap region, he sent in troops and had over 5000 of the culprits executed. His overthrow came soon after - as he consolidated his grip in Saint-Domingue, Napoleon sent in troops and captured Louverture in 1802. Louverture die in a French prison in 1803, trying to profess his innocence through the writing of a memoir addressed to Napoleon himself. It fell on deaf ears, and he passed away in his cell soon after.
Louverture is seen as the revolutionary son of modern Haiti. Even so, he never outright proclaimed independence from France (this would happen after his death) and cultivated strong ties with white and colonial elite throughout his life. He proclaimed the end of slavery in both modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic, but still promoted a surprisingly similar form of labour servitude in sugar plantations as a means of economic recovery. He exercised brutal countermeasures against rivals, but also offered forgiveness for many of his most hated enemies, including former plantation managers. Louverture was, in effect, a political realist to his core. Much like his contemporary, Napoleon, he took advantage of an atmosphere of political chaos and violence as a means to take power and try and restore order. Like Napoleon, he did so, albeit briefly. Louverture's story is so interesting because he did all these things, while remaining a former slave and a black man - both extremely taboo at the time. He broke new ground, and was and remains an iconic figure for both old anti-colonial revolutionaries and modern social rights activists.
Girard's book was an interesting and well written account of the life and times of Toussaint Louverture. The man was an interesting and authoritative figure who irreversibly altered the history of the region, and encouraged a domino effect of anti-colonial and anti-slavery movements in the region and abroad. Girard highlights both these aspects, and the more authoritative aspects of Louverture's political rule. He himself owned slaves at one point. He was friendly with older regime individuals, and never really considered independence until late into his rule. Even so, his efforts to end slavery, even if only on paper, were a huge step for the colony, and were influential in Haiti's eventual policies in the 19th century after independence. The book is well written, fairly sourced, and does the best job it can writing about a man who does not fully exist in the written record until late in his life. This is a great read on an area of the world little studied in modern times, and enjoyable both for its insights on a great revolutionary leader, but also one who tipped social, cultural and racial norms on their head. A worthy read for history buffs.
Louverture was born into this system of repression. He started first as a normal slave - planting and processing sugar cane, but soon came to be recognized as a skilled animal handler. He kept the Breda plantation, in the Northern region of Cap, and eventually gained a privileged position as a carriage driver. He was reportedly an outspoken and charismatic figure, and made close friends with both fellow slaves and white plantation managers. This network of contacts would serve him well in the future. Louverture also grew up a staunch Catholic, and disliked the growing influence of traditional African religion in Saint-Domingue, and its mixture with Christian doctrine.
Girard notes Louverture's early life is not well documented, and is name appeared little in written records before his rise to power. Even so, biographical accounts of his life by close supporters and dissenters, and newly discovered records in France, reveal interesting tidbits of his life. Louverture was freed from slavery in his 40's, possibly due to his close connection and friendship with his plantations managers. Louverture, as a freed black man, was still subject to racial prejudice on the colony - "Big" whites (plantation owners and colonial elite), and "little whites" (local residents, colons and various staff) both looked down on people of different background. This became increasingly an issue in 1780's Saint-Domingue, which began to experience social upheaval akin to the growing revolutionary movement in mainland France. As enlightenment ideas became the norm in revolutionary France, colonial whites began to entrench themselves in racism, violence and terror, and used these tools to try and retain autonomy or independence in order to protect the racialized slave system in Saint-Domingue. This repression led to a natural swing in the other direction, as outraged slaves and freed blacks raged against rising injustice. Slave revolts soon became the norm, and other forms of resistance, including assassinations, labour strikes and such soon became prevalent. Saint-Domingue, like mother France, was slipping into chaos.
Louverture was initially reluctant to join the revolutionary side. He had a vested interest in the current system, as he had gone into business with his old managers, running a small subsistence farm as well as a fair sized coffee plantation, and even buying slaves himself. His first priority at the time appeared to be freeing his large family. He bought freedom for his sons, his wife, his brother in law, and so on. Even so, after some particularly gruesome events involving the execution of friends, Louverture decided to gingerly and cautiously join in. He initially kept to the sidelines of the revolution, letting other leaders take charge militarily while he utilized his extensive network of family and contacts in Cap to generate support for a rebellion. Eventually, however, Louverture joined the fray - he moved to Western Saint-Domngue, near the border with Spanish Santo Domingo, and launched operations against French colonials, French troops, and a wide array of British and Spanish occupiers. The rebels quickly went from insurgents, to Spanish agents, and back to French soldiers as the political system in France proper changed. Louverture was at first third wheel in a triumvirate of insurgent rebels, but soon over the reigns due to his contact with Spanish and French government agents. His soldiers successfully invaded large swathes of the colony, and expelled first British, and then turning on the Spanish, Spanish forces from Saint-Domingue. Louverture then broke with his fellow revolutionaries, switching his allegiance back to France.
At this point (mid 1790's) Louverture began to take more and more power in Saint-Domingue. Initially an agent of the French government, he began to fight off rebel rivals and consolidate his grip on the colony. He intimidated French government officials from the mainland, staging mock protests, and even going so far as to subject them to mock executions, to show who was in charge. He paid lip service to his superiors on paper, and refused to reduce troop numbers in the colony even when peace was made with Britain and Spain in the area. He sent in soldiers and capture the entire colony of Santo Domingo in 1801 and proclaimed an end to slavery then. He ruled his territory much like Napoleon in France - by writ and dictate. He had a tireless energy, and a was constantly reading and dictating letters to his subordinates. He would arrive in far flung administrative areas for surprise inspection, and brokered no insubordination. When his style for economic recovery of the area - the creation of paid indentured servitude for former slaves (nominally the same as slavery in many accounts) backfired and a revolt began in the Cap region, he sent in troops and had over 5000 of the culprits executed. His overthrow came soon after - as he consolidated his grip in Saint-Domingue, Napoleon sent in troops and captured Louverture in 1802. Louverture die in a French prison in 1803, trying to profess his innocence through the writing of a memoir addressed to Napoleon himself. It fell on deaf ears, and he passed away in his cell soon after.
Louverture is seen as the revolutionary son of modern Haiti. Even so, he never outright proclaimed independence from France (this would happen after his death) and cultivated strong ties with white and colonial elite throughout his life. He proclaimed the end of slavery in both modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic, but still promoted a surprisingly similar form of labour servitude in sugar plantations as a means of economic recovery. He exercised brutal countermeasures against rivals, but also offered forgiveness for many of his most hated enemies, including former plantation managers. Louverture was, in effect, a political realist to his core. Much like his contemporary, Napoleon, he took advantage of an atmosphere of political chaos and violence as a means to take power and try and restore order. Like Napoleon, he did so, albeit briefly. Louverture's story is so interesting because he did all these things, while remaining a former slave and a black man - both extremely taboo at the time. He broke new ground, and was and remains an iconic figure for both old anti-colonial revolutionaries and modern social rights activists.
Girard's book was an interesting and well written account of the life and times of Toussaint Louverture. The man was an interesting and authoritative figure who irreversibly altered the history of the region, and encouraged a domino effect of anti-colonial and anti-slavery movements in the region and abroad. Girard highlights both these aspects, and the more authoritative aspects of Louverture's political rule. He himself owned slaves at one point. He was friendly with older regime individuals, and never really considered independence until late into his rule. Even so, his efforts to end slavery, even if only on paper, were a huge step for the colony, and were influential in Haiti's eventual policies in the 19th century after independence. The book is well written, fairly sourced, and does the best job it can writing about a man who does not fully exist in the written record until late in his life. This is a great read on an area of the world little studied in modern times, and enjoyable both for its insights on a great revolutionary leader, but also one who tipped social, cultural and racial norms on their head. A worthy read for history buffs.
September 10, 2020
It's hard to fathom the paradigm shift that separates us from the world in which slavery was considered an acceptable, obvious part of the world (reminiscent in some way of Ursula le Guin's quote about an invention only dawning during Louverture's lifetime: "we live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but so did the divine right of kings.") One of the amazing things about this accomplished biography is how it takes place during a breakneck change in such perceptions - in the course of the book, blacks in Saint-Domingue go from being chattel, subject to savage torture, to being seen as potential equals to whites. Although it had roots in the Enlightenment, Louverture played no small role in this. His leadership was watched eagerly by abolitionists (and their opponents) as a test-case for the economic viability of emancipation, as well as the ability of people of colour to handle their own affairs. (Girard notes that Hegel's master-slave dialectic was actually based on the Haitian revolt.) It was also a world in which sugar and coffee were scarce products (and bananas simply unavailable outside the tropics), making the Caribbean world something like the oil emirates of today.
