Listen to the episode here.

Whatever you were expecting, this wasn’t it. Theresa shares the over-the-top story of Eartha Kitt. Come for her rough childhood and stay for her playing Cat Woman. Between that and the CIA compiling a dossier about her with some racy gossip, this story has it all. 

Angie zips much further back into history to share Toussaint Louverture with us. This Haitian general led during the revolution against France. Sometimes called the “Black Spartacus” he ends slavery on his island. It’s a riveting tale. 

This episode pairs well with: 
Actress – Libby Holman
Actress – Hedy Lamarr
Slave Uprising – Gabriel’s Conspiracy and Guion Buford Jr. 

Transcript

Theresa: Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast of Podcasts. We’re two friends, former enemies, former strangers, come together and tell each other the history story.

Angie: Just because we were strangers didn’t make us enemies.

Theresa: Look, I start everybody in that camp. You have to work your way out.

Angie: God, I’m honored.

Theresa: Thank you. You’re welcome. But we learn history stories and then tell each other the history stories. We’ve only recently learned. I am host number one. I’m Teresa, and that’s my co-host.

I’m Angie. You’re welcome. Right before this, we Ro Chambeau’d also looked at the podcast spreadsheet, and apparently she went first last week with talking about King Tutan Amun. Tutan Amun. Okay. I knew I was going to say it wrong either way.

I got you, babe. These are things. My source is going to start with that. Whoa, you’re just running right out there. I’m going to run right in. I’m not going to ask you how you’re doing. I don’t care. It’s been a week.

Angie: I know how you’re doing.

Theresa: Yeah. Look, you know, at the top, we log into the call. We say all the things, tell each other some tangential stories about our lives, and then I hit record. So whatever.

Theresa: We’re great. We don’t need to fake it for the record button. We’re great. How are you? Five seconds of silence. Wait for the people listening to answer. Our sources, bbc.com, we had to eat whatever we could dig from the ground, how Eartha Kit rose from extreme poverty to superstardom by Greg, Nick Kevitt. South Carolina State Museum. South Carolina Superheroes, Eartha Kit.

HuffPost Kit. Shapiro remembers her mom, Eartha Kit, on Mother’s Day and Every Day by Jacques Gruber. Vice.com, the enduring legacy of Eartha Kit, a subversive icon targeted by the CIA by Fran Toronto. Oh, and the podcast Pop History, Eartha Kit.

Angie: This story is going places I did not see coming. Like I liked the order with which you gave me those sources.

Theresa: I know. We start with poverty. At some point hit superheroes and CIA.

Angie: This is, you wrote this for me, didn’t you?

Theresa: You know, I do a lot for you. I’m glad you’re noticing. I just want some damn acknowledgement.

Angie: I do everything around here. I mean, she does. Honestly, she does.

Theresa: You guys, she knows all the work. No, no, no. You, you, you are the one who comes up with the social media posts because that is the one thing I just cannot.

Angie: So I’m great at social media. She’s great at literally everything else.

Theresa: But I just, it’s like, that’s the weird part. I live here. I just live here. Is that how she built? I live in it. Are you okay? So I’m just going to jump. Go.

So she’s born Earth and May Keith on a northern portion of South Carolina cotton plantation on January 17th, 1927. Okay. Okay. Her mother, Anna Marie Kitt, was raped by the son of a white plantation owner when she was 14 years old.

Angie: Cool. I love how this is starting out. And it’s 1921. 27.

Theresa: So close. 1927. Okay. Yeah. We’re, we’re, yeah. It’s still inauspicious for all of us.

Angie: Not a fan of this. Okay. Yep.

Theresa: She never really knew the identity of her white father. Pop history describes her as picking cotton as soon as she could be used for labor to quote, earn her keep.

Angie: Right. Because children need to earn their keep. Yep. Yeah. That’s, that’s why you have children, right?

Theresa: Okay. Her adopted siblings, because mom leaves her to be raised by various relatives. Her adoptive siblings would beat and abuse her, she said, because she was biracial. She wasn’t black enough to belong with blacks and not white enough to belong with the whites.

I hate this for her. So in 1971, she’s reflecting back on this as she is speaking on BBC Wales’s late call. She said, I remember at times we didn’t have anything to eat for what seems like an insurmountable amount of time. We had to rely on the forest and whatever we could dig out of the ground, such as weeds or a grass. I remember that as a, that had kind of an onion growing at the bottom of it. And when we could find things like that to eat, we were all right. And I just makes me so sad. I don’t like that anybody understands that lifestyle. Yeah.

Angie: Yeah. It’s very different to say I’m going foraging for truffles.

Theresa: Yeah. You know, it’s like, oh, I am, I’m choosing to go out into the woods and augment my diet with these really cool things that are going to pair well with the halibut stakes. Yeah.

Angie: I was literally just thinking in the delicious wine I picked from the market, like, right? Yeah.

Theresa: I mean, I’m not saying we should all be tradwives, not anything of the like, but it’s a very different lifestyle from wants to needs and doing the same activity for the, you know, that. So age eight, Kit leaves the cotton fields of South Carolina and she moves to Harlem to live with her aunt. According to Kit, she believes that this was more out of Christian duty and not so much out of actual familial affection.

