by Frances Maclean

"I was born in slavery, but received from nature the soul of a freeman," wrote Toussaint Louverture, the man who led the first successful African slave revolt.

Toussaint Louverture was born a slave, but into exceptional circumstances. The kindness and privileges extended his family cultivated the seeds of freedom already planted in his soul.

No one knows if Toussaint's father, a black man named Pierre Baptiste Simon, was born in Africa or on St. Domingue. It is certain, however, that he was purchased as a boy by Catholic priests who were kind to their slaves. Most slaves were uneducated, but the priests taught Pierre Baptiste to read and write. Pierre Baptiste was taught to be a good Catholic and to hate voodoo, which also set him apart.

When the priests left Hispaniola in the early 1700s, Pierre Baptiste went to the northern Bréda Plantation, which was known for its consideration of slaves. Pierre Baptiste and his wife, Pauline, raised eight children there. The first, François Dominique Toussaint, was born in 1744 on All Saints' Day (November 1). Toussaint means "all saints" in French.

This rare lithograph of Toussaint was published in Paris around 1850.

As a child, Toussaint was strong and athletic, but small - only 5 feet 2 inches fully grown. Extreme thinness earned him the nickname Fatras Bâton, meaning "thrashing-stick." A large lower jaw made his face almost ugly.

Toussaint was easygoing, but had a terrible temper when angry. He was honest with honest people, but lied to liars.

His family had a large garden, so Toussaint, unlike other slaves, never went hungry. He learned to swim and became a fine horseback rider. He loved horses, and once hit a white plantation manager for mistreating one. The act went unpunished.

A kinder Bréda manager taught Toussaint to read and write French, although he always preferred to speak Creole. As a teenager, he herded cattle, which gave him time to read books from the plantation library. He learned important lessons from these books that he later practiced with genius.

As an adult on Bréda Plantation, the new manager, Bayon de Libertat, made Toussaint head coachman. Libertat and his wife continued the policy of gentle treatment of slaves. Dressed in a handsome uniform, but barefoot, Toussaint drove the French couple around the colony. He grew fond of them.

The years passed, and Toussaint enjoyed most of the liberties of a freedman. At age 40, he chose a wife, while other slaves took mates selected by their owners. Suzanne had a four-year-old son, Placide. The couple had one son, Isaac. They worked a garden and attended church. Toussaint taught the boys to read.

By his late 40s, the seeds of freedom in Toussaint's soul had bloomed to bursting. From overhearing the planters talk or from reading pamphlets detailing events in France, he learned that French revolutionaries had successfully promoted their ideas of equality and freedom among the people. He also saw that most slaves died young from overwork or terrible forms of punishment. He joined other slaves in planning a rebellion. On August 14^th, 1791, they pledged to revolt in a voodoo ceremony in Bois Cayman (Alligator Woods). Toussaint watched as slaves drank gulps of pigs' blood mixed with rum and gunpowder.

Suzanne and the boys fled to St. Domingue out of harm's way. Libertat was there already. The burning plantations turned the night sky orange as Toussaint raced Madame Libertat by coach to the safety of a ship. At the wharf, he unhitched a horse and galloped off to lead his men to freedom.

Now, as a general, Toussaint remembered the Greeks and Romans he had studied, particularly how they fought wars. He brilliantly used the ancient warriors' examples of strong leadership combined with well-trained, highly disciplined soldiers. He also remembered the story of Spartacus, the slave who led an insurrection against Rome, and of Epictetus, an ancient Greek philosopher who had once been a slave. He understood whites had been slaves, too, not just Africans, and that white slaves had fought their way to freedom.

Books from the church had taught Toussaint respect for life. Now, as the commanding officer, he ordered his army to treat all prisoners humanely, even whites and mulattoes who had shown cruelty to them. "Vengeance is God's business," wrote Toussaint, who never was treated harshly himself. He executed 12 of his men who disobeyed the order.

General Toussaint Louverture's humanity served everyone well in freedom. When he became governor of Hispaniola in 1801, he placed experienced, well-educated whites and mulattoes in top government positions. His own people, after all, had few skills for running a country. Many of his former enemies later praised Toussaint's fairness and leadership ability.