Although he concealed it, Louverture was born a slave and made his way up in the world through education and religious devotion. After being freed, he owned slaves and an estate - he was not a devout abolitionist, but seems not to have been as bad as the average white slaver. In the first part of his life he was a devout Catholic and patriotic Frenchman, and it was as a French general that he first came to prominence, basing himself on Jacobin ideals of racial equality to end slavery in Saint-Domingue (the French half of the Island of Hispaniola, the other - Santo Domingo - what is now the Dominican Republic), proclaim loyalty to France and defeat two other European powers. He cared immensely about being seen as an equal by other world leaders, above all Napoleon, though Girard finds no source for the legend that he signed off his letters to the emperor “the first of the blacks to the first of the whites.”
Louverture reminded me somewhat of twentieth century "little statebuilders" such as Lee Kuan Yew or David Ben-Gurion, in how he juggled the great powers of his day as well as racially fraught domestic politics, trying to carve out a protectorate with maximal independence but still within the French empire. Although speaking French as a third language and only learning to read later in life, he learned how to play the politics of Paris, telling different audiences what they needed to hear. Another aspect of this diplomatic strategy was a conscious decision not to export the Haitian Revolution, as other Latin American slave owners feared. Louverture traded off diplomatic pacts for a promise to keep his revolt local, even betraying the Sasportas revolt in Jamaica (but also claiming to have supported it...) However, he was never able to square economic viability with a free labour market, instead implementing a tightly controlled command economy not so different from slavery (although without the terrible cruelty).
Louverture came to a tragic end. Betrayed by France and Napoleon, who sent his brother-in-law Leclerc to invade Saint-Domingue, he was captured after a bitter struggle and imprisoned in France in the cold Jura mountains., It would be Jean-Jacques Dessalines who would instead defeat the French and proclaim independence (under the indigenous name of Haiti) with the words
Although he concealed it, Louverture was born a slave and made his way up in the world through education and religious devotion. After being freed, he owned slaves and an estate - he was not a devout abolitionist, but seems not to have been as bad as the average white slaver. In the first part of his life he was a devout Catholic and patriotic Frenchman, and it was as a French general that he first came to prominence, basing himself on Jacobin ideals of racial equality to end slavery in Saint-Domingue (the French half of the Island of Hispaniola, the other - Santo Domingo - what is now the Dominican Republic), proclaim loyalty to France and defeat two other European powers. He cared immensely about being seen as an equal by other world leaders, above all Napoleon, though Girard finds no source for the legend that he signed off his letters to the emperor “the first of the blacks to the first of the whites.”
Louverture reminded me somewhat of twentieth century "little statebuilders" such as Lee Kuan Yew or David Ben-Gurion, in how he juggled the great powers of his day as well as racially fraught domestic politics, trying to carve out a protectorate with maximal independence but still within the French empire. Although speaking French as a third language and only learning to read later in life, he learned how to play the politics of Paris, telling different audiences what they needed to hear. Another aspect of this diplomatic strategy was a conscious decision not to export the Haitian Revolution, as other Latin American slave owners feared. Louverture traded off diplomatic pacts for a promise to keep his revolt local, even betraying the Sasportas revolt in Jamaica (but also claiming to have supported it...) However, he was never able to square economic viability with a free labour market, instead implementing a tightly controlled command economy not so different from slavery (although without the terrible cruelty).
Louverture came to a tragic end. Betrayed by France and Napoleon, who sent his brother-in-law Leclerc to invade Saint-Domingue, he was captured after a bitter struggle and imprisoned in France in the cold Jura mountains., It would be Jean-Jacques Dessalines who would instead defeat the French and proclaim independence (under the indigenous name of Haiti) with the words
Independence or death...let these sacred words unite us...anathema to the French name, eternal hatred to France: that is our cry.He would go on to massacre the island's whites and make Haiti a pariah in the world, and his legacy must have contributed to Haiti's not holding fair elections until Aristide in 1994. Louverture's last words before leaving the island for prison and death in France were
In overthrowing me you have cut down in Saint Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring up again from the roots, for they are numerous and they are deep.
September 16, 2017
This is a fairly comprehensive biography of Toussaint L'Overature, covering his early life, ascent to and fall from power as well as dealing with the lives of his descendants. The author has used accounts from his supporters as well as detractors together with recently discovered records to construct a picture of the man.
He is clearly presented as an able and pragmatic leader who has become the image of revolution and emancipation. But his decisions and policies were much more complex as the book throws up many of the contradictions that he lived with.
Overall, this is a worthwhile read.
He is clearly presented as an able and pragmatic leader who has become the image of revolution and emancipation. But his decisions and policies were much more complex as the book throws up many of the contradictions that he lived with.
Overall, this is a worthwhile read.
April 25, 2024
A great story of humble beginnings, revolution, and betrayal that was really worth my time.
June 27, 2020
Review to come on BookTube!
October 7, 2017
I started reading this knowing barely more about Louverture than the first paragraph of a Wikipedia article but was still amazed by the complexity of his life and the political situation that he navigated. It’s inevitably difficult for the author to be definitive on a range of points (given the sparsity of the documentary record) - this is still a very well-researched account that helps contextualise the subject and his legacy.
March 31, 2017
I remember seeing a picture of Toussaint Louverture in my American History text book in seventh grade. It was a small picture with a fraction of a paragraph about the Haitian Revolution and that was it, and yet, I remember touching that picture and *feeling* the larger story. Philippe Girard has written a throughly researched biography that explores the many aspects of Toussaint Louverture's life and political career. He is a complicated man, at times a hero, a villain, and a martyr and I feel that Girard does a great job of giving *all* of these archetypes equal attention.
December 24, 2022
I learned a lot of stuff I didn’t know and that I didn’t want to know. I need to do more research but based off this book Toussaint was grimy as hell!
January 22, 2018
History has no shortage of men with the best of intentions becoming drunk on power. Often following on the heels of a struggle for independence, the ideals that blood is shed over all too often are forgotten as ambition and corruption creep in, leaving its citizens wondering whether a local version of despotism is in any sense better than an external one. In many ways, this is the story of Toussaint Louverture and this book.
Born into slavery and abject poverty in what is now modern day Haiti, Louverture from a young age showed a remarkable ability to command respect from the colonial powers of the day and elevate himself into a position that was unthinkable for any black man of his day. When the war for independence arrived in 1791, Louverture had positioned himself to be at the forefront of it and the self appointed leader of the place of his birth. From there it was a meteoric rise to an almost godlike status until his hubris (as well as Napoleon dispatching 2/3 of the French Navy to the shores of Haiti to bring him down) eventually caught up with him.
What is most fascinating about Louverture was that he was a man of multiple contradictions. What is one to think of a man who was instrumental in the revolution on 1791 that freed the slaves of Haiti and yet was a slaveowner himself? What is one to think of a man who when speaking in front of slaves decried criticised white cruelty and yet in private correspondence was almost slavishly devoted to both the Royalists and later the Republic of France? Or spoke of freedom but installed a constitution that reinstated slavery in all but name? What is one to think about a man who spoke of freedom and yet warned the British that a slave uprising was coming in nearby Jamaica and crushing it before it began, simply to ingratiate himself with officials there?
The more one learns about Louverture, the less one seemingly understands about this maddeningly frustrating individual. Is he a hero? Certainly to some. Did he betray supporters? Often. Was he selfless at times? Undoubtedly. Was he at other times ruthless and unprincipled? Without a doubt.
If one wants to be an apologist for Louverture’s methods there are certainly strong arguments to be made. After a long, bloody, and destructive rebellion, he was single-minded and ruthlessly focused on rebuilding the country. Ideals were sacrificed to be sure but perhaps he felt it was necessary in light of the circumstances in order to make a ravaged country economically and politically viable? Personally I’m not sure. There are things to admire about the man such as his refusal to let anyone, of any class or color, disrespect him as a man. He considered himself first and foremost a Frenchman and bristled at being treated like anything less than that.
As with most revolutionaries, history tends toward hagiography. Reviled by many during his lifetime, Louverture with time has become more godlike than man. As this book points out however, this is to do the man a disservice. He was far from perfect and was deeply flawed, as most of us are. Yet it doesn’t diminish the good things he accomplished. If anything, it humanizes him. In the end, the only true consensus about Louverture perhaps is that he lived a fascinating life, even if it was less than noble at times.
