Liberty, Equality, Fraternity for Haiti
By: Jason Park
Tags: Haiti, Reading, Books, Biography, History

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity for Haiti

A review of the new Toussaint Louverture biography, “Black Spartacus” by Sudhir Hazareesingh

Toussaint Louverture, emancipator and liberator of Saint Domingue, the modern-day island nation of Haiti, is the subject of a new biography by Sudhir Hazareesingh titled Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture. And may I say that the subtitle says it all. If anyone lived an epic life, it is this man, and Hazareesingh captures it perfectly in his new book.

Revolutions and slave revolts have a significant place in the AP World History curriculum and especially in my classroom, so this biography is especially significant to me. Eric Beckman has done great work in centering the Haitian Revolution in the story of the “Age of Revolutions”, and a teacher wanting to do that would do well to supplement Eric’s terrific resources with excerpts from this book.

But this book is for absolutely anyone that loves history. Hazareesingh lays out from the beginning what makes Louverture an important subject and how he has been portrayed in previous biographies, providing an overview of how this new biography paints a unique portrait of the revolutionary. I had not read a book featuring Louverture or the Haitian Revolution before (although The Black Count is wonderful and features Saint Domingue throughout the same time period), and I jumped into the story with ease because of the way Hazareesingh frames his narrative and guides the reader through the epic story.

A key detail that is easy to miss to someone not familiar with the Haitian Revolution is that it happened in two stages, and thus Louverture’s revolutionary life has at least two stages as well: 1) the slave revolt and emancipation of Saint Domingue/Haiti’s slaves, while still under France’s control, and 2) Haiti’s slow march to independence and the ensuing war with Napoleon to fight for that independence. That makes every moment of Louverture’s biography full of suspense, the reader wondering what events are yet to unfold and how they will commence. Given how sparse the records are for Louverture’s early life, a large percentage of the biography is devoted to these famous events, which I usually consider a blessing. However, I would have loved to know more about Louverture’s early life as a slave. It is disappointing that the one subject of a biography whose early life would be immensely interesting simply doesn’t have the historical sources to provide us with that knowledge.

Hazareesingh’s treatment of Louverture was especially helpful in understanding the man in full form. His religion seems to have had a terrific impact on his life, as Hazareesingh declares:

His sentiments of brotherhood were reinforced by his Catholic faith, which cemented his belief in the potential for social regeneration: there was an underlying meaning and purpose to human existence, and all men and women were equally worthy of God’s grace, irrespective of their race or colour.

At the same time, however, the idea that Louverture was a black man influenced primarily by European culture and ideas is a falsity. Hazareesingh is clear on the depth of Vodou’s effect on Louverture’s consciousness and his immersion in African culture. It is common that intellectuals and laymen alike will overemphasize the links between, for instance, the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution, suggesting that Louverture was simply applying the same ideas in his context. The most famous example of this is C.L.R. James’s The Black Jacobins, which Hazareesingh skillfully dissects:

The Black Jacobins ’ assessment of the events in Saint-Domingue as ultimately deriving from European ideals and political forms exaggerated the closeness of the links between radical movements in France and Saint-Domingue, and downplayed the breathtaking originality of Toussaint and his comrades.

In the same vein, Louverture’s accomplishments (and those of his men) cannot be diminished as primarily an effect of the French Revolution:

Especially in standard French accounts of the Haitian Revolution, abolitionism in Saint-Domingue is typically portrayed as a product of the ‘stimulating winds of the French Revolution’, notably through the ending of slavery by Commissioner Sonthonax in August 1793, rather than an expression of radical thinking among the rebels. Yet it has been convincingly shown that the Sonthonax decree was only made possible by the sustained actions of the black revolutionaries.

I am not even a fan of military history in general, but the way Hazareesingh frames the narrative and provides a thematic foreground makes this biography unique. I especially enjoyed reading about Louverture’s pioneering guerrilla tactics, the details of which were singularly impressive.

If you love reading history, I am confident you will love the story of Louverture in Black Spartacus. It’s thick (though not Ron Chernow thick), but it is worth the time to understand the life of a revolutionary mind and see the world through a unique point of view. Louverture’s story will move you and make you think differently at the same time.

I received a review copy of Black Spartacus courtesy of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux Publishing and NetGalley, but my opinions are my own.