History Society welcomes Dr Sudhir Hazareesingh to MCS

On Friday 27 November, the History Society welcomed Dr. Sudhir Hazareesingh, who discussed his recently published Black Spartacus: The epic life of Toussaint Louverture.

Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, Dr. Hazareesingh’s fascinating biography of the Black slave revolt leader appeared on BBC Radio 4’s book of the week, has been translated into French, and there are German and Portuguese translations in the pipeline. Based on a wide array of sources from French, British and North American archives, Dr. Hazareesingh conveyed his intention to recapture Toussaint’s singular and distinctive voice.

Starting with a brief narrative of Toussaint’s life, Dr. Hazareesingh then outlined some key historical themes covered by his book: he described the Haitian revolution as the most radical, original and comprehensive revolutions of its time, though he suggested that slavery was resisted forcefully across the Atlantic world; he highlighted Toussaint’s unambiguous support for racial equality, characterised not only by a unity of Black people but also a support for multi-racialism; Black Spartacus is also a story about leadership, a telling reminder as to how often revolutions produce charismatic leaders – in Toussaint’s case, advocating political ideals with diverse European and African roots; he concluded that Toussaint’s innovative experiment in colonial government marked him as being 150 years ahead of his time, inspiring successive generations across the colonial world.

A short excerpt from Dr Hazareesingh’s fascinating talk is available to view below:

CUF Lecturer in Politics and Tutorial Fellow in Politics at Balliol college, Dr. Hazareesingh has written extensively on French political and intellectual history. His many publications include The Legend of Napoleon, In the Shadow of the General: Modern France and the Myth of de Gaulle, and How the French think.