Toussaint Louverture
Leader of the Haitian Revolution
1743–1803 · Haiti / Saint-Domingue
Turned a slave uprising into a revolutionary struggle that destroyed slavery in Saint-Domingue.
The Full Profile
Toussaint Louverture, Leader of the Haitian Revolution, turned a slave uprising into a revolutionary struggle that destroyed slavery in Saint-Domingue. Born enslaved in Saint-Domingue, Toussaint Louverture rose to become the Haitian Revolution's most influential early military and political leader. He maneuvered among French, Spanish, British, and local forces while defending emancipation. Captured by Napoleon's forces in 1802, he died in France before Haiti declared independence. Seized under a flag of truce, he died in a freezing French fortress months before his lieutenants completed his work; his prophecy that liberty would 'spring back from the roots' was fulfilled with Haitian independence in 1804.