Angie: Listen, Harlem still sounds like a better situation.

Theresa: Possibly. She worked her, she worked her adolescence in sewing machine factories and was constantly running away from homes and sleeping in subway cars. So I’m not. Oh, OK. On it being a better thing. Ewan. Especially when she goes on to describe her childhood or child itself as an urchin. And she says, quote, I am very glad that she will always be part of me because she helps me do what she knows I had to do to get out there on that stage. Mm. Get it, little girl. Get it.

Yeah. Like things, situations and concepts and learnings that I don’t. I’m grateful she learned, but I feel bad that any child had to learn. Yeah.

No child should have to go through that. So we think of her as a confident and poised performer and she just embodies the sort of raw emotion that’s never far from the surface. You know, like she just is just so much combined into one human being. And at one point she gets interviewed.

By, you know, on late call, which is that’s the BBC thing. She’s being talked to by Ronnie Williams and he read her one of her quotes and said, you said my mother gave me away at the age of five. And if my mother gives me away, she doesn’t want me. So why would anybody want me?

That is just like raw. Kit replied, it was because of that abandonment that she’d always lived with this feeling that, quote, the most important person in the world didn’t want you. I think there’s many explanations I can make for my mother giving me away.

And I think that even though I tried to explain it within myself as to why she gave me away, it’s still very difficult for me to accept it. Well, yeah. Yeah.

Angie: Good grief, baby.

Theresa: It would be decades later that Kit’s daughter, Kit Shapiro, revealed that the singer died without knowing the identity of her white father. And I’ll go into this a little bit later on because it’s, it is a very beautiful thing that happens that is also very tragic in the same moment. At one point, she interacts with a teacher who helps her get into the New York School of Performing Arts.

And at this, she had to leave the school when her relationship with her anterior rates and at this point, she’s only 16. Okay. So she’s, she’s having a rough go and it’s at this point that a friend dares her to audition for the Catherine Dunham Dance Troupe. She hasn’t studied dance professionally.

Okay. But Kit earns her own spot and performs around the world. She learns to sing in 10 different languages. Oh, wow. I didn’t know that. That’s awesome. And at one point, she’s in Paris where she catches the eye of Orson Wells, who calls her the most exciting woman in the world.

I love that for her. I mean, this is one of those stories where the previous sentence feels so utterly disconnected from the former. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Orson Wells is so entranced by her performance that he courted her and then cast her as Helen of Troy in Dr. Faustus. That’s awesome. She ends up writing an autobiography titled Confessions of a Sex Kitten and she writes of Orson Wells that their affair was never sexual but quote, the most exciting men in my life had been the men who had never taken me to bed.

Okay. I love that for her. Um, within three years, she’s produced her first album, which has Santa Baby on the track list. Of course. And she is making the most out of that very raw sexual energy and that deep purr that she’s just got in her voice.

She quickly became, in the words of the New York Times, known for her sultry voice, her persona as a gold digger who renders men into helpless little boys with her sexual power. Love this. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. And I think that is an incredible character arc already. But we’re not done yet. Because kids, she seems… You’re fine.

Okay. She seems to have really loved this persona about being bad and being the object of affection and being a man eater and she ends up… I mean, who doesn’t?

Oh man. I mean, it’s she ends up like it’s only a part that she’s playing later on. I don’t think I have this in my notes, but at one point she like somebody says, you know, like are you are you really like this in real life? And she’s like, absolutely not. I’m an introvert.

Angie: She’s having fun.

Theresa: Yeah, like when I’m on stage, I’m this, but in actuality, I’m really shy and I’m like, girl, same, girl, same. I mean, I’ve never been described as a sex kitten who makes people into helpless little boys, but that you know of. Okay, you’re right.

I haven’t necessarily asked hubs directly that question. Stand by. I’ll wait.

Okay. Later on, she’s talking about Santa Baby and why that song suits her so well and she She says in the song when she coyly asks for a childhood myth of diamond rings, yachts and deeds to platinum mines. And I just, my brain goes back to the myriad of humans we’ve covered who thought about the desperate strides they grew up in and wanting something bigger, believing greater was out there and doing everything they could to get their little hands on it. Mm-hmm.

And so I love this. So she’s got that album becomes a best-selling one. She releases a couple of books. I’ve already alluded to one of her autobiographies. She, I think she writes three.

I didn’t write that down, but I think it’s three autobiographies. And then she starts to star on both stage and screen. One of her most famous roles. Do you know this one off the top of your head? I know you know it in reality. Catwoman in the 1960s Batman television series. Oh my gosh.

Angie: I would not have made that connection had you not said it, but yes. Okay. Now that I say it, you’re like, of course she was.

Theresa: Yes, that’s this checks.

Angie: Yep. Adam West. Yeah. Okay. She’s one of a handful of performers that is nominated for Grammy Emmy Antoni awards.

Theresa: Yes, get it. So zipping back to that late call interview that she did for BBC, she says it’s because of her mixed heritage that she’s not except by the black community. She said they don’t understand that I don’t think of myself in terms of being a black person. I think of myself as being a person who belongs to everybody.

But I think one should always feel this way. I think that as long as you’re feeling in terms of belonging only to one race, one nationality, one religion, that you have to have been prejudiced. I am an illegitimate child and at the same time, I was not of completely black parentage. My father was supposedly a Caucasian. My grandparents are Cherokee Indians.