Born into slavery and abject poverty in what is now modern day Haiti, Louverture from a young age showed a remarkable ability to command respect from the colonial powers of the day and elevate himself into a position that was unthinkable for any black man of his day. When the war for independence arrived in 1791, Louverture had positioned himself to be at the forefront of it and the self appointed leader of the place of his birth. From there it was a meteoric rise to an almost godlike status until his hubris (as well as Napoleon dispatching 2/3 of the French Navy to the shores of Haiti to bring him down) eventually caught up with him.
What is most fascinating about Louverture was that he was a man of multiple contradictions. What is one to think of a man who was instrumental in the revolution on 1791 that freed the slaves of Haiti and yet was a slaveowner himself? What is one to think of a man who when speaking in front of slaves decried criticised white cruelty and yet in private correspondence was almost slavishly devoted to both the Royalists and later the Republic of France? Or spoke of freedom but installed a constitution that reinstated slavery in all but name? What is one to think about a man who spoke of freedom and yet warned the British that a slave uprising was coming in nearby Jamaica and crushing it before it began, simply to ingratiate himself with officials there?
The more one learns about Louverture, the less one seemingly understands about this maddeningly frustrating individual. Is he a hero? Certainly to some. Did he betray supporters? Often. Was he selfless at times? Undoubtedly. Was he at other times ruthless and unprincipled? Without a doubt.
If one wants to be an apologist for Louverture’s methods there are certainly strong arguments to be made. After a long, bloody, and destructive rebellion, he was single-minded and ruthlessly focused on rebuilding the country. Ideals were sacrificed to be sure but perhaps he felt it was necessary in light of the circumstances in order to make a ravaged country economically and politically viable? Personally I’m not sure. There are things to admire about the man such as his refusal to let anyone, of any class or color, disrespect him as a man. He considered himself first and foremost a Frenchman and bristled at being treated like anything less than that.
As with most revolutionaries, history tends toward hagiography. Reviled by many during his lifetime, Louverture with time has become more godlike than man. As this book points out however, this is to do the man a disservice. He was far from perfect and was deeply flawed, as most of us are. Yet it doesn’t diminish the good things he accomplished. If anything, it humanizes him. In the end, the only true consensus about Louverture perhaps is that he lived a fascinating life, even if it was less than noble at times.
March 3, 2019
This was a fun story to read, and the author did an exceptionally good job painting a picture of his early life considering that individual slave accounts are hard to come by since....well, they weren’t allowed to read or write.
Also, Toussaint himself glossed over his early life as a slave, hardly mentioning it in his own memoir, which was written in a cold dark French prison.
Much of what is known about him comes from official accounts by him as a general and politician.
He’s definitely a revolutionary to be remembered and studied, but maybe he wasn’t a Spartacus-like figure some like to paint him as. He also wasn’t a slimy politician. If anything, like all historical figures, he was a complicated person coming of age in a very complicated world.
Born a slave and dying as a disgraced general and politician, he definitely made the most of his life.
Also, Toussaint himself glossed over his early life as a slave, hardly mentioning it in his own memoir, which was written in a cold dark French prison.
Much of what is known about him comes from official accounts by him as a general and politician.
He’s definitely a revolutionary to be remembered and studied, but maybe he wasn’t a Spartacus-like figure some like to paint him as. He also wasn’t a slimy politician. If anything, like all historical figures, he was a complicated person coming of age in a very complicated world.
Born a slave and dying as a disgraced general and politician, he definitely made the most of his life.
February 26, 2023
Haiti’s Revolution was ahead of its time, but its primary architect, Toussaint Louverture was a product of that time and the past. Despite that, Louverture led the Haitian people on a path to independence and freedom, even though his concepts of slavery and freedom seemed both ambiguous and conflicting.
Girard is an absolutely incorruptible biographer. He cannot be faulted for the many gaps in the historical record that exist regarding Louverture’s life. He doggedly pursues the truth about Louverture, even when that truth inconveniently fails to prove the subject of the biography to be the altruistic father of slavery’s ending.
The historical gaps can be frustrating, as it leaves much of Louverture’s life to speculation and conjecture. However, his is an interesting and influential life, well worth the time to research.
Girard is an absolutely incorruptible biographer. He cannot be faulted for the many gaps in the historical record that exist regarding Louverture’s life. He doggedly pursues the truth about Louverture, even when that truth inconveniently fails to prove the subject of the biography to be the altruistic father of slavery’s ending.
The historical gaps can be frustrating, as it leaves much of Louverture’s life to speculation and conjecture. However, his is an interesting and influential life, well worth the time to research.
September 17, 2019
A fascinating look into the life (and death) of an understudied figure, this book portrays Louverture as a man of contradictions. Thanks to new research, Girard is able to bring to light the many aspects of Louverture's life, from his years as a slave to his rise as a freeman, and then as a leader of the revolution that lead to Haiti's independence from France. The author does not shy away from the darker parts of his history, and does his best to put it in context by using archival documentation.
The result is an engaging book and a thorough (though still incomplete) examination of the life of a revolutionary figure. It is well worth the read (or listen) for anyone interested in history, Haiti and revolutions.
The result is an engaging book and a thorough (though still incomplete) examination of the life of a revolutionary figure. It is well worth the read (or listen) for anyone interested in history, Haiti and revolutions.
October 6, 2019
This was a fairly decent introduction to Louverture (the man and the legacy), but I feel that so much more should have been shared about his policies and thoughts that lead to the revolution. I wouldn’t have minded a little bit more information on the eventual independence of Haiti although it was 3 years after his death. Still.... a nice intro.
February 14, 2024
A thorough and clear --if not riveting -- biography. It is difficult to write a proper biography of L'Ouverture, as much of the beginning and end of his life is left to speculation. A former slave who owned slaves, a revolutionary who aspired to aristocracy, L'Ouverture was a complex figure. This book is a great way to complicate the thumbnail sketch portrayal most of us receive in school.
April 8, 2018
Fascinating, complicated, and impressively researched. Recommended if you're at all interested in Haiti or the history of slavery and emancipation.
June 23, 2023
The story of Toussaint Louverture’s rise from slave to revolutionary leader of Saint Domingue is told with tremendous skill by Philippe Girard in Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life.
Toussaint’s father, Hippolyte, was sold as a slave in west Africa and bought for three hundred pounds of cowrie shells by slave traders. On August 21, 1740, Hippolyte-who, according to Louverture family legend, was an African prince and the son of a west African king-landed in the city of Cap-Francais in the French island colony of Saint Domingue. He was separated from his wife and children before remarrying in the Caribbean; his first son, Toussaint, would endure the enslaved life until the age of fifty.
Toussaint, whose name in French translates to All Saints’ Day, was nicknamed “sickly stick” as a child and an unlikely candidate to one day lead a rebellion against well-armed military forces.
He toiled on the Bréda plantation, a backstory Girard does a great job filling readers in on. Growing up, Louverture watched the so-called Big Whites of the French aristocracy come and go on the island (which is present day Haiti) as they propped up the colonial system. Sugarcane and, to a lesser extent, coffee formed the backbone of St. Domingue’s economy. The system Toussaint found himself born into was key to exploiting these commodities to the fullest extent; the author described this setup as more of a mercantile octagon than triangular trade.
The book emphasizes Louverture’s commitment to the Catholicism of the mother country France. Aside from using it for political gain later in his career, he had little use for voodoo and looked on it as an embarrassing example of St. Domingue’s backwardness. Toussaint’s pragmatic ability to even turn things like the language he was using into a plus depending on the crowd he was speaking in front of was a critical part of the narrative repeatedly returned to.
His skills in diplomacy were aided by the fact that French was only his third language behind Haitian Creole and a West African dialect passed down from those familiar with their days on the old continent.
The execution of Francois Mackandal drove home to a young Toussaint just how risky it could be to depart from the colonial leaders’ cultural expectations. Mackandal was put to death by colonial authorities in 1758 after allegedly spreading black magic on the island and acting as a Haitian Maroon voodoo priest. This event early in Louverture’s life likely played a role in his hesitancy to challenge Catholic hegemony in the religious sphere.
He was manumitted sometime between 1772 and 1776, after which complexity was added to the life story of a man who today is a hero to many in the abolitionist community. He owned slaves of his own and, although willing to see slavery abolished when he became leader of the island, never fully renounced harsh labor systems that ended up seeing the island’s blacks sent back to work in brutal conditions even after emancipation.
Post-1776 sees growing disillusionment even in the ranks of St. Domingue's freedmen toward their French overlords. Freed black St. Domingue units went to Savannah with French Count Charles Henri 'D'estaing following France’s joining the side of the American colonies in their fight against the British. After helping in 1780, these freedmen arrive back on their home island feeling slighted by France and contribute to a growing separatist movement which Louverture eventually harnesses for his own aggrandizement.
