The Black Man: Toussaint L'Ouverture

What it is

This is a chapter titled "Toussaint L'Ouverture" from The Black Man, a book written in 1863 by William Wells Brown, a formerly enslaved abolitionist and author. It narrates the conditions in Saint-Domingue before the revolution and Louverture's role within it.

Why it matters

Written during the American Civil War by a Black abolitionist, this chapter used Louverture's story to argue for Black capability and against slavery, at a time when slavery's fate in the United States was still undecided. It shows how Haitian history was used as a political and moral argument by African American writers.

Look closer

• Why might Brown have chosen to write about Haiti's revolution in 1863, during the American Civil War?
• What does Brown's description of the population of Saint-Domingue tell you about the society Louverture lived in?
• How does this account compare to encyclopedia entries from the same era?