My mother was half black and all of this and therefore my blood is of yours and of anybody’s and therefore I’ve always thought of myself as this and to be prejudiced against any other blood is just rather silly to me. She’s so right.

Angie: Oh, way to just put it out there like that.

Theresa: I’m so right. And I think a lot of it was just being unclaimed by everybody that she just had to make her own way.

Angie: You have to claim yourself and she did.

Theresa: Now, according to Kit, and she actually travels the world and she’s looking at this, she believes that financial inequity is the root of so much prejudice around the world. And I think that is a very beautiful summation of the the issue.

Mm-hmm. She goes on to say when you’re able to recognize that no matter what color or religion you belong to that you’re capable of gaining as much as the next person can, no matter no matter what race or religion he belongs to, I think the whole situation would be much healthier.

Angie: He’s not wrong.

Theresa: I mean she has the empathy and experience of someone who’s gone through it. And just lives in such a profound way. And I had to use so many of her quotes because she literally said it best. Yeah, okay.

I love this. So this is you know around 1968. She’s doing amazing in the UK.

Um while she’s getting interviewed on the bvc, but meanwhile in america, um she uh gets invited to a white house luncheon hosted by the first lady. Love this. Okay. They are there to discuss the cause. It’s going to be a group of like-minded women and they’re going to discuss juvenile delinquency with lady bird johnson. Okay, so earth equate kit is coming in with all of these thoughts, all of these ideas, all of these lived experiences.

And there are prejudice or protest against the vietnam war that are raging across the u.s. And immediately outside the white house. Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s okay. So all of this is going on. And the luncheon goes on for hours. And it seems that earth equate kit is getting a little upset because they are not there discussing juvenile delinquency. They are discussing so many other things. And if they do discuss juvenile delinquency, they’re discussing things like, well, they just need to not be bad.

Speaker 4: Happy to have the problem. Yeah. So and so she ends up saying

Theresa: to the first lady quote, you send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. They rebelled in the street and they will take pot and they will get high.

They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to get snatched off from their mothers to be shot in vietnam. Well, again, not wrong. But apparently this results in ladybird clutching her pearls. Of course.

So after that awkward blunching and it comes to an end, the cia compiles a dossier on her and the new york times in 1975 revealed that this extensive report contains second hand gossip about the entertainer but no evidence of any foreign intelligence connections later

Angie: on Because she made a comment about vietnam and they’re like, yep, definitely a spy. Yeah, got it. I can’t have an opinion if you’re not a spy

Theresa: Or you can’t have a dissenting opinion. Yeah. You can as long as it’s Affirmating and affirming. Yeah, you can do whatever you want as long as as long as you agree with me Now the report also talks about how she’s notorious nymphomaniac Because apparently that’s super important and probably not just something that’s easy to find say in one of her three autobiographies Perhaps I haven’t read them, but maybe she said it first Now when this kind of came out in the new york times kit is super dismissive saying So what does it got to do with the cia if I was? Who cares? Yeah, like my bedroom I’ll do what I want So meanwhile, all right. She’s blacklisted in the u.s.

Speaker 4: Because of this All of her jigs, right? Yeah. Well, I mean when you kick off the

Theresa: Commander-in-chief these are things so she decides that she’s just gonna zip back off to europe because for her She has the capacity to do that and we’ve seen many other Performers do that. Um I can’t think of her name now, but it was the The fairy godmother of rock and roll What was her?

Angie: Oh, uh, I want to say haddie may but I’m feeling very wrong about that Yeah, it’s not bad I’m I can literally see her face right now.

Theresa: I can see her face. I can hear the growl of her music Rosetta tharp. Yes. Thank you. I was going to my my spinning ball of death was not pulling up the file

Angie: My brain was literally looking at her face going. It’s definitely haddie may And now I’m wondering where that name came from so I’m gonna have to look that up That’s a sub-aside quest a hold off on that one. Yeah, I’m not googling that now so she zips off to europe

Theresa: And she spends time in britain touring provincial clubs During one of these residencies. She is in an unglamorous facility Unglamorous facility.

Angie: She’s in an unglamorous facility named hate this for her batley variety club in west yorkshire And a bbc reporter asked her how such a sophisticated celebrity could feel an affinity with local people there And she replies Best because that’s what she does I wasn’t born in such a different world. I came out of extreme property and have acquired things. Yes, but things have not acquired with me And won’t you hug her? Yes Um because this woman can’t stop won’t stop South africa is going through its apartheid government and there are many creators musicians artists that are not going there in protest Okay, she performs there in 1972 1974 and 1984 now she does so and She’s performing to integrated crowds Good for her wanted to weaken the system and the money that she raised there went to black schools Yes It’s 1974 and she returns triumphantly to america and president carter invites her to the white house in 1978 10 years after lady bread clutched her pearls Good for her yet another positive thing for president carter Okay Now it’s that same year she returns to broadway in an incredible performance of 10 buck two And she keeps zipping back to britain to do her things. She ends up making some outrageous television appearances on talk shows And her vulnerability remains super close to the surface in 1989 She does this what’s contributed or what’s called a spectacular bbc appearance Where she’s resting her feet flirtatiously on the lap of terry wogan and i remember seeing clips of this Where she she just doesn’t care and she’s just living her life Yeah, and a few minutes later.