Haitian slaveholer Nicolas Lejeune’s brutal killing of slaves he alleged tried to poison him took place in 1788, adding fuel to the anti-French fire among St. Domingue's black residents.
The story really gets going on when a huge slave revolt breaks out in August 1791.
Jean-Francois Papillon, Jeannot Bullet, and Dutty Boukmon were three of the early leaders of this violent uprising on an island were whites were outnumbered ten to one. Girard stresses that in its early days (a reflection of his pragmatism), Louverture largely stayed on the sidelines to see how the uprising would play out. If past ones were any indication, this rebellion would likely be put down and result in brutal reprisals from the white plantation owners.
These shakeups were playing out just as the French Revolution was unfolding in France. Many of the island’s blacks were loyal to the French king, seeing the Jacobin revolutionary forces as narrow in their definition of the freedom they were fighting to attain (which they felt would not be fought for those of their skin color) and the king an erstwhile opponent of the slave system.
These two simultaneous upheavals made for a plotline in the book seemingly penned from fiction.
A complex series of events involving French administrators on the island plays out when Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, a French administrator on St. Domingue, actually abolished slavery on the island in 1793. This proclamation was rapidly undone by the local authorities as an unwise action undertaken in haste before this was reversed and abolition was again instituted by the French Directorate in 1794. They would even go a step further and grant freed blacks and nonwhites equality under the law as well as French citizenship (which applied to men, but not women, until 1944).
It was during this time that Toussaint’s profile as a military leader rose.
He helped St. Domingue forces fight in support of a Spanish invasion in 1793 in the context of wider Franco-British battles in the Caribbean. The book discusses infighting between Louverture and fellow St. Domingue rebel leaders like George Biasso, divisions which would make for increased difficulty during Louverture’s years as a civilian and military leader.
A series of events during this violence sees Toussaint’s brother Pierre killed in 1794 owing to disloyalty in his own ranks. As a result, Toussaint then turns on the Spanish and toward helping the now seemingly anti-slavery France in 1794. He helped reconquer land for France that only a year or two prior he had conquered from them in the name of Spanish forces. (This Franco-Spanish fighting would end with the Treaty of Basel in in 1795).
Following the treaty, Toussaint turned his sights to kicking the British out of the footholds they held in parts of the Caribbean. The French Revolutionary era governor in St. Domingue, Étienne Maynaud de Laveaux, became fond of Louverture’s abilities during his time leading military units against France and then against Spain and Britain. Girard points out that he viewed Louverture as having both credibility with blacks and a nonthreatening way with planters.
Governor Laveaux’s admiration was further bolstered when Louverture saved him from a 1796 coup attempt by General Vilatte (who, alongside Andre Rigaud, were some of Louverture’s chief antagonists within the ranks of St. Domingue’s military forces).
As the eighteenth century came to a close, Louverture increasingly became the island’s chief diplomatic and military leader.
Louverture’s standing as the island’s governor general were only further bolstered in March 1800 when Jacmel, one of the last of the island’s anti-Louverture rebel strongholds, was bombarded by the U.S. ship General Greene. This forced the surrender of General Andre Rigaud, the last anti-Louverture holdout in the military ranks.
His diplomatic skills would see him establish relations with the U.S. under President John Adams. Secretary of State Timothy Pickering would host Louverture’s representative Joseph Bunel in Philadelphia, negotiations which went well and ended with relations between the United States and St. Domingue (temporarily) warming. Louverture’s envoys also bolstered diplomatic relations with Great Britain.
But the taking of near absolute power by Louverture at the turn of the nineteenth century did not mean that the island’s black residents were now in for a renaissance. Instead, he sent many former slaves back to their old plantations to work under serf-like conditions that mirrored sharecropping in the post-Civil War United States.
With the island’s economy in shambles after emancipation thanks to a ninety plus percent drop in sugarcane output, it was apparent Louverture had to take strong measures to prevent a full collapse which would ultimately be music to the ears of proslavery forces in the rest of the world.
This also coincided with the seizure of power in France by Napoleon Bonaparte and the subsequent end of humane French Revolution era reforms. In order to prevent it being used as a staging ground for a potential French invasion of St. Domingue, neighboring Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) was invaded by Louverture’s forces. Louverture had previously sent two of his boys, Isaac and Placide, to France to study in the mother country’s school system. They essentially became hostages when relations between France and St. Domingue went south after Napoleon’s rise to power.
It was during the Napoleon-ordered invasion of 1801-1803 that some of the bloodiest fighting took place. Led by Napoleon’s brother-in-law General Charles Leclerq, French forces landed and fought a brutal war to restore slavery to the island. Napoleon’s own son Isaac, who was returned from his schooling in France on board Leclerq’s ship, even turned on his own father during the war. Louverture’s brother Paul also turned on him during the fighting, as did his former rebel ally Jean-Jacquese Dessalines. (The latter would help develop Haiti's first post-independence constitution and was viewed by many black separatists as more of a founding father for the island than Louverture, a man they viewed as too accommodating toward the white planter elites.)
Louverture would be captured by French forces in June 1802, an arrest he compared to the cutting down of the “tree of black liberty”. He was then sent as a prisoner to France, where he would die less than a year later locked away in the bowels of Fort de Jeux.
The book lays out a richly layered story of a man who was both a black Spartacus to Haitians as well as a man whose conservatism upon taking power saw him reinstituting many of the same harsh labor measures he had previously chafed under himself when enslaved. The forgiveness he counseled toward many of the island’s white plantation owners contrasted with the mass execution of whites in post-independence Haiti ordered by Jean-Jacques Dessalines. This streak of pragmatism, which also played out in the diplomatic sphere when it came to recognition from foreign trading partners, was an element of his character routinely made evident in the pages of Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life.
This is an outstanding biography and portrait of a man set against a revolutionary backdrop of rapidly changing circumstances. It provides a great examination of human nature when put under the pressure of shifting social and economic relations, a sort of of flux which does not always produce the most expected outcomes. Girard in no way attempts to hold up Louverture as a blameless leader free of hypocrisy, but instead places his decisions within the context of his time and place.
This ultimately serves the book better and makes it a true recounting of a black leader operating in the framework and parameters he was forced to work within.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
Toussaint’s father, Hippolyte, was sold as a slave in west Africa and bought for three hundred pounds of cowrie shells by slave traders. On August 21, 1740, Hippolyte-who, according to Louverture family legend, was an African prince and the son of a west African king-landed in the city of Cap-Francais in the French island colony of Saint Domingue. He was separated from his wife and children before remarrying in the Caribbean; his first son, Toussaint, would endure the enslaved life until the age of fifty.
Toussaint, whose name in French translates to All Saints’ Day, was nicknamed “sickly stick” as a child and an unlikely candidate to one day lead a rebellion against well-armed military forces.
He toiled on the Bréda plantation, a backstory Girard does a great job filling readers in on. Growing up, Louverture watched the so-called Big Whites of the French aristocracy come and go on the island (which is present day Haiti) as they propped up the colonial system. Sugarcane and, to a lesser extent, coffee formed the backbone of St. Domingue’s economy. The system Toussaint found himself born into was key to exploiting these commodities to the fullest extent; the author described this setup as more of a mercantile octagon than triangular trade.
The book emphasizes Louverture’s commitment to the Catholicism of the mother country France. Aside from using it for political gain later in his career, he had little use for voodoo and looked on it as an embarrassing example of St. Domingue’s backwardness. Toussaint’s pragmatic ability to even turn things like the language he was using into a plus depending on the crowd he was speaking in front of was a critical part of the narrative repeatedly returned to.
His skills in diplomacy were aided by the fact that French was only his third language behind Haitian Creole and a West African dialect passed down from those familiar with their days on the old continent.
The execution of Francois Mackandal drove home to a young Toussaint just how risky it could be to depart from the colonial leaders’ cultural expectations. Mackandal was put to death by colonial authorities in 1758 after allegedly spreading black magic on the island and acting as a Haitian Maroon voodoo priest. This event early in Louverture’s life likely played a role in his hesitancy to challenge Catholic hegemony in the religious sphere.
He was manumitted sometime between 1772 and 1776, after which complexity was added to the life story of a man who today is a hero to many in the abolitionist community. He owned slaves of his own and, although willing to see slavery abolished when he became leader of the island, never fully renounced harsh labor systems that ended up seeing the island’s blacks sent back to work in brutal conditions even after emancipation.
