The Haitian people are heirs to the greatest story never told in schools across the United States. A story of a people so brave that they fought and won against the most powerful armies of the 18th century — England, Spain and Napoleon’s France. A story of a people with courage, determination and strength of character that changed human history and still echoes today. A story so profound that they would create the first Black republic and the second nation to achieve independence from a European empire. And a story of a people whose greatest gift to humanity — unfulfilled by the powerful Western capitals of Washington, D.C., Paris, or London — an idea only accomplished by the Haitian people — is universal human rights.
It is also a story of the most important man in history, a man who led the Haitians to freedom. A man who led the only successful slave revolt, a man known as Black Spartacus.
When Toussaint Louverture — Black Spartacus — died on April 7, 1803, he had accomplished what no individual had done in his time — he fought and won against the greatest armies in Europe, forced France and England to end the slave trade, forced Napoleon to end his attempts to create a French empire in the Western Hemisphere and arguably caused France to decide to sell its North American holdings to the United States — the Louisiana Purchase. His success lead to the end of European colonization and slavery in central and south America when Haiti supported Simon Bolivar, and he inspired the largest slave revolt in the United States — the 1811 German Coast uprisings in Louisiana. In an irony fit for a movie, Louverture’s success would create the first refugee crisis in the United States when White slavers from Haiti fled for their lives during the Haitian Revolution to Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York and Charleston from 1791-1793.
These accomplishments are even more impressive for the Haitian people and Louverture when one considers the humble origins of both.
Slaves in Haiti produced 60% of the world’s coffee and 40% of the sugar imported by France and Britain. Haiti was France’s most profitable colony and the wealthiest colony in the Caribbean. But all that was about to change.
On the night of Aug. 22, 1791, thousands of slaves began a revolt heard around the world. They killed their White masters and within weeks the rebellion grew to 100,000 slaves. In the following months, 4,000 Whites died, with 180 sugar plantations and hundreds of coffee and indigo plantations burnt to the ground. By 1792 slaves controlled most of Haiti, forcing the French National Assembly to grant civil and political rights to the free men of color in the colonies, to the horror of Europe and the United States.
On Jan. 1, 1804, after a long and bloody 13-year struggle, the Haitian people achieved what no slave colony had — freedom and the first Black republic.
Toussaint Louverture was born a slave on May 20, 1743, on the plantation of Bréda at Haut-du-Cap in Haiti. Louverture was the eldest son of Gaou Guinon, an African prince who was captured by slavers.
After Louverture’s parents’ deaths, Simon Baptiste — a priest, carpenter and gatekeeper on the Bréda plantation — became his godfather, teaching him to read and write. Impressed by Louverture, Bayon de Libertad, the manager of the Breda plantation, allowed him access to his personal library. Louverture would later secure his freedom from de Libertad and serve as coachman and manage the household staff.
Although free, Louverture joined the slave insurrection, developing a reputation as a capable soldier, equestrian and military secretary. In time, Louverture would become general-in-chief of the Army, successfully pitting the quarrelsome European powers off one another until he liberated Haiti from European domination.
Humanity owes a debt of gratitude to the fortitude and bravery of the Haitian people in fighting for the dignity of all human beings. They are an exemplar of human rights and universal freedom in a world in which Western nations only profess such qualities.
Flores is executive director of LISC San Diego and lives in Kensington.
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Publish date : 2024-11-06 00:00:00
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