She’s confessing that her public persona is nothing like her private self Yeah, i mean Good for her She and here’s where she says it just full on she goes mr. Wogan, you know something I’m not an extrovert. I can tease his earth a kit, but it’s earth and may forget it I’m hiding behind the bushes behind the chairs behind everything. I could possibly find a hide behind I’ve never had the kind of security within earth and may that makes me feel that she will ever be accepted Mm She gets a sister man.

Angie: Oh my gosh. I want to hug her

Theresa: Make sure she’s going to therapy make sure that she has all the things she needs because I just I would love to see the unification of those two earthas I want to eat cake with her

Angie: Yes, I agree your terms Thank you

Theresa: In 1997 she’s on the show orangeberg inside and out and that’s when she reveals again that she’s She doesn’t know the exact year she was born And had never found a copy of her birth certificate Oh gosh, okay And that’s when students from benedict college in columbia uncovered it for her That’s so cool.

Okay So she goes to see the birth certificate and that’s when she sees that the father’s name has been covered to protect his identity Mm Now Here’s where we kind of start winding down. She’s celebrated by orc and wells as the most exciting woman of the world She had been smeared by the cia as a sadistic nymphomaniac And

Angie: There are far worse things that could be

Theresa: said By the cia and if that’s worse they can drum up like well done my good and faithful servants Yeah, yeah

Angie: Can you tell us your secret ma’am?

Theresa: Right She performed on and off broadway starting at the age of 19 She’d become a cabaret sensation in london and paris and her smoldering 1950 performances of songs such as santa baby and just an old-fashioned girl And i want to be evil have never been better In 1967 she wowed mainstream television audiences as cat women mind you she’s like Really one of the first black women on television

Angie: Yeah, so I was just thinking just a few minutes

Theresa: ago Especially playing the love interest of a white dude Before the civil rights movements Hey look art in the past life So these are all amazing things but I think I first really Came to love her as isma in disney’s 2000 cartoon the emperors new group Which is wrong liver punk?

Yeah, oh Now here’s She ends up getting diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006 And in pop history there’s quotes from her daughter who was with her when she died and before she died The hospice nurse said that she would likely pass by slowly just slipping away Um However, this is from kit shapiro who says I was with my mother when she died. She wasn’t going without a fight That’s for sure. She left the world screaming at the top of her lungs Even though she couldn’t talk at that point. I knew she would have been screaming I saw it in her eyes, which were locked with mine. She was crying sad as I was I felt blessed There was nothing left unsaid or undone.

There were no regrets She may have come into this world belonging to nothing and no one But that’s not how she left it Since my mother died mother’s day has been filled with mixed emotions Celebrating the life as a mother while longing for my own And I have pictures oh, thank you I Way to start it off.

Angie: Um She is picture number one is her in her cat woman costume and if I am not mistaken Okay, so she’s got the eye mask Yep, and her hair has like a cornet braid around the ears. Yeah around the cat ears Yeah, oh my gosh. I love that Next picture is exactly how you would imagine a strong powerful black woman in the 60s, but her hair is Very short very natural. Yeah. Yeah natural. She is stunning all legs Absolutely stunning

Theresa: like a six strand pearl necklace

Angie: Yeah, I’m saying is she wearing is that a dress or a blanket?

Theresa: I Don’t know it looks like it always drapes over her arms. So who knows?

Angie: Yeah, it’s gorgeous Yep, okay, so this is a color photo She’s got this massive gemstone ring on Um, you can see her smolder in her eyes and it’s kind of the best thing ever like This is the girl that knows stuff. You don’t know and I love that for all of us Yep, she’s looking directly at the camera

Theresa: and that is the story of earth a kit.

Angie: I Love that. Thank you So much So my I’m just gonna I’m just gonna start to take a breath and start My first source is the National Museum of African-American history There is um A blurb on my guy there history.com Tucson Louverture Hades revolution Biography.com has a biography on my my guy to salt Brown University wait, is there a partner as

Theresa: I’m interrupting is this Saka joya or sake go away a son? No. Oh summer deal.

Angie: Okay. I’m so sorry. No um Uh, carter car excuse me brown university’s library has um some really fun sources on my guy His name is to son louverture. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard his name, but it will ring a bell here and submit it I promise There is a wonderful website if you get the chance to look called slavery and remembrance.org There is a British based Website that’s similar to the last one. It’s enslavement in the empire and the french caribbean that’s that had a ton of great information And then there is a document on a website called documenting the american south This is a summary of a work that was published in 1853 by a man called John Riley beard now John Riley beard is an english Unitarian minister who His whole goal in life is to make difficult things like foreign affairs more relatable and clear to your everyday man I love this man, right? Like he is looking out at the world even in the in the 1840s and the 1850s and being like, okay This is really hard to explain using you know Scientific or legal terms or whatever you want to call it So i’m just going to put it in the layman’s terms and it’ll make so much more sense and he does that for a lot of things I am so so grateful that this man exists um So all that said i’m going to give you just a little bit of context here france has this Very long and very complicated history with slavery as most countries do um According to wik p yet They it states that the origins of slavery in france state all the way back to the Moral vengians dynasty. This is the fourth century.