Post-1776 sees growing disillusionment even in the ranks of St. Domingue's freedmen toward their French overlords. Freed black St. Domingue units went to Savannah with French Count Charles Henri 'D'estaing following France’s joining the side of the American colonies in their fight against the British. After helping in 1780, these freedmen arrive back on their home island feeling slighted by France and contribute to a growing separatist movement which Louverture eventually harnesses for his own aggrandizement.
Haitian slaveholer Nicolas Lejeune’s brutal killing of slaves he alleged tried to poison him took place in 1788, adding fuel to the anti-French fire among St. Domingue's black residents.
The story really gets going on when a huge slave revolt breaks out in August 1791.
Jean-Francois Papillon, Jeannot Bullet, and Dutty Boukmon were three of the early leaders of this violent uprising on an island were whites were outnumbered ten to one. Girard stresses that in its early days (a reflection of his pragmatism), Louverture largely stayed on the sidelines to see how the uprising would play out. If past ones were any indication, this rebellion would likely be put down and result in brutal reprisals from the white plantation owners.
These shakeups were playing out just as the French Revolution was unfolding in France. Many of the island’s blacks were loyal to the French king, seeing the Jacobin revolutionary forces as narrow in their definition of the freedom they were fighting to attain (which they felt would not be fought for those of their skin color) and the king an erstwhile opponent of the slave system.
These two simultaneous upheavals made for a plotline in the book seemingly penned from fiction.
A complex series of events involving French administrators on the island plays out when Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, a French administrator on St. Domingue, actually abolished slavery on the island in 1793. This proclamation was rapidly undone by the local authorities as an unwise action undertaken in haste before this was reversed and abolition was again instituted by the French Directorate in 1794. They would even go a step further and grant freed blacks and nonwhites equality under the law as well as French citizenship (which applied to men, but not women, until 1944).
It was during this time that Toussaint’s profile as a military leader rose.
He helped St. Domingue forces fight in support of a Spanish invasion in 1793 in the context of wider Franco-British battles in the Caribbean. The book discusses infighting between Louverture and fellow St. Domingue rebel leaders like George Biasso, divisions which would make for increased difficulty during Louverture’s years as a civilian and military leader.
A series of events during this violence sees Toussaint’s brother Pierre killed in 1794 owing to disloyalty in his own ranks. As a result, Toussaint then turns on the Spanish and toward helping the now seemingly anti-slavery France in 1794. He helped reconquer land for France that only a year or two prior he had conquered from them in the name of Spanish forces. (This Franco-Spanish fighting would end with the Treaty of Basel in in 1795).
Following the treaty, Toussaint turned his sights to kicking the British out of the footholds they held in parts of the Caribbean. The French Revolutionary era governor in St. Domingue, Étienne Maynaud de Laveaux, became fond of Louverture’s abilities during his time leading military units against France and then against Spain and Britain. Girard points out that he viewed Louverture as having both credibility with blacks and a nonthreatening way with planters.
Governor Laveaux’s admiration was further bolstered when Louverture saved him from a 1796 coup attempt by General Vilatte (who, alongside Andre Rigaud, were some of Louverture’s chief antagonists within the ranks of St. Domingue’s military forces).
As the eighteenth century came to a close, Louverture increasingly became the island’s chief diplomatic and military leader.
Louverture’s standing as the island’s governor general were only further bolstered in March 1800 when Jacmel, one of the last of the island’s anti-Louverture rebel strongholds, was bombarded by the U.S. ship General Greene. This forced the surrender of General Andre Rigaud, the last anti-Louverture holdout in the military ranks.
His diplomatic skills would see him establish relations with the U.S. under President John Adams. Secretary of State Timothy Pickering would host Louverture’s representative Joseph Bunel in Philadelphia, negotiations which went well and ended with relations between the United States and St. Domingue (temporarily) warming. Louverture’s envoys also bolstered diplomatic relations with Great Britain.
But the taking of near absolute power by Louverture at the turn of the nineteenth century did not mean that the island’s black residents were now in for a renaissance. Instead, he sent many former slaves back to their old plantations to work under serf-like conditions that mirrored sharecropping in the post-Civil War United States.
With the island’s economy in shambles after emancipation thanks to a ninety plus percent drop in sugarcane output, it was apparent Louverture had to take strong measures to prevent a full collapse which would ultimately be music to the ears of proslavery forces in the rest of the world.
This also coincided with the seizure of power in France by Napoleon Bonaparte and the subsequent end of humane French Revolution era reforms. In order to prevent it being used as a staging ground for a potential French invasion of St. Domingue, neighboring Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) was invaded by Louverture’s forces. Louverture had previously sent two of his boys, Isaac and Placide, to France to study in the mother country’s school system. They essentially became hostages when relations between France and St. Domingue went south after Napoleon’s rise to power.
It was during the Napoleon-ordered invasion of 1801-1803 that some of the bloodiest fighting took place. Led by Napoleon’s brother-in-law General Charles Leclerq, French forces landed and fought a brutal war to restore slavery to the island. Napoleon’s own son Isaac, who was returned from his schooling in France on board Leclerq’s ship, even turned on his own father during the war. Louverture’s brother Paul also turned on him during the fighting, as did his former rebel ally Jean-Jacquese Dessalines. (The latter would help develop Haiti's first post-independence constitution and was viewed by many black separatists as more of a founding father for the island than Louverture, a man they viewed as too accommodating toward the white planter elites.)
Louverture would be captured by French forces in June 1802, an arrest he compared to the cutting down of the “tree of black liberty”. He was then sent as a prisoner to France, where he would die less than a year later locked away in the bowels of Fort de Jeux.
The book lays out a richly layered story of a man who was both a black Spartacus to Haitians as well as a man whose conservatism upon taking power saw him reinstituting many of the same harsh labor measures he had previously chafed under himself when enslaved. The forgiveness he counseled toward many of the island’s white plantation owners contrasted with the mass execution of whites in post-independence Haiti ordered by Jean-Jacques Dessalines. This streak of pragmatism, which also played out in the diplomatic sphere when it came to recognition from foreign trading partners, was an element of his character routinely made evident in the pages of Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life.
This is an outstanding biography and portrait of a man set against a revolutionary backdrop of rapidly changing circumstances. It provides a great examination of human nature when put under the pressure of shifting social and economic relations, a sort of of flux which does not always produce the most expected outcomes. Girard in no way attempts to hold up Louverture as a blameless leader free of hypocrisy, but instead places his decisions within the context of his time and place.
This ultimately serves the book better and makes it a true recounting of a black leader operating in the framework and parameters he was forced to work within.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
September 7, 2021
I read this because I have always been fascinated by the history of Haiti. One of the first sovereign nations to emerge from the colonial age, its original republic was created by the only successful slave revolt known in history. It is the sort of place that creates its own mythology, its own ethos.
This book, as the title suggests, follows the life of Toussaint Louverture, who led the revolution that founded the republic. Born a slave, Toussaint Louverture became an accomplished coachman, being somewhat famous for keeping his horses half-tamed so that they would gallop faster. Gaining his freedom, he eventually became a plantation owner himself, which included the human chattel that came along with that profession. Perhaps due to his background, he was a man who coveted status and honor, and had an ambition that elevated him through the ranks of military service, and, eventually, to lead the slave rebellion and the government that followed.
While I would describe this book as an academic work, the author, Philippe Girard, has a knack for narrative form. Mr. Girard’s descriptions truly bring this history to life, and his scholarship provides so many provocative historical tidbits that this is a compelling read even for casual dabblers in history. Consider, for example, how he engages the senses in this presentation of a plantation setting, describing: “The sharp aroma of roasted coffee in the morning, the distinctive taste of the soursop fruit, and the strange sound of the conch shell used by shepherds to summon their flock…” (p. 20) And I just love some of the storytelling detail some of his scholarship has produced! For example, we learn of Louverture’s godfather, Pierre Baptiste, who lived until 1802, dying at the age of 105. What that man must have seen! (p.49-50)
Another tidbit is the story of Makandal, a runaway that was rumored to be a sorcerer who, once captured, broke his bindings in the fire of his execution. The crowd witnessing these events, on the verge of revolt, was dispersed and sent away, though this perhaps only fanned the flames of speculation and rumor: legend had it that Makandal could transform himself into a mosquito; since no one saw his body, it was believed that he had escaped his fate, rising from the flames, and would one day return to free the slaves. As the author points out somewhat facetiously, since the French troops were later defeated by mosquito-borne tropical diseases, it’s not a wholly inaccurate representation of events. (p.37)
It was also interesting to note that, during this time period, many of the slaves in Hispaniola were recently removed from their homelands; if they were not themselves captives on ships that sailed from African coasts, they were likely the children and grandchildren of these original voyagers. Thus, many slaves in this epoch knew their family history: where their family was from, what languages they spoke, what their customs were, what stories existed in their folklore. Toussaint himself knew that his father was from the Allada people, perhaps even an aristocrat.
