Five Extremely Important Figures of the Haitian Revolution

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Toussaint-L'Ouverture was born in 1743, in the city of Cap Francais, Saint Domingue, to slave parents. Toussaint was self-educated. He acted as physician to the army and became a leader of the Haitian slave revolt, which is a 1791 black slave uprising against French colonial rule. After France abolished slavery in the territory in 1794, Toussaint supported the French rulers of the country against British invaders and was made a general in 1795. He was known as "the Precursor." In 1801 he succeeded in liberating Saint-Domingue from French control and became president of the new republic. In 1802 Napoleon sent troops under the command of his brother-in-law, General Charles Victor Emmanuel Leclerc, to suppress the Haitians. Toussaint was defeated, captured, and accused of conspiracy. He was taken to France, where he was imprisoned and died the next year. He is honored today as one of the founders and heroes of Haiti.

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Jean-Jacques was a black leader and self-proclaimed emperor of Haiti from 1804-1806. Born in West Africa, he was raised as a slave in Grand Riviee du Nord, Haiti, in which he took the name of his master. He joined the rebellion against the French in the early 1790s, and from 1797 served under Toussaint-Louverture. Dessalines surrendered in 1802 to the French general Charles Victor Emmanuel Leclerc. In January of 1804 Dessalines, after the rebels, with British assistance, drove the French out of Haiti; he proclaimed Haiti an independent republic and was named governor-general for life. In October, Dessalines declared himself Emperor Jean-Jacques I. He made enemies among his own followers, two of them, Henri Christophe and Alexandre Sabes Petion, assassinated him in a surprise attack near Port-au-Prince.

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Henri Cristophe was born on the island of Grenada. After fighting at Savannah, Georgia, during the American Revolution,