Toussaint L’Ouverture

Did you know that a black Haitian Catholic, Toussaint L’Ouverture played a key role in the first successful attempt by a slave population in the Americas and the world to win independence from European colonialism?

He defeated armies of three imperial powers: Spain, France, and Great Britain. The success of the Haitian Revolution (1891-1804) had enduring effects on shaking the institution of slavery throughout the New World. Haiti became the second independent republic in the Americas. After being captured by the French general Leclerc, on the ship to France, Toussaint L’Ouverture warned his captors that the rebels would not make his mistake in the following words, “In overthrowing me you have to cut down in St. Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring up again from the roots, for they are many and they are deep.” Haiti became an independent state on January 1, 1804.

Toussaint L’Ouverture, pray for us.