Besides, how could this book not read like a novel? There’s such rich fodder here for a compelling story: escape from captivity, families in crisis, revolution, perfidy, greed, political intrigue and betrayal, just to name a few elements of the story. The setting provides plenty of conflict of every stripe, and the story arc, if it could be graphed, would probably strongly resemble an Alexandre Dumas novel. I would even dare to call it "swashbuckling.”
Yet I don’t want to appear that I am making light of this incredible story. As mentioned many times in this book, the sugar plantations were a horrid, disease-ridden place to live and slavery was a brutal institution to exist on top of it. Racial tensions existed not only amongst the slaves and the landowners, called “big whites” in the era, but there were also class tensions between free blacks, people of mixed race, and lower class or “little whites” as they were known at the time. It was a multilayered, complex system of violence and hate.
And yet, one man was able to gain a tenuous and temporary cooperation across class and even color lines in order to pull off the only successful slave revolt known in human history. Though his government was short-lived, his legacy has echoed through the ages and his accomplishments have engendered their own mythos. This book brings Toussaint Louverture from legend to life, revealing the remarkable man and the history he made.
This book, as the title suggests, follows the life of Toussaint Louverture, who led the revolution that founded the republic. Born a slave, Toussaint Louverture became an accomplished coachman, being somewhat famous for keeping his horses half-tamed so that they would gallop faster. Gaining his freedom, he eventually became a plantation owner himself, which included the human chattel that came along with that profession. Perhaps due to his background, he was a man who coveted status and honor, and had an ambition that elevated him through the ranks of military service, and, eventually, to lead the slave rebellion and the government that followed.
While I would describe this book as an academic work, the author, Philippe Girard, has a knack for narrative form. Mr. Girard’s descriptions truly bring this history to life, and his scholarship provides so many provocative historical tidbits that this is a compelling read even for casual dabblers in history. Consider, for example, how he engages the senses in this presentation of a plantation setting, describing: “The sharp aroma of roasted coffee in the morning, the distinctive taste of the soursop fruit, and the strange sound of the conch shell used by shepherds to summon their flock…” (p. 20) And I just love some of the storytelling detail some of his scholarship has produced! For example, we learn of Louverture’s godfather, Pierre Baptiste, who lived until 1802, dying at the age of 105. What that man must have seen! (p.49-50)
Another tidbit is the story of Makandal, a runaway that was rumored to be a sorcerer who, once captured, broke his bindings in the fire of his execution. The crowd witnessing these events, on the verge of revolt, was dispersed and sent away, though this perhaps only fanned the flames of speculation and rumor: legend had it that Makandal could transform himself into a mosquito; since no one saw his body, it was believed that he had escaped his fate, rising from the flames, and would one day return to free the slaves. As the author points out somewhat facetiously, since the French troops were later defeated by mosquito-borne tropical diseases, it’s not a wholly inaccurate representation of events. (p.37)
It was also interesting to note that, during this time period, many of the slaves in Hispaniola were recently removed from their homelands; if they were not themselves captives on ships that sailed from African coasts, they were likely the children and grandchildren of these original voyagers. Thus, many slaves in this epoch knew their family history: where their family was from, what languages they spoke, what their customs were, what stories existed in their folklore. Toussaint himself knew that his father was from the Allada people, perhaps even an aristocrat.
Besides, how could this book not read like a novel? There’s such rich fodder here for a compelling story: escape from captivity, families in crisis, revolution, perfidy, greed, political intrigue and betrayal, just to name a few elements of the story. The setting provides plenty of conflict of every stripe, and the story arc, if it could be graphed, would probably strongly resemble an Alexandre Dumas novel. I would even dare to call it "swashbuckling.”
Yet I don’t want to appear that I am making light of this incredible story. As mentioned many times in this book, the sugar plantations were a horrid, disease-ridden place to live and slavery was a brutal institution to exist on top of it. Racial tensions existed not only amongst the slaves and the landowners, called “big whites” in the era, but there were also class tensions between free blacks, people of mixed race, and lower class or “little whites” as they were known at the time. It was a multilayered, complex system of violence and hate.
And yet, one man was able to gain a tenuous and temporary cooperation across class and even color lines in order to pull off the only successful slave revolt known in human history. Though his government was short-lived, his legacy has echoed through the ages and his accomplishments have engendered their own mythos. This book brings Toussaint Louverture from legend to life, revealing the remarkable man and the history he made.
October 22, 2024
Toussaint Louverture was regarded today as fathers of Haitian Independence, and one of important figures in decolonization discourse. Toussaint, presided over what is probably the only successful slave revolt in history. However, as the book proceeded to describe, his life was probably was more nuanced than we know.
Toussaint claimed that his father was former African tribal royalty who was enslaved and sold to Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), where Toussaint was born a slave among numerous others. During the time, Saint-Domingue was French's cash cow, with sugar being its main exports. That colony has the most lopsided white-to-black ratio among other colonies in the new world, making its white population living under alert most of the time. However, for the time being they were protected by the illusion of racial superiority, which came to be broken by the time of French Revolution.
Toussaint himself, due to some affairs and another, managed to get himself freed, making him among the lucky few among the black population, yet bringing him future problem as he ruled over Saint-Domingue. Meanwhile, the values of French Revolution such as liberty, egalitarianism and brotherhood no wonder managed to reach Saint-Domingue, and with the complete breakdown of governance in Metropolitan France, slaves in Saint-Domingue rose up in arms. Toussaint's role in this revolution was at first, more behind the curtain, playing second fiddle to other leaders. Only later that he took up mantle of paramount leadership and turned away his competitors for leadership, be it French administrators sent from the home country or his fellow rebel leaders.
The most curious aspect of Toussaint was his motive for leading the rebellion. He did not seek immediate independence from France, being contented by appointing himself as Governor for Life. He abolished slavery, yet turned Saint-Domingue into a militarized labour camp. He ruled as an absolute ruler for a decade, until after French was consolidated under the leadership of Napoleon, sent a formidable force to oust him. After giving a fight, Toussaint, a man who almost never let his guard down, made a slip and got caught then sent to exile in France, where he spent his final years in ignominy, without given opportunity to meet Napoleon and restore his reputation.
After Toussaint was gone, things have gone downhill for Haiti, for he was succeeded by one of his generals, the bloodthirsty J.J. Desallines, who proceeded to finally to proclaim Haitian independence and massacred the white population, as opposed to Toussaint's more conciliatory stance, which in part, fueled by Toussaint's aspiration to be one of members of Plantation Ruling class, an interesting motive which contradicts itself with Toussaint's role as leader of a slave revolt. In the end, this book offers a more nuanced portrayal of Toussaint Louverture as a leader as opposed of the one-dimensional portrayal as a spartacus-like figure of liberator.
Toussaint claimed that his father was former African tribal royalty who was enslaved and sold to Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), where Toussaint was born a slave among numerous others. During the time, Saint-Domingue was French's cash cow, with sugar being its main exports. That colony has the most lopsided white-to-black ratio among other colonies in the new world, making its white population living under alert most of the time. However, for the time being they were protected by the illusion of racial superiority, which came to be broken by the time of French Revolution.
Toussaint himself, due to some affairs and another, managed to get himself freed, making him among the lucky few among the black population, yet bringing him future problem as he ruled over Saint-Domingue. Meanwhile, the values of French Revolution such as liberty, egalitarianism and brotherhood no wonder managed to reach Saint-Domingue, and with the complete breakdown of governance in Metropolitan France, slaves in Saint-Domingue rose up in arms. Toussaint's role in this revolution was at first, more behind the curtain, playing second fiddle to other leaders. Only later that he took up mantle of paramount leadership and turned away his competitors for leadership, be it French administrators sent from the home country or his fellow rebel leaders.
The most curious aspect of Toussaint was his motive for leading the rebellion. He did not seek immediate independence from France, being contented by appointing himself as Governor for Life. He abolished slavery, yet turned Saint-Domingue into a militarized labour camp. He ruled as an absolute ruler for a decade, until after French was consolidated under the leadership of Napoleon, sent a formidable force to oust him. After giving a fight, Toussaint, a man who almost never let his guard down, made a slip and got caught then sent to exile in France, where he spent his final years in ignominy, without given opportunity to meet Napoleon and restore his reputation.
