Suzanne Simone Baptiste Louverture (around 1742 – May 19, 1816 in Haiti) was the second wife of Toussaint Louverture and the "Dame-Consort" of the French colony of Saint-Domingue.[1]
Family life
editAfter being a coachman and a driver, Toussaint was freed at the age of thirty-three, and then married Suzanne Simone Baptiste.[2] Together, they had two biological sons, Isaac (1782-1854) and Saint-Jean Toussaint (1791-1804). She had a prior son, Placide (1781-1841, with Seraphim Le Clerc, a man of mixed-race descent), who Toussaint adopted.
Politics
editWhen in 1801 the constitution appointed Toussaint as governor of Saint-Domingue, she received the title of "Dame-Consort."
Kidnapping
editIn 1802, Charles Leclerc's troops captured her along with her husband and the rest of her immediate family. The family was transported to Bayonne, where they were placed under the supervision of General Ducos. Under one account, Louverture was tortured and mutilated by French soldiers who unsuccessfully sought information about her husband. Despite the torture, Madame Louverture survived her husband, who died that same year, and her youngest child Saint-Jean, died in 1804 in Agen, France. Suzanne died in 1816 in Agen, in the arms of her sons, Placide and Isaac. Her remains were buried next to Saint-Jean Toussaint, but both were moved to an unmarked grave nearby while the original gravesite was replaced by a train station.[3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Mellby, Julie (2020-03-03). "The Torture of Suzanne Louverture". Graphic Arts. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
- ^ James, C.L.R (1989). The Black Jacobins: Toussaint Louverture and the San Domingo Revolution. New York: Vintage. pp. 91. ISBN 9780679724674.
- ^ ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Arts- (2024-04-07). "Un Torontois veut ériger une statue de la première dame de l'histoire d'Haïti en France". Radio-Canada (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2024-06-12.