Entrée to Black Paris Blog

Sunday, December 17th, 2023

Toussaint Louverture in Paris

Portrait of Toussaint Louverture at Oser la liberté
© Entrée to Black Paris

The year 2023 marks the 220th anniversary of the death of Toussaint Louverture, leader of the revolution at Saint-Domingue that led to the island's independence from France under the name Haïti.

This fact didn't register with me until I visited the Jardin Toussaint Louverture last week.

Jardin Toussaint Louverture
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jardin Toussaint Louverture signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom and I went to the garden in search of Toni Morrison's Bench by the Road, a sculpture that was originally installed on the nearby rue Louis Delgrès in the 20th arrondissement in 2010. Having been damaged by a trashcan fire, the bench was removed, repaired, and relocated to the garden in time for the May 10, 2023 commemoration of slavery, the slave trade, and their abolition.

Monique and the Bench by the Road
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bench by the Road plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

This neighborhood park, the address of which is 47, rue des Cendriers, was formerly known as the Square des Amandiers. It was christened Jardin Toussaint Louverture during a ceremony held on May 10, 2021.

The garden has a second entrance on Place Carmen, adjacent to the Georges Bizet Conservatory.

Georges Bizet Conservatory
© Entrée to Black Paris

Garden viewed from Place Carmen
© Entrée to Black Paris

It is a pleasant outdoor space, with ping pong tables, an exercise area, a fountain, and a playground for children.

Jardin Toussaint Louverture - view from exercise area
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jardin Toussaint Louverture - exercise area
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jardin Toussaint Louverture - play area
© Entrée to Black Paris

Our trek to and from the garden gave me plenty of time to reflect on Louverture's indelible impact on French history and the many ways in which he is honored in Paris.

In addition to the garden, a one-block street in the 11th arrondissement (rue Rampon) was renamed after Louverture in 2013. It can be found at the intersection of boulevard Richard Lenoir and boulevard Jules Ferry on one end and rue de la Folie-Méricourt on the other. (A recent visit revealed that the street sign for rue Rampon remains in place, and no sign has been posted with Louverture's name!)

Detail of map of the 11th arrondissement
Source: Adresse.data.gouv.fr - Le site national de l'adresse

The street artist Christian Guémy rendered a likeness of Louverture for his Les Illustres series of portraits of people honored in the Pantheon. The Louverture portrait is located at the corner of rue Clovis and rue Descartes in the 5th arrondissement.

Then there is the permanent recognition of Louverture in the Pantheon itself. A plaque was installed in the crypt in his honor in 1998.

The Pantheon welcomed approximately 200 people to an event organized by La Fondation pour la memoire de l'esclavage (Foundation for the Memory of Slavery) and the Ile de France region to commemorate Louverture on April 7, 2023 - the 220th anniversary of his death. Louverture perished in a prison in Fort-de-Joux in the Doubs region of France after having been lured to a meeting with a French general in Haïti that resulted in his arrest and deportation to France in July 1802.

Both exhibitions that are currently on display in the Pantheon honor Louverture. Artist Raphael Barontini portrayed the general in a massive work entitled Le Triomphe de Toussaint as part of his exhibition entitled We Could Be Heroes.