After Toussaint was gone, things have gone downhill for Haiti, for he was succeeded by one of his generals, the bloodthirsty J.J. Desallines, who proceeded to finally to proclaim Haitian independence and massacred the white population, as opposed to Toussaint's more conciliatory stance, which in part, fueled by Toussaint's aspiration to be one of members of Plantation Ruling class, an interesting motive which contradicts itself with Toussaint's role as leader of a slave revolt. In the end, this book offers a more nuanced portrayal of Toussaint Louverture as a leader as opposed of the one-dimensional portrayal as a spartacus-like figure of liberator.
April 27, 2021
(Audiobook) For a figure like Toussaint Louverture, it is incredibly difficult to separate the man from the legend. In modern times, his name is synonymous with the spirit of humans who will not be cowed by enslavement, who can rise up and throw off the shackles of oppression and create a separate, independent nation. Yet, as history will show, the man is never quite like the legend. So it is with this work. Girard did an extensive search of the records, trying to piece together the life of one of the most controversial and important figures in history. Louveture did have slave origins, but did manage to earn his freedom. He was of a lower class, but a successful land owner, doing his part to contribute to the sugar plantation economy.
Yet this small man manage to work his way into a place of power, becoming a leader in the revolts that overthrew French control of now Haiti. Louveture tried to maintain a balancing act of keeping the economy going while working for a degree of social and racial harmony. Yet, he was like many of the strongmen dictator who would come to rule Haiti. A micromanager and one who could ruthlessly deal with his enemies. Unfortunately he ran afoul of Napoleon, leading to his capture and imprisonment in France. Still, the work he started would hold, as Haiti defeated French attempt to reconquer Haiti. Thus, the first "Black" nation in the Western Hemisphere came into being.
The work is fairly balanced and offers a good review of the life of a man who you may hear the name, but not really know the story behind. Louverture's legend grew long after his death, and while he did live to see the nation outlast the threat from the French, his efforts and name lived long after. He was perhaps the scariest man in the first century of America, for the slave owners of America long dreaded that his efforts could inspire their own slave to follow suit. It didn't quite work that way, but still, it is important to know the tale of the this man, especially sorting fact from legend.
The rating is the same whether reading hard/e-copy or the audiobook.
Yet this small man manage to work his way into a place of power, becoming a leader in the revolts that overthrew French control of now Haiti. Louveture tried to maintain a balancing act of keeping the economy going while working for a degree of social and racial harmony. Yet, he was like many of the strongmen dictator who would come to rule Haiti. A micromanager and one who could ruthlessly deal with his enemies. Unfortunately he ran afoul of Napoleon, leading to his capture and imprisonment in France. Still, the work he started would hold, as Haiti defeated French attempt to reconquer Haiti. Thus, the first "Black" nation in the Western Hemisphere came into being.
The work is fairly balanced and offers a good review of the life of a man who you may hear the name, but not really know the story behind. Louverture's legend grew long after his death, and while he did live to see the nation outlast the threat from the French, his efforts and name lived long after. He was perhaps the scariest man in the first century of America, for the slave owners of America long dreaded that his efforts could inspire their own slave to follow suit. It didn't quite work that way, but still, it is important to know the tale of the this man, especially sorting fact from legend.
The rating is the same whether reading hard/e-copy or the audiobook.
January 30, 2021
Yes, I learned about Toussaint L'Ouverture in high school a few decades ago, but listening to this book utterly convinced me that what I had learned was more myth than history. If there's anything I gained from reading this impressively thorough biography it's first and foremost that for all his deserved historical greatness, L'Ouverture was a complex man born out of very complex circumstances.
A former African slave who rose through skillful maneuvering and wit to become the mastermind and leader of the first and biggest slave revolt in the Americas, Saint Domingue (Haiti), then the largest French colony in the Caribbean in the 17th century. Revolutionary, politician and general were some of the roles he assumed during Haiti's transformation from a slave plantation colony to an almost independent nation. In fact, while he didn't live to see it, he's the reason Haiti became the first independent and free nation in Latin America.
L'Ouverture was a man of contradictions. Loved and hated in equal measure by his contemporaries. Always a loyal friend, but when was he not a mortal enemy? He held in himself the tensions that revolutionary leaders must live with and that few would have been able to survive for so long in similar circumstances. And yet, his miserable fate foreshadowed Haiti's history to this very day forcing us, even now, to confront ourselves with the generational ripple effects one of the most gruesome atrocities perpetrated against humanity, slavery.
Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Revolutionary Life is a masterful biography, rich in detail, deep in scholarly research and full of necessary insights about its subject. Whatever your previous knowledge or ideas about L'Ouverture may have been, the book will quickly strip you of them leaving in its wake something far better.
A former African slave who rose through skillful maneuvering and wit to become the mastermind and leader of the first and biggest slave revolt in the Americas, Saint Domingue (Haiti), then the largest French colony in the Caribbean in the 17th century. Revolutionary, politician and general were some of the roles he assumed during Haiti's transformation from a slave plantation colony to an almost independent nation. In fact, while he didn't live to see it, he's the reason Haiti became the first independent and free nation in Latin America.
L'Ouverture was a man of contradictions. Loved and hated in equal measure by his contemporaries. Always a loyal friend, but when was he not a mortal enemy? He held in himself the tensions that revolutionary leaders must live with and that few would have been able to survive for so long in similar circumstances. And yet, his miserable fate foreshadowed Haiti's history to this very day forcing us, even now, to confront ourselves with the generational ripple effects one of the most gruesome atrocities perpetrated against humanity, slavery.
Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Revolutionary Life is a masterful biography, rich in detail, deep in scholarly research and full of necessary insights about its subject. Whatever your previous knowledge or ideas about L'Ouverture may have been, the book will quickly strip you of them leaving in its wake something far better.
January 9, 2021
An excellent biography of a complex individual.
As a former slave who, in his words, "was a black man with the soul of a white man", Louveture was a complicated figure who led and managed a large-scale, long-lasting slave rebellion (the first of its kind) that ended in the abolition of slavery but who also instituted restrictions on the former slaves that effectively tied them to their former plantations. While Toussaint led the 1791 slave rebellion that eventually resulted in an independent Haiti, he also didn't want to export that slave rebellion to other colonies like Guadeloupe at the expense of major European powers. From 1791-1803, his concern was maintaining a slave-free Haiti that could also be self-sufficient without the assistance of France. Eventually, Haiti would emerge as the first country that successfully broke the bonds of slavery, but Louveture would come to a tragic end before his ambition could be realized.
Girard is a thoughtful, thorough narrator. Although details on Louveture's early life is difficult to trace due to the lack of records (being that he was a former slave who's life was only known to the outside world through certificates and ledger entries), Girard focuses on tracking down any details on his life while also giving the reader a sense of the social conditions that led up to the Haitian Revolt of 1791. Although Girard is evidentially in awe of his subject, he never turns the narrative into a hagiography of Louveture (for instance, the black marks on his record relating to his institution of the Planters Code are well discussed) which I liked. I definitely felt a gut punch after finishing this book, knowing that Louveture died in a cold prison cell isolated from the rest of the world (his prediction that his capture would only "cut the trunk of the tree of liberty" would turn out to be true).
The book is tragic but also fascinating - Girard creates a fully-fleshed out narrative by writing about the contradictions and complexities of Louveture's character and actions. Overall, this is an excellent narrative of a too-often overlooked figure in modern history.
As a former slave who, in his words, "was a black man with the soul of a white man", Louveture was a complicated figure who led and managed a large-scale, long-lasting slave rebellion (the first of its kind) that ended in the abolition of slavery but who also instituted restrictions on the former slaves that effectively tied them to their former plantations. While Toussaint led the 1791 slave rebellion that eventually resulted in an independent Haiti, he also didn't want to export that slave rebellion to other colonies like Guadeloupe at the expense of major European powers. From 1791-1803, his concern was maintaining a slave-free Haiti that could also be self-sufficient without the assistance of France. Eventually, Haiti would emerge as the first country that successfully broke the bonds of slavery, but Louveture would come to a tragic end before his ambition could be realized.
Girard is a thoughtful, thorough narrator. Although details on Louveture's early life is difficult to trace due to the lack of records (being that he was a former slave who's life was only known to the outside world through certificates and ledger entries), Girard focuses on tracking down any details on his life while also giving the reader a sense of the social conditions that led up to the Haitian Revolt of 1791. Although Girard is evidentially in awe of his subject, he never turns the narrative into a hagiography of Louveture (for instance, the black marks on his record relating to his institution of the Planters Code are well discussed) which I liked. I definitely felt a gut punch after finishing this book, knowing that Louveture died in a cold prison cell isolated from the rest of the world (his prediction that his capture would only "cut the trunk of the tree of liberty" would turn out to be true).