Theresa: Yeah, um the moravinians that was um Brunhild and

Angie: fredigan Yep, i was just going to say at least five frankish queens during this time are known to be former slaves and fredigan is one of your girls Yeah, um So thought that was a fun like oh, hey, I know that Um to me for whatever reason though the the french relationship is So much more complicated and confusing than I think Some of the other ones um, and I think when you think about slavery as a whole european countries and their colonies They participate in the same laws but because a lot of the colonies are so separated from the mainland It makes things even harder to understand and a little bit more convoluted In this case slavery has been abolished and reestablished more than once Dang thus making the pain and The awful side of things that much worse There are professors out there that have a ton of insight into this and I tried to Listen to a few podcasts on it and I I didn’t get very far because I was like this is just a little bit too much for my Like my heart can’t take this um but all that to say the the fact that It also like It hits home to the economic history. They say there’s a website called the Economic History Society, and they say that, quote, the French National Convention abolished slavery in 1794 in response to the slave uprising in France’s Caribbean colonies in the French Revolution.

This radical act made France the first imperial nation to universally outlaw slavery, yet just eight years later, France becomes the only state in the history of the Atlantic world to comprehensively re-establish slavery in its empire. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Right? Like, it makes me so mad. So there’s just, there’s a lot of big feelings, there’s a lot of hurt, there’s a lot of really nuanced, complicated people involved.

So that’s just like a glimpse of the world my guy is growing up in. Do you remember back in episode, I think it was 84 when I taught, when you talked about the Harlem Hellfighters, and I talked about Gabriel’s conspiracy and the rebellion that he tried to start in the South? Okay, well, Gabriel’s conspiracy was greatly influenced by the news coming out of Saint Dominic. I kind of love getting to see the cause and effect here because the events happening in the Caribbean are most definitely causing big emotions here in America. Some good?

Theresa: And it’s also affecting Ré Le Vaux.

Angie: Oh, it’s affecting everything, like globally. And when I get towards the end, like, you’ll, there’s a lot of connections we can make. So like I said, this is the world that Toussaint is born and raised in.

This is wild, the information that we actually have. He’s born May 20th, 1743, in Cape Haitian. This is modern day Haiti, but at the time it’s Saint Dominic. Now, at the time of his birth, it’s a French colony. The western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola would remain so until 1804. He’s born on a plantation, and it must be said that Haiti, at the time of his birth, this island as a whole, like the island of Hispaniola, was the most profitable of the Caribbean colonies.

So you’re also adding that economic factor into the melting pot of problems that are stewing, right? His father, and I’m hoping I’m pronouncing this right, Ga’al Gunno was the son of the king of Benin in West Africa. His mother, Pauline, she was his second wife. Mr.

Beard, the English minister I mentioned in my sources, he suggests, quote, that Lovato’s father is brought to Haiti from Marata as a slave in the early 18th century, but he enjoys full liberty on the states of his proprietor and is allowed to employ five slaves to cultivate a portion of the land.

Theresa: So. So he is both enslaved and a owning slave.

Angie: Okay. So you can see how complicated the relationship with slavery is, right? Like, there is nothing cut and dry about any of this. And additionally, the other thing that’s happening here is that when the European settlers first come to the Caribbean, there is no European women coming with them. But what is happening is women of African descent are being sent to the Caribbean. So these white European settlers are marrying these African women and then having children with them. Their children are subsequently freed children. So you’re now looking at a society where a huge portion of your slave owners are also of African descent. I don’t know the exact numbers, but from what I was reading, it’s almost a very, like, down the middle sort of numbers situation, like, of who’s on what side, you know what I mean? Yeah.

So it’s just, it’s really, really complicated. But it is safe to say that most historians agree that Tucson was born enslaved. But unlike many of the other stories we know, he was likely well educated in his youth. The owners of the plantation were considered enlightened and they allowed him to learn to read to both read and write. His later letters demonstrate that he had a knowledge of French and Creole and was familiar with Greek, Latin, Italian, and French philosophers. He was medically knowledgeable and an expert in medicinal plants.

One source suggests that he would have been because of the Jesuit priests that are in the area. But additionally, he was also taught the medical ways of his own forefathers. So he’s being able to mix these cultural knowledges. Oh, that’s neat. Right, in really cool ways. We do know he’s a deeply devoted Catholic and that kind of checks for me.

Theresa: Okay. I think I know where this is going, but I’m going to keep my mouth shut. Okay.

Angie: Other than that, there’s not a lot that’s fully agreed upon about his younger years, but we know he’s intelligent and he’s super hard working for sure. He becomes an experienced horseman as well. Now, even in his young years, he’s recognized by the hierarchy of the plantation for his ability, his quick wit, and his ability to understand something so quickly. He very fastrises through the ranks to become the plantation’s chief steward. So he’s running the show for the owner, basically.

At a fairly young age, imagine something like Mr. Carson from Downton Abbey. Okay. Right?

Like, that’s Tucson. It’s believed that he was given his freedom in 1776, but he continues to work for his former owner. He marries around this time a woman called Suzanne Simoen Batiste. It’s 1782.

