Toussaint L'Overture Comic
Storyboard Text
- He was born into slavery in Saint Domingue. Toussaint learned of Africa from his father, who had been born a free man there.
- He loved to read and write and would try to read every book he could get. He specifically liked the work of philosophers who wrote about individual rights and equality.
- The early moderate revolutionaries considered the question of slavery. Those moderate revolutionaries were not willing to end slavery but they did apply the "Rights of Man" to all Frenchmen, including free blacks and mulattoes (those of mixed race).
- Toussaint joined the rebellion early on as a general but did not become the leader of the slave rebellion until 1798. He would come to be known as Toussaint L'Ouverture (the one who finds an opening) and brilliantly led his rag-tag slave army.
- Toussaint agreed to help the French army eject the British and Spanish. Toussaint proved to be a brilliant general, winning 7 battles in 7 days. He became a de facto governor of the colony.
- the French (at Napoleon's orders) betrayed the safe conduct and arrested him, putting him on a ship headed for France. Napoleon ordered that Toussaint be placed in a prison dungeon in the mountains, and murdered by means of cold, starvation, and neglect. Toussaint died in prison, but others carried on the fight for freedom.
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