UC Davis

The Saga of TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE and the Birth of Haiti (TSTLBH) is the first volume in the Golden Legacy: Illustrated History Series, launched in 1966 by Fitzgerald Publishing. A Black-owned company, Fitzgerald Publishing released 16 total volumes in the series. This study examines the various ways that TSTLBH pushes back against three trivialising tropes regularly used to promote anti-African retellings of the Haitian revolution: (1) L’Ouverture was acting and succeeding on European terms; (2) Africans were not skilled enough to defeat Bonaparte; and (3) African-led nations face hardships because they are barbaric. This article begins with a brief review of media about the Haitian Revolution. Next, it focuses on comic books on the subject. Lastly, it investigates the various ways that TSTLBH refutes each trivialising trope by (1) solidifying L’Ouverture’s African roots and their positive influences on his upbringing; (2) showing the strategic decisions and purposeful actions taken by L’Ouverture and his allies to defeat their enemies; and (3) reinforcing the falsehood of notions that Africans are savage barbarians and inferior to Whites.