Toussaint - LouvertureLouverture also spelled
L’ouvertureL’Ouverture, original name (until c. 1793) François
Dominique Toussaint  ( born c. 1743 , Bréda, near Cap-Français,
Saint-Domingue [Haiti]—died April 7, 1803 , Fort-de-Joux, France
)  leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French
Revolution, who emancipated the slaves and briefly established
Haiti as a black-governed French protectorate. Rise to power.
Toussaint was the son of an educated slave; he acquired through
Jesuit contacts some knowledge of French, though he wrote and
spoke it poorly, usually employing the Creole patois and African
tribal language. Winning the favour of the plantation manager,
he became a livestock handler, healer, coachman, and finally
steward. Legally freed in 1777, he married a humble woman who
bore him two sons. Toussaint was homely, short, and small
framed. He was a fervent Catholic, opposed to voodoo. He dressed
simply and was abstemious and a vegetarian. Although he slept
little, his energy and capacity f