Portal:Pan-Africanism/Selected biography/11

Toussaint Louverture
A painting of Louverture in a military uniform holding a document
Posthumous painting of Toussaint Louverture
President of Haiti
In office
7 July 1801 – 6 May 1802
Appointed byConstitution of 1801
Preceded byInaugural holder
Succeeded byJean-Jacques Dessalines (Republic of Haiti)
Governor-General of Saint-Domingue
In office
1797–1801
Appointed byÉtienne Maynaud
Preceded byInaugural holder
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born
Toussaint Bréda

20 May 1743
Saint-Domingue
(now Haiti)
Died7 April 1803(1803-04-07) (aged 59)
Fort-de-Joux, France
Nickname(s)Napoléon Noir
Black Spartacus
Military career
Allegiance France
 Haiti
Service / branchFrench Army
French Revolutionary Army
Armée Indigène
RankGeneral
Battles / warsHaitian Revolution

François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (French: [fʁɑ̃swa dɔminik tusɛ̃ luvɛʁtyʁ] 9 May 1743 – 7 April 1803), also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda, was the best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution. He was a leader of the growing resistance. His military and political acumen saved the gains of the first Black insurrection in November 1791. He first fought for the Spanish against the French; then for France against Spain and Great Britain; and finally, for Saint-Domingue against Napoleonic France. He then helped transform the insurgency into a revolutionary movement, which by 1800 had turned Saint-Domingue, the most prosperous slave colony of the time, into the first free colonial society to have explicitly rejected race as the basis of social ranking.

Though Louverture did not sever ties with France, his actions in 1800 constituted a de facto autonomous colony. The colony's constitution proclaimed him governor for life even against Napoleon Bonaparte's wishes. He died betrayed before the final and most violent stage of the armed conflict. However, his achievements set the grounds for the Black army's absolute victory and for Jean-Jacques Dessalines to declare the sovereign state of Haiti in January 1804. Louverture's prominent role in the Haitian success over colonialism and slavery had earned him the admiration of friends and detractors alike.