Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture

Product Information

I was curious to read this book because, although I was vaguely aware of Toussaint as a cult figure among Haitian people as the founder of their free nation, I really didn't know much else. Add that to the very cool title and front cover and I was sold.

an outstanding biography that breaks fresh ground and scrapes the crust of folklore, and cliché, from the Toussaint story ... scrupulous and absorbing ... After the summer of 2020, there could hardly be a more urgent and valuable book. Boyd Tonkin, Arts Desk This is clearly meticulously researched, has a heroic protagonist, is set in a fascinating period in history and should be a triumph. The definitive modern biography of the great slave leader, military genius and revolutionary hero Toussaint Louverture A well-written political and military biography, if you're in to that. I am glad to have read it especially since I knew absolutely nothing about Toussaint or the Haiti slave revolt. The writing is very good, and even if you don't really care about all of the colonial politics and alliances, you will understand it all. In turn, the election of François Légitime, a general, in 1888 led to a battle in which a rival general was killed, but, in 1889, he resigned in the face of opposition from yet another general, Florvil Hyppolite, who, however, suppressed rebellions, improved the economy, and was able to die in office in 1896. His successor, Tirésias Sam (r. 1896-1902), helped oversee a measure of stabilisation.Saint-Domingue, the epicentre of Caribbean change in the 1790s, was a very prosperous slave society that was totally destabilised by the French Revolution that began in 1789. Initially, the crisis was handled without too much difficulty in the French Caribbean. Furthermore, in Paris proposals for change were stalled, including the rejection in March 1790 that free men of colour be given the franchise. The measure did not pass until May 1791 and then only if they were born of free parents, with full equality not until April 1792.

Thus, Rome is described as an oppressive state suffering from its own excesses in the years before the adoption of Christian beliefs begins to end Roman oppression and slavery. [43] L'Ouverture was not to be fooled. He set fire to coastal towns and awaited the invaders in the interior. When the French landed they assumed the entire island was ablaze. Lady Nugent, the American wife of Jamaica's British governor, watched aghast as the conflagration raged. "It seems that Toussaint's plan is to distress the French as much as possible," she wrote in her journal, adding: "It makes me shudder to think of the horrible bloodshed and misery that must take place before anything can be settled in that wretched island." Every judge of book prizes will have their own views, and, in offering mine, I am not implying that they are definitive; but, in over three decades of judging, I have never tried to prejudge the issues of our town time, or to award prizes at least in part accordingly. Let us first turn to Toussaint, then consider the Wolfson Prize, and then look at wider issues. Treacherously seized on 7 June 1802 during negotiations, Toussaint died in prison in France in 1803 – his only visit to the country. I would like to dedicate this award to the Haitian people, and to all the scholars who have helped give the Saint-Domingue revolution, this landmark event in the fight for emancipation and dignity, the prominence it deserves”A] superbly researched book . . . This reconstruction gives [Toussaint's] political, military and intellectual accomplishments their due." — The Economist In Gladihoppers, He appears as a playable character in the Spartacus War, if the player chose the Spartacus Rebellion mode. If the player names the character in Career Mode, Spartacus, the player will receive Spartacus's sword. Pink Floyd's Roger Waters on rebuilding The Wall". Business Live. May 30, 2013 . Retrieved July 10, 2023.

No portraits of L'Ouverture were drawn from life, so we have little idea of what he looked like. Today, despite his historical legacy, he is barely recognised in the west. Yet he was the subject of many books and poems from his death in 1803 until the 19th century's end. For the Romantics, L'Ouverture was the morning star of a new era for the Americas and an emblem of slavery's hoped-for abolition. This bio reveals that Toussaint was a leader of the revolution from its very inception and examines his profound adherence to principals of fraternity and general liberty and the multiracial post-revolutionary society he sought to build. Also,it explains how, in death, Toussaint has become an influence for revolutionary thought throughout the world throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.⁣ In August 1791, slaves in the French colony of St Domingue began a series of coordinated revolts on plantations in the northern region. This launched a series of insurrections throughout the colony defeating, in turn, the French 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘴 on the island, a Spanish invasion from Santo Domingo, a British invasion of 60,000 men and ultimately a French invasion of the same size.⁣ Harvey, Steve (September 11, 1976). "Dalton Trumbo Dies at 70, One of the 'Hollywood 10' ". Los Angeles Times. p.1. He recalled how his name returned to the screen in 1960 with the help of Spartacus star Kirk Douglas: 'I had been working on Spartacus for about a year' The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California on August 8, 1958 · 23". Newspapers.com. August 8, 1958 . Retrieved May 20, 2021.

Meanwhile, after finding Varinia and Spartacus's newborn son, Crassus takes them prisoner. He is disturbed by the idea that Spartacus can command more love and loyalty than he can, and hopes to compensate by making Varinia as devoted to him as she was to her former husband. When she rejects him, he furiously seeks out Spartacus (whom he recognizes from having watched him at Batiatus' school) and forces him to fight Antoninus to the death. The survivor is to be crucified, along with all the other slaves. Spartacus kills Antoninus to spare him this terrible fate. The incident leaves Crassus worried about Spartacus's potential to live in legend as a martyr. In other matters, he is also worried about Caesar, who he senses will someday eclipse him. Several sports clubs around the world, in particular the former Soviet and the Communist Bloc, were named after the Roman gladiator. Spartacus and the Slave Rebellion". Historynet.com. 31 July 2006. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011 . Retrieved 24 February 2013. Plutarch. Fall of the Roman Republic. Translated by R. Warner. (London: Penguin Books, 1972), with special emphasis placed on "The Life of Crassus" and "The Life of Pompey". If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month.

The potential of independence was not much more encouraging to some commentators than the inequality and stagnation of continued reality of imperial rule, and the two were linked in Haiti, where, amidst mass devastation and a marked fall in the population, some of the plantation economy producing for European markets had survived the slave rebellion in 1791, the highly destructive subsequent warfare, and independence from France in 1804. That said, it is undeniable that Toussaint was a unique figure in history and proved to be wiser than most people in many aspects. He truly envisioned men (and women) to be equal, imagining and creating a society where all ethnicities could live and work together. That is what he did in Saint-Domingue by offering an amnesty to all whites after the abolition of slavery in 1794, offering even to the colons and settlers who had fled to return to them their properties (meaning their lands, not their slaves). Alas, few people shared his vision and it lasted only as long as he was in power. His successor, Dessalines, known as the terror of the whites, had most of the white settlers killed after Toussaint's capture. This emphasizes how Toussaint was a true visionary who firmly believed in the principle of forgiveness. He even treated humanely prisoners of war, be them Spanish, British, or French. Nic Fields (2009). Spartacus and the Slave War 73–71 BC: A Gladiator Rebels Against Rome. Osprey Publishing. p.28. ISBN 978-1-84603-353-7. Scott, John L. (October 20, 1960). " 'Spartacus' Imposing Cinema Spectacle." Los Angeles Times. Part III, p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.A phenomenally researched book, the wealth and granularity of historical detail about Toussaint Louverture and Haitian Revolution (Saint Domingue then) in the 1790s is incredible, as is its assessment of Toussaint's legacy and influence on radical anti-slavery movements throughout the 19th and 20th century. Spartacus's name was also used in athletics in the Soviet Union and communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. The Spartakiad was a Soviet bloc version of the Olympic games. [58] This name was also used for the mass gymnastics exhibition held every five years in Czechoslovakia. The mascot for the Ottawa Senators, Spartacat, is also named after him.