However, there are some sources that suggest he may have been married before that. That area is a little bit fuzzy for me, but they go on. They have three children, Placid, Isaac, and Sejon. We’re going to fast forward a few years. It’s 1791. He’s like 50 years old at this time. He is a free man. He’s got a little piece of land. He’s farming it. He’s working it. He also owns slaves. Okay.

Okay. And he is still working for his former master. So even though he’s free, he’s still the former master steward, right? Keep in mind, though, this is a French colony, and what’s happening in France at the time?

Theresa: Gosh, there’s a bunch of unrest. The Reign of Terror?

Angie: Yeah, we’re like right on the doorstep of the Reign of Terror. 1789 sees the beginning of the French Revolution. King Louis and the Tennis Court oath, which for those playing at home, is a pledge taken by the third estate deputies to the estate general, vowing not to disband until they create a new constitution for France. From there, well, we know the rest doesn’t go great for King Louis, right? So all of this is happening on mainland France. August 22, 1791, biography.com says, quote, inspired by the French Revolution and angered by generations of abuse, slaves begin slaughtering whites without impunity. So we have an uprising on our hands.

Toussaint at this point does several really fabulous things that I wish more men in history or at the very least men in stories did. The first thing he does is secure safety for his family on the Spanish-controlled eastern half of the island. Like, he sees the unrest, he sees what’s going on, and he’s like, getting my wife out of here.

Theresa: Like, so he’s secure. I think a lot of people do that. I think a lot of people secure their families.

Angie: I think they do. We just don’t often get told that. You know what I mean? Like, that was always something that drove me nuts about Marie Antoinette and King Louis.

Like, yes, he tried to get her out and no, she did refuse to leave, but like, things could have been so different if he could have got the kids out. That’s just me. Like, it’s one of those Shakespearean tragedies that I will never be over. Okay. Now, Mr. Beard says the other thing that he does that I think is really remarkable. Remember, he’s the steward to the plantation. So Mr. Beard says that Toussaint supports the plantation owners during this time, and he goes on to suggest that he prevents the insurgents from setting fire to the fields of sugarcane, and then he personally protects the white superintendent’s white wife.

Other sources say that once he gets his family to safety, he then goes on to make sure his former master’s family gets on a boat to the U.S. Like, he is getting the people that matter to him out. Okay. And I’m here for this.

Yeah. At this, once he knows that they’re all cared for and safe, he joins up with Georges Bissot’s Rebels. I did a little short search on him, and he definitely needs an episode of his own.

But just a quick fact check from Wiki says that he was an early leader with whom, along with two other men, were, quote, prophesied by the voodoo priest, Duddy Boakman, to lead the revolution. Okay.

Theresa: Yep. I feel like I know where this is going. I’m okay with this. This is good.

Angie: And I just love that. It’s such a fun side quest for me. Mr. Bissot and his Rebels, they’re allied with the Spanish against the French. And because of Toussaint’s skills medically, he serves as a doctor to the troops, as well as being a soldier himself. And so he’s being him, and he is clearly doing the absolute most and excels through the rank. And he is pretty quickly given a command of 600 formerly enslaved troops.

His men are well organized and very well trained, and he quickly grows to a command of 4,000 men. Now, I told you in the beginning that his name was Louis Vuitton, right? But this is the point in his story where he officially adopts that name, because Louis Vuitton means opening or opening the way in French. And we know how symbolism works, right?

Like, he knew what he was doing when he took on that mantle. But we also can imagine that the Caribbean is sort of a hotbed of rebellion, and news is spreading. And the British are spilling their tea everywhere in panic because they see the revolt spreading to their colony, which is the next door neighbor, Jamaica.

And let’s be honest, the Brits in France are always looking for ways to piss the other one off, so the British send troops to put down the revolt. The French, being the French, and are having issues back home, preserve its colonial rule, and in an effort to secure loyalty, they grant freedom and citizenship to all the people of African descent in the entire empire. This is kind of a big deal given the fact that back in 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizens is adopted by the French National Assembly. It’s now 1794, so you can imagine that people of African descent born in French colonies or on the French mainland that haven’t been given these rights are going to have some big feelings.

And people aren’t stupid. I’m just going to give you the first two articles of the document in case listeners at home are not familiar with it, but Article 1 states that men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on considerations of the common good. Article 2 states the aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and in prescriptible rights of men.

These rights are liberty, property, safety, and resistance to oppression. I love that. Of course.

Right? At the time of writing, this does not include women, slaves, or foreigners, so do with that what you will. But rightly so, people are in their fields and while France is granting freedom and citizenship, Britain is still in San Domain causing all sorts of problems for the French’s very unstable hold on the area, right?

Because Britain’s going to do what Britain does best. You know. Yeah.

This is that. Shortly, right? Shortly following France’s amass-pation, Ludichir changes his allegiance and joins forces with the French. So now he’s fighting against Spain instead of with Spain.

Because Buddy’s got an idea. His first mission is to attack and capture the Spanish controlled eastern side of the island. They are successful and in July of 1795, the Treaty of Basil ends the hostilities between France and Spain. The Spanish pull out of the region or at the very least off the island. Meanwhile, Ludichir and his men contain the remaining British troops and convince them to jump ship as well. So the British are like, Deuces, I’m out.

