Any traveler has probably come across some space in France dedicated to the memory of Toussaint Louverture, one of the main leaders of a revolution that, from 1791 to 1804, transformed the colony of Saint-Domingue. The myth of Black Spartacus has crossed the ages. He was celebrated and denigrated in equal measure. He has never left anyone indifferent. He became a universal icon of liberation and the echo of him reached the African-American world of the United States strongly. But Haiti is on the margins of the margins and his figure has fallen into oblivion, despite his leadership in the first anti-colonial struggle. A few years ago, Sudhir Hazareesingh, one of the most suggestive historians of contemporary France, wanted to recover the biography of a character with too many edges. He changed themes and spaces, but he did so with the solvency of someone who handles the archives of half the world with ease. In The Black Spartacus shows us an epic and original Louverture, which still has a lot to tell our time.
Louverture was born a slave in the same Saint-Domingue that made him famous. But, as he himself pointed out, nature gave him “the soul of a free man.” At that time Haiti was hell on earth. Although his father was a figure within the slave community, his unfortunate companions could never imagine what the future would hold for that child. He developed an interpretation of reality that intertwined a deep Christian faith with the African roots of his family. His role within the plantation as a mediator in different disturbances granted him freedom. He was able to choose his own name: “the opening” of an emancipated man. His relationship with his former owner benefited his community and Toussaint helped him escape from the island at the beginning of the rebellion. The first of the democratically elected Haitian presidents, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, blamed him precisely for his dealings with the oppressors.
His republicanism was mixed because he walked between African-American mysticism, political realism and the defense of a Catholic moral order.
Fraternity was the intellectual pillar of his political approaches. The Enlightenment ideal had strongly permeated his thinking and he always maintained an unwavering hope in humanity. He was committed to regeneration through education to create conscious citizens. His republicanism was mixed because he walked between African-American mysticism, political realism and the defense of a Catholic moral order. In 1791, he was one of the protagonists of the first great anti-colonial revolution. The French Revolution had changed the framework of debate. The discussion over slave rights fueled confrontation within Haitian society. Then the blacks killed the whites with the help of other whites, and the whites killed the blacks with the collaboration of other blacks. After this bloody rebellion, Louverture joined the French Republicans to defend the colony from his enemies, especially the British. The Jacobins had sought the abolition of slavery. The ethnic diversity of the black population did not make it easy to generate its own identity. But he tried from the various political and military positions that he held. He was the strong man of Haiti.
Toussaint is recognized as the main defender of the emancipation of slaves, but that did not prevent him from moving based on strategic calculations. He hung out with the rebellious slaves, cavorted with the Spanish, and then defended and confronted the French. Ambiguity governed many of his decisions. Hazareesingh describes the ways of a military champion who achieved success on the battlefield and more than one wound. Louverture challenged and won against the French authorities on more than one occasion. In Paris they knew that they could not harass him if they wanted to keep Saint-Domingue under his rule. By 1798, the island was a ruin. The revolutionary excesses had devastated everything. Frictions with the metropolis were common. Toussaint decided to go for the search for autonomy and reestablish economic relations with the environment, especially with the United States. He gained control of part of the territory. But Napoleon’s appearance on the scene changed everything. The meeting with his emissaries showed that the agreement was impossible. The emperor refused to accept the Constitution of 1801. Louverture then took the French army to the extreme. As a result of a deception, he was arrested and transferred to France. There he died in prison.
Louverture had already become a myth. However, this is not a hagiography, although it is sometimes dazzled by the character. Hazareesingh does not hide the more ruthless side of the character. The Black Spartacus It is a panoramic work that combines a global analysis with microhistorical incursions. The combination is surprising and demonstrates the ability of a well-done biography to explain an entire era. Before his death, our protagonist pointed out that the trunk of freedom that had germinated in Haiti could not be eliminated, its roots were deeply rooted. He failed to understand that there were other forms of servitude. In 1825, France forced Haitians to pay 300% of their GDP plus interest for their independence. But that is another story.
Sudhir Hazareesingh
Translation by Joan Eloi Roca
Attic of Books, 2024
656 pages. 34.95 euros
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