Toussaint Louverture

The only revolution that put self-ownership first.

Born enslaved in Saint-Domingue, Toussaint became the military leader of the only successful slave revolution in history, defeating Spanish, British and French armies before writing a constitution that abolished slavery and made every citizen equal before the law. Betrayed, shipped to France and starved in a prison cell, he had already shown that the enslaved could govern themselves as freeholders.