Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture
by Sudhir Hazareesingh
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020

“I was born a slave, but nature gave me the soul of a free man.” – Toussaint Louverture, 1797

So begins a new and expertly crafted history of the larger-than-life Haitian revolutionary, Toussaint Louverture in Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture by Sudhir Hazareesingh. Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2020, this new study of the freedom fighter’s life brings a fresh interpretation to the man himself, while dancing skillfully around the more controversial—and unsavory—aspects of his rule during the years spanning the Haitian Revolution of 1791 and the Haitian War of Independence in 1802.

While there are reams of documents one can harvest relating to Louverture’s revolutionary life, Hazareesingh acknowledges that his early years pose a dilemma for a biographer. Born a slave sometime in the mid-18th century (based off of oral traditions among his children), we know Toussaint was born on the Bréda sugar plantation and, as a slave, duly took the surname of his owner, Bréda. He would later change his surname to Louverture in the early days of the rebellion. Meaning “opening,” the name Louverture would tie Toussaint to his relished role as the man to “open the gates of destiny” for his people.

While there are gaps in Louverture’s early historical record, Hazareesingh creatively addresses this research obstacle by expanding on the social and cultural history of Saint-Domingue, giving us a glimpse into the world that shaped young Toussaint. In the late 18th century, Saint-Domingue was a thriving French colony on the western side of the island of Hispaniola, which the indigenous native Americans Taino people called “Ayti,” or land of the high mountains. Known as the “Pearle of the Antilles,” Saint-Domingue was the strongest export economy of the Americas, amassing colossal fortunes from its sugar and coffee cash crops. Thriving business sectors in port cities enabled a vibrant cultural and intellectual scene to flower, with theaters and even reading clubs springing up. But it was a production system based upon the slavery of more than 500,000 human beings, the majority of whom were imported from Africa.

Louverture was the son of two such slaves, but eventually achieved his own emancipation in 1776 or even earlier, according to Hazareesingh. Working as the Bréda plantation coachman put him in close association with the estate overseers, who valued Louverture’s keen intellect and perception in arbitrating disputes amongst the plantation workers along with the day-to-day operations of a vast estate. Upon his liberation, however, Louverture did not immediately try to free his brothers and sisters in chains. Indeed, one of the most controversial aspects of Louverture’s life was the fact that he owned at least one slave, but also rented a plantation with 13 slaves between 1779 and 1781.

Perhaps the most effective way to deal with the messier aspects of Louverture—his owning of slaves, his later authoritarian acts, and even his white mistresses—is to approach the intellectual interiority of the man, which is exactly what Hazareesingh does in fascinating detail. Using recently uncovered documents in British, French, and Spanish archives, he dives into the deep pool of Louverture’s mind. We are treated to Toussaint’s musings on his conception of the European Enlightenment and French republicanism in relation to his native creole culture, as well as his profound religiosity (he was a lifelong Catholic). Indeed, Louverture’s ability to synthesize his passionate belief in republican rationalism and logic with his native creole beliefs in nature and “vodou” make his one of the most fascinating minds of his age.

But his lasting appeal on world consciousness is his role as Haiti’s “Black Spartacus,” who led his people in rebellion against the oppressive republic that enslaved them. Some of the most enjoyable chapters of Hazareesingh’s book take us through those dizzying days of rebellion, revolution, and ultimately, independence—miles of mine-studded political ground that Louverture seems to navigate with both acumen and aplomb. While we get an entertaining picture of Louverture as wily politician and fearless military leader (Napoleon’s threat of invasion did not faze the man), the elements of his more authoritarian governorship of the colony still trouble and persist. His ill-timed and controversial invasion to liberate Santo Domingo (the eastern half of Hispaniola ruled by the Spanish), along with his extreme agrarian policies to force freedmen back to work on the plantations are the flies in the ointment of Louverture’s mostly heroic story.

One does not come to the heights of power without making enemies along the way, and unfortunately for Louverture, it included some of his closest comrades-in-arms. When Napoleon chose to invade Saint-Domingue in early 1802, it set off the final act of the drama: the Haitian War of Independence. It would be Louverture’s final and some say his greatest stand, cut short by the betrayal of his generals who wanted complete severance from France. Louverture still hoped to maintain that long umbilical line of fraternité he so fervently espoused all his life. His dreams of a peaceful, multiracial republic of Haiti would not come to pass. His defecting generals sprang a trap for Louverture, and he was captured and sent into exile by the French. He would die in a cold, damp fortress in eastern France in 1803. But as Hazareesingh’s closing chapters highlight, his legacy spanned centuries, taking on new meaning for new generations, inspiring freedom movements around the world.

Black Spartacus is a well-written, if slightly hagiographic, addition to Louverture historiography. With a wealth of previously undiscovered documents shedding new light on his beliefs and intellectual passions, we get a bit closer to this intriguing man who helped free a nation. Hazareesingh perhaps sums it up best: “Toussaint Louverture was the first black superhero of the modern age.”

—Peggy Kurkowski holds a BA in History from American Public University and is a copywriter living in Denver, Colorado.