Toussaint Louverture was a former slave who became the charismatic leader of the seismic Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) resulting in the most successful revolt of enslaved people in modern history.
In this event, Professor Sudhir Hazareesingh will shed light on an epic yet complex and controversial life story that cuts across slavery, racial hierarchies, imperialism, and the Enlightenment. He will also discuss the impact, enduring legacy, and contemporary relevance of “the first black superhero of the modern age”.
The Speaker:
Professor Sudhir Hazareesingh was born in Mauritius. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and has been a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Balliol College, Oxford, since 1990. He has written extensively about French intellectual and cultural history; among his books are The Legend of Napoleon, In the Shadow of the General and How the French Think. He won the Prix du Mémorial d’Ajaccio and the Prix de la Fondation Napoléon for the first of these, a Prix d’Histoire du Sénat for the second, and the Grand Prix du Livre d’Idées for the third. In 2020, he became a Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (G.C.S.K.), the highest honour of the Republic of Mauritius. His latest publication, Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture won the 2021 Wolfson History Prize, with the judges describing it as an ‘erudite and elegant biography of a courageous leader which tells a gripping story with a message that resonates strongly in our own time’.
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