Let’s go. By 1796, Toussaint is the leading military and political figure around. Like he is your go-to guy. And he’s dealing with what remains of the unrest. So remember when I said earlier we have a long complicated relationship with slavery and we are dealing with a population of mixed race. Yes. Okay. So there is a good portion of these people who are not happy about slavery being gone.

They want their slaves back. Okay. So he’s dealing with that. In 1799, Toussaint is able to defeat this insurrection of these mixed race army, if you will, with the help of Jean-Jacques Desselines, who only a few years later actually becomes the first emperor of Haiti. This battle, kerfuffle, whatever you want to call it, kerfuffle insurrection, whatever you want to call it, this lasts a year. There are claims of atrocities that are committed by the Desselines army. From what I looked into, it doesn’t seem like it’s anything out of your standard wartime crimes, but because the story wasn’t about him directly, I didn’t spend a ton of time trying to figure him out.

But what I do know is that in 1806, he was assassinated by members of his own administration, Etubute, and then dismembered by an angry mob right after. So we got that going. Oh. Yeah. It’s an awesome going away party.

Right? By the end of the year, 1799, Toussaint is the de facto leader of the entire island of Tispanola, which is now modern day Haiti in the Dominican Republic. He introduces the constitution.

It reiterates… Wow. Abolition of slavery. And then declares himself governor general for life with nearly absolute power, wanting to bring back stability. He sets out to reestablish architecture and improve the economic conditions. And in doing so, Toussaint establishes trade agreements with both the British and the Americans.

And I don’t know why this next sentence is so funny to me, but I think it’s because it’s Britain and America, but they supply his forces with arms and goods in exchange for sugar and the promise not to invade Jamaica or the American South. That just cracks the up. Yeah.

Theresa: Like super afraid of this catching, this idea of rising up. Right?

Angie: And it’s funny to me because I feel like if any two nations on the planet were known for their invasion capabilities, it was… it’s these two. Yeah. Honestly.

Theresa: Well, I mean, you get the Dutch. They do their own bit.

Angie: Yeah, I guess that’s true. But like it just… that line made me laugh so hard. I had to go back and I was like, I’m sorry. What? But…

Theresa: Do as I say, not as I do. Yes.

Angie: Listen to your father. He also defies French Revolutionary Law and allows the plantation owners who had fled during the rebellion to return. He simultaneously imposes military discipline on the workforce and establishes reforms that improve workers’ conditions. I have questions.

Theresa: It was a different time. They looked at different things. Work-life balance was different.

Angie: Yeah. Now, because this wouldn’t be a story about French politics at this time, enter Napoleon. Ha ha ha. Okay. It’s 1799. He gains control of France. He issues a new constitution that declares all French colonies would be ruled under special law. And Tassot begins to suspect that this would mean a return to slavery. And then plays the next little bit of time really carefully. Like, he doesn’t declare full independence and he professes himself to Napoleon as a Frenchman trying to convince Napoleon that he is loyal to France. Napoleon totally confirms Tucson’s position as colonial governor and promises not to reinstate slavery.

Theresa: However… Oh, great. There’s a big, hairy butt. Yeah.

Angie: Napoleon also, which makes me laugh, forbids Tucson from invading Santo Domingo, which is the eastern half of the island. Because as it stands, he is the de facto ruler and the general of the entire island. But the French are there under Napoleon trying to sort out what’s left after the Spanish left, right? So, like, there seems to be this little power struggle on the eastern side between Tucson and Napoleon’s men.

But Tucson is Tucson, much the same that Napoleon is Napoleon. And in 1801, he takes his army and invades and takes control of the eastern half of the island easily. While he’s there, he completely abolishes slavery and goes about modernizing the area because this guy just sounds like the worst.

This doesn’t sit well with Napoleon because he was the worst. And he sends his brother-in-law, General Charles Emmanuel Lecrette, and 20,000 French troops to take it back. Tucson is able to keep a strong hold for a bit, but then it crumbles. Desalines swaps sides and he joins the side of Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Lecrette. And eventually, Tucson is lured out under the pretense of peace talks and is arrested and deposited at Fort Dejeux in the Jura Mountains in France, which are not too far from Switzerland. He is interrogated a lot. And just this morning, I don’t know about his interrogation, but let me, I just… He is arrested and he is very intensely interrogated. And I don’t know why, but this morning when I was thinking about that, I was retelling the man some of this information and it made me wonder after he got his wife to safety, did he ever see her again? Aw.

Right? So he did because she was also arrested and Princeton University has information about her and they have this to say. So she was arrested, so was her children as well.

They’re transported to Bayonne where they’re placed under the supervision of General Dukas. She was tortured, but she never provided any information on her husband. Quote, one source notes, when she arrived in prison, she weighed 250 pounds. She only weighed 90 when leaving France. Oh. During all those years of torture, she gave a single answer.

I will not talk about my husband’s business with his torturers. It was a mutilated Susan, a purely vegetative Susan devoid of all of her nails with several broken bones who were turned to Jamaica where she died on May 19th, 1846. Ah. So my assumption is that if that’s how she was treated, I can only imagine how he was treated. Yeah, not much better.