The book is tragic but also fascinating - Girard creates a fully-fleshed out narrative by writing about the contradictions and complexities of Louveture's character and actions. Overall, this is an excellent narrative of a too-often overlooked figure in modern history.
August 10, 2021
Philippe Girard’s Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life seeks to flesh out our understanding of Haiti’s enigmatic slave-turned-revolutionary. Girard (author of The Slaves Who Defeated Napoleon) utilizes recently uncovered sources to trace Louverture’s largely unknown background. He began life as a slave in France’s brutal sugar colony of St. Domingue, gained his freedom and eventually a degree of prosperity with the help of several white patrons (he even owned slaves himself for them), cleverly exploiting the few avenues for advancement offered to Blacks under French colonialism. When Haiti’s revolution erupted (a reaction both to the idealism of the French Revolution and the planter-class’s resistance to emancipation), Louverture was largely a bystander, watching the early convulsions unfold while trying to craft an appropriate response. He declared loyalty to the French Directory, defeating rebellious whites and British invaders and (briefly) winning appointment as Governor, only to face dissent among his generals, betrayal by the United States (who initially supported the rebellion, only to switch sides in fear that Haiti would inspire slave rebellion) and a brutal invasion by Napoleon’s Grand Armee. Girard is cleareyed both about the revolution itself (a brutal conflict which presaged future colonial race wars in Algeria, Vietnam and elsewhere) and his protagonist: Louverture emerges both as a heroic leader and also a headstrong opportunist; helpfully, he shows that these two traits need not contradict each other. If Louverture isn’t the sainted revolutionary of legend, the courage and idealism of his leadership inspired his own countrymen and centuries of activists and revolutionaries across the world. A readable, compelling portrait of a rebel whose impact is still felt today.
February 16, 2023
3.5 stars. The precise word that I can think of for Toussaint Louverture is ambivalence. He started life as the son of African slaves in Saint-Domingue, a French colony in the Caribbean, and ended it as a prisoner of Napoleon and the French in a cell in the Jura of France. In between he manupulated, fought and bargained his way to freedom and the leadership of Saint-Domingue. He even invaded his next-door-neighbor, Santo Domingo, which belonged to slave-owning Spain. As the leader of a black army of former slaves, he took on several countries and defeated them. He did all this while not being proficient in French and professing his loyalty to France.
Freedom was important to him, but he also used slaves he purchased to help return the sugar plantations to economic viability after the Haitian Revolution. He finally invaded Santo Domingo against orders, which resulted in a bloody invasion of Saint-Domingue. Louverture was captured and sent to France, where he never saw his beloved family again.
As a last desperate appeal, Toussaint wrote a 'memoir' trying to show his loyalty to France. It failed. The former slave reached for the stars, but never seemed to understand that his small world was at the mercy of a larger world, a world he couldn't defeat. Still, his legacy lives on in Haiti although there is an ambivalence about the man felt even today.
Freedom was important to him, but he also used slaves he purchased to help return the sugar plantations to economic viability after the Haitian Revolution. He finally invaded Santo Domingo against orders, which resulted in a bloody invasion of Saint-Domingue. Louverture was captured and sent to France, where he never saw his beloved family again.
As a last desperate appeal, Toussaint wrote a 'memoir' trying to show his loyalty to France. It failed. The former slave reached for the stars, but never seemed to understand that his small world was at the mercy of a larger world, a world he couldn't defeat. Still, his legacy lives on in Haiti although there is an ambivalence about the man felt even today.
March 25, 2025
The portrait Philippe Girard tries to paint of Toussaint Louverture is a critical one. It is so sharp that it clearly shows his bias in specific instances of language and how he describes and labels actions and certain events. It is evident that his personal opinion on the matter comes through at times, which is what makes me rate this book so lowly. Though it does contain enlightening and new information regarding Toussaint Louverture, it's hard to overcome that hurdle.
What Girard is offering is a counter narrative to C. L. R. James The Black Jacobins. However to bolster his claims in regard to Louverture there are supported by dubious and weak evidence. David Geggus of the University of Florida has a review that challenges and dispels these claims.
“The result is an assessment that does not fully reckon with the complexity it exposes in its subject and instead directs excessively harsh criticism at the revolutionary leader on the basis of presentist assumptions.” — Carolyn E. Fick
What Girard is offering is a counter narrative to C. L. R. James The Black Jacobins. However to bolster his claims in regard to Louverture there are supported by dubious and weak evidence. David Geggus of the University of Florida has a review that challenges and dispels these claims.
“The result is an assessment that does not fully reckon with the complexity it exposes in its subject and instead directs excessively harsh criticism at the revolutionary leader on the basis of presentist assumptions.” — Carolyn E. Fick
July 15, 2019
It was a rather difficult book to get through, for two reasons. First, the style of writing was OK. Just OK. It was not very appealing or artistic. And in my opinion it needed that extra flare, because of the genre, which leads me to reason number two. The genre, i.e. a biography, tends to be dull a read by its very nature. Even a biography on Napoleon can be a boring read. This is, however, showing my own bias more than anything else. Nevertheless, the life of Tousssaint Louverture, a slave who became the governor of Saint-Domingue should have plenty of source material to write a drama filled biography. I think the problem lay in the fact that the author restrained himself from writing a massive tome. All things considered, I thought the book was informative, making Louverture's life intriguing, but only now and then. I would highly recommend it, if one were to couple this book with a bio on Napoleon as these men were contemporaries.
September 28, 2019
Toussaint Louverture is a widely venerated revolutionary hero in Haitian history and inspiration in anticolonial movements, but there are a lot of things I didn't know about him. This was such a nuanced account of his rise from slave to leader of the only successful slave revolt in history, governor of Saint Domingue, and his imprisonment in France. The writing style isn't my favorite, but it filled in some gaps and gave me insight into Louverture's complicated and contradictory life as well as his legacy. I don't know how Girard found enough material to write this given there aren't many records about Louverture's early life and his final days of captivity in France, but I appreciate this unbiased biography. Louverture isn't celebrated as a black nationalist like Jean Jacques Dessalines, but I understand his role as the mastermind of the Haitian Revolution so much more. L'union fait la force.
July 28, 2020
This is a difficult book to review. The author was very thorough, and went through a lot of primary documents, but the truth is the subject is elusive. How did a self taught, illiterate slave acquire the military skill and strategy to defeat one of the most powerful armies in the world? (British, French and Spanish) How did he gain his freedom? There are apparently no documents to say. Also, even though it deals with a revolutionary who achieved Haitian independence by force, one hardly gets a sense of the drama of battle. There should have been more emphasis on action. But the author works hard to convey a sense of his subject’s intelligence and charisma which helped him achieve his goal. The last chapters are poignant, as they deal with his betrayal by one of his generals, and the contemptuous way he was treated by Napoleon just before he died. It’s a great book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2023
This rather short biography was a little hard to read on audio--and I am sure much harder to research and write--because it not only covers the life of Toussaint Louverture but also the history of relations between France and Haiti/Saint Domingue, the revolutionary war in the U.S. as well as the French revolution, and relies on general history about the time. Things go back and forth in time, and there are multiple characters who come and go, and then Napoleon enters the picture.
Girard, however, gives you a pretty good picture of Louverture as a rather self-interested person who seemed to switch sides and did not really have a moral compass when it came to freeing enslaved people. He inspired black nationalists worldwide, but still did not impress me as someone with a moral claim to heroics.
Girard, however, gives you a pretty good picture of Louverture as a rather self-interested person who seemed to switch sides and did not really have a moral compass when it came to freeing enslaved people. He inspired black nationalists worldwide, but still did not impress me as someone with a moral claim to heroics.
May 21, 2017
Won't resolve every question (frankly, nothing will, but new documents seem to turn up every few years to drive Haiti scholars back to the archives) but a finely balanced portrait, neither hagiographic nor iconoclastic, of the many Toussaints - each of which gets a chapter - that sequentially resided in the single body of the former African slave who presided over the great Saint-Domingue slave revolt, defeated French, Spanish, and British armies, won a civil war, and created a government...and in the process captured the imagination of the world and became the nightmare plaguing every American enslaver until final emancipation following 1865 and the enforcement of the 13th amendment
(More later, but deeply recommended.)
(More later, but deeply recommended.)
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