The Founders

Haiti was not founded by one person. It was won by enslaved people who rose up, by the generals who led them, and by the women who carried the revolution with them. These are some of the people who made the first Black republic.

Toussaint Louverture

c. 1743 – 1803 General and governor. The architect of freedom. Read their story →

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

c. 1758 – 1806 General, founder, and first ruler of independent Haiti. Read their story →

Henri Christophe

1767 – 1820 General, then King Henri I. The builder of the Citadelle. Read their story →

Alexandre Pétion

1770 – 1818 General and first President of the Republic of Haiti. Read their story →

Dutty Boukman

died 1791 Leader of the Bois Caïman ceremony and the uprising of 1791. Read their story →

Cécile Fatiman

born c. 1771 Priestess of Bois Caïman. A mother of the revolution. Read their story →

François Capois, “Capois-la-Mort”

1766 – 1806 Officer. The hero of Vertières. Read their story →

Catherine Flon

active 1803 The woman who sewed the first flag. Read their story →

Sanité Bélair

c. 1781 – 1802 Lieutenant in Toussaint’s army. A heroine of the revolution. Read their story →

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