Right. He, after his interrogation and his torture, April 7th, 1803, he dies of pneumonia and starvation. So she lives there for some time after. I’m not sure if she was left in France after he died or if they returned her to the Caribbean after he died. But regardless, when she does return, she returns vegetative with no nails, several broken bones.

Theresa: That’s inexcusable.

Angie: Yeah, 100% agree with you. Now, even though, okay, so it’s April 7th, it’s 1803, Toussaint Loubouture dies of pneumonia and starvation. Now, even though he didn’t see a lot of these things come to fruition, he sets in motion and his actions are involved with several really fabulous things. Napoleon, totally fed up with the rebellion, has a hard time, that he has a hard time controlling, decides not to expand his empire into North America and the French sell Louisiana to the U.S. Right?

Okay. So Toussaint’s actions inspire revolutions all over the place, including several Latin American countries, pretty much creating the end of European colonial rule in the West. Back home in Saint-Domingue, Jean-Jacques Desolines swapsides again and takes command of the rebel forces against the French.

And between the coalitions that he’s created of people, the mixed race people, the whites, the blacks, everybody, right? He is successful in pushing the French to surrender and leave the island. In 1804, he declares independence and himself the emperor. Biography.com says, quote, his panola becomes the first black independent republic in the world.

It is also in 1804 when Saint-Domingue’s name is officially changed to its Tiano name of Haiti in Creole, reclaiming their indigenous identity and freedom. I love that. Right? I have a couple of photos. I will show them to you because I really like these ones. Okay, so we see either a man race statue.

Theresa: It looks very statue. It’s a statue? It’s a statue. Okay. So it is a painted statue of a black man with what is the hat that has the squeezed ends on the sides? I always forget what that’s called. It’s so French to me, though. It is very French, but he’s wearing a light blue double breasted coat with the epaulettes and the shoulder friends. I don’t know the names of those either, but they are incredible.

Angie: This whole statue is incredible. Here’s the full size.

Theresa: Okay, so the statue itself, oh gosh, that is 12, 15 feet tall?

Angie: I’m thinking that minimum 12 feet. And I believe this statue is actually situated in La Roche-Coeil, France, which I think is really cool. And then I love this. This is his painting. Okay. And I absolutely love it. Yes.

Theresa: He was in the cast of Hamilton. 100%. 100% was. Okay, we’re seeing a navy blue version of that double breasted coat with incredible gold embroidery along the edges. And he has a very self-possessed look as he’s looking off into the distance in a very easy way that he’s holding, that he’s resting his arm against a stone.

Angie: Like this. Because of Hamilton, this is how I imagine Lafayette to look.

Theresa: Honestly, yes, 100%. Who played Lafayette? Did he digs? Okay, I was going to say that, but I didn’t want to be wrong and have to edit myself out.

Angie: I love this painting. And when I was first hearing his story, my initial thought was like, wow, this guy was… He was all about setting his people free, like the Moses of the Caribbean.

I love this. And then it was such a learning curve to see the nuance of the fact that he himself kept slaves and he himself initially wasn’t opposed to the idea, but over time realizes that everybody is free, is born free, and they have the rights to be free men. And so it became such a… Like it was already a compelling story to begin with, but for me to learn like that people grow, people change, people learn. And in a situation like the situation he was in, what his life must have been like, and I was like, oh, I absolutely have to share him. He is such a nuanced individual that…

I mean, his predecessor commits war crimes, but he’s the man that freed Haiti. So what do you do with that? It’s left me a lot to think about, and I just think it’s really pretty impressive. Well, I mean…

Theresa: You think about those complicated stories, the complex ones, and I think it’s easier to sweep them under the rug. I think so. Like people saw this version. Yeah.

Angie: And initially, like one of the podcasts… I didn’t source any of the podcasts that I listened to because I didn’t fully listen to any of them. I was just sort of mostly trying to get the correct pronunciation of names. But one of them was talking about how you so often look at people in his situation as these revolutionary leaders, and you sort of think of them as only the hero, and you never look at them as the whole person. Those weren’t the words this individual used, but that’s what I was getting from Between the Lines. And I was like, yeah, that’s absolutely true. And it’s sort of the exact opposite of when you think of men like Blackjack Pershings. Yeah.

It’s like the exact opposite of that, right? Like we want to believe that he was this all good hero, but we also know he did these other things. But to see that like men like Toussaint Louverture did these other things because he was the hero, is like, oh, there is another side. That’s really fascinating. How does that work? And I will never stop thinking about it.

Theresa: I mean, everybody’s story is full of different color threads. Life, dark, you know, and all of them get drawn into this incredibly rich tapestry.

Angie: Yes, I don’t think you could have worded that better. So that’s my guy, Toussaint Louverture. I adore him. There is a book that has recently come out referring to him as the Black Spartacus. Oh! Mm-hmm. Love that. So there you go. There’s my story.

Theresa: Fantastic. Okay, so trying to transition here. If you’ve enjoyed this tale, if you’ve enjoyed going from Ursa Kit to the Savior, the Black Spartacus, the man who single-handedly brought an end to slavery in the Caribbean under the French rule. Rate, review, subscribe. Come join us next week where we cover more stories that you probably haven’t heard or didn’t hear at least some parts of them. And on that note, goodbye.

Theresa: Bye.