TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE

A Missing Hero from American History

Presented by

Jacques Antoine Dorcely

School Psychologist, Writer, Artist, and Inventor

 TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE
A Missing Hero from American History

• An OBAMA of the 18th Century

• This black Spartacus who threw off the yoke of oppression

• The George Washington’s Caribbean counterpart

• An unsung hero
 TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE
A Missing Hero from American History

In this presentation Toussaint Louverture is viewed as:

• A major figure in the United States’ economic

development and expansion

• A great role model

• The greatest black revolutionary of all times.

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A Missing Hero from American History

How did the United States become economically strong and powerful?

A) Acquisition of the Louisiana Territory in 1803, a major step in US expansion

and development.

B) US Trading with Haiti meant trading with France was vital for the survival of the
US. Note that the French currency was legally accepted by the US Department of the
Treasury.
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The American Project-How Important was the Louisiana Territory to France? [70-74]

France ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762 in the wake of Seven Years War, but
Spain was no more eager to colonize the area than France had been. This territory
was ceded back to France in October 1800 in exchange of Florence (Italy), the birth
place of the famous navigator Amerigo Vespucci. France did not actually take
possession of the Louisiana territory until two years later.
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The American Project-How Important was the Louisiana Territory to France? [70-74]

“Louisiana was a vast territory. It stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes
and the border of Canada, and from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. It
comprised all of the Indian Territory, all of Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming, Montana, the
Dakotas, and most of Colorado and Minnesota, and all of the Washington and Oregon
States.”
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A Missing Hero from American History

The American Project-How Important was the Louisiana Territory to France? [70-74]

“If the greatness and increasing prosperity of the United States is indissolubly
connected with the complete union of all its parts, no circumstances could be more
fatal to that union and prosperity, than the possession of Louisiana by Napoleon,”
[One 18th Century American newspaper noted.]
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A Missing Hero from American History

The American Project-How Important was the Louisiana Territory to France? [70-74]

“This vast territory (Louisiana) seemed to hang, almost oppressively over young
America to limit its dream of expansion and stifle its vitality.”
[Napoleon and the American Dream, Ines Murat]
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Who was Toussaint Louverture?

• Once a domestic slave

• A coachman and plantation steward

• A lieutenant governor (1795)

• A general-in-chief of the army

(September 1, 1797)

• A governor general

• One of the best known black

revolutionary of all time.
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The Black Liberator

“I was born a slave, but nature gave me Toussaint Louverture

on his horse
the soul of a free man. Everyday I raised
my hands in prayer to God to implore him
to come to the aide of my brethren and to
shed the light of mercy upon them.”
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A Family Role Model

• “Every Sunday and on holidays, I take my wife and my parents to church. After
dinner, my family and I spent the rest of the day together and we end it in a prayer.”

• Demonstrated a very strong attachment to his wife (Simone Baptiste) by revealing:

“The most poignant situation I had to face came up during the war where I had to
leave my wife… and I would not feel comfortable until I knew that she was safe.”

• Strongly favored matrimony and condemned concubine. He once declared: “I do not

understand how respectable women can act this way against common decency.
Chastity should be the principal ornament of their sex.”

Grateful, trustworthy, strict but not wicked, forgiving, conciliatory and self sacrificing.
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A Missing Hero from American History

The Importance of Toussaint Louverture and Haiti’s History [18-22]

(What Others Have Said)

• "I have always felt as an African American, that my history has been raped and taken away from
me to such an extent that no matter how much compassion I have for Africa, I have no town, no
village, no city, no country that I can identify with in Africa... I feel better about finding out where
we are going and to have Americans recognize the debt we owe Haiti for being a friend in all
these years... but most importantly for the opportunity that Haiti gives to feel as people.“
[Congressman Charles Rangel]

• “Toussaint was one of the greatest men of his time. He was not only the symbol of Black
emancipation but also the symbol of emancipation of us all.”
[Late French President Francois Mitterrand]
(March 31, 1987 visit at Fort de Joux, France)

• “Toussaint Louverture was a nation.“

[Alfonse de Lamartine, French poet and politician]
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• “Toussaint Louverture was not loud. He was not brash. He had a vision to see his people
grow in mind, in thought, and in deed. He was the first individual of color who stood firm in
his belief and in his action to teach a group of people, the nation, and the world to believe in
freedom for all. He fought the good fight with all his might with dignity and integrity. He
was criticized, like all people who try to do the right thing in a quiet style.”
[Nelian C. Pilgrim, Principal of one of the NYC Public Schools]

• “Toussaint Louverture was one of the noblest of his own or any race. He was pure when to
be otherwise was no discredit; grateful when ingratitude was the rule, and self sacrificing
when individual aspiration extended beyond self-interest. More than any other man he
contributed to the honor and reputation of that division of mankind with which he was allied
by blood and by birth.” [Dr. S. Wesley- Smith]
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• “My greatest mistake was to try to subdue St Domingue (Haiti) by force of arms. I should
have named Toussaint my Vice-King,” wrote Napoleon Bonaparte, While being a prisoner
at Saint Helene (Elba Island) on Jan 10, 1817. [Roland Lambalot reported]

Toussaint Louverture
Napoleon Bonaparte
The Black Liberator
(Emperor of France)

Some of Toussaint’s Contemporaries

John Adams Thomas Jefferson
(2nd.US President 1797-1801) (3rd US President 1801-1809)
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We hope that the United States Congress

Will declare a
Toussaint Louverture Memorial Day

• Yes, we can!
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A Missing Hero from American History

INTERESTED IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE?

Please answer the following questions:

1- Who are your heroes?

3- Why do countries celebrate Heroes?

3- How important are Memorial Days to you and your community?

4- How can a country become powerful?

A) Good trade relations with other countries.
B) Acquisition of new territories, agricultural development, exploitation of natural resources,
development of technology, etc.

5- What historical figure that made the following statement during his arrest:
“In capturing me you have only cut the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring
up again by the roots, for those roots are strong and numerous.”
A) Frederick Douglass
B) Harriet Tubman
C) Marcus Garvey
D) Toussaint Louverture

6- Why was Barack Obama’s election to the presidency so exciting?