E264 - General Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jacob Lawrence, 1986 - from Yamilee Bermingham
"A favorite artist is Jacob Lawrence. I first remember being
intrigued by Lawrence’s migration series while visiting the Phillips gallery in
Washington DC, where I lived after college and where I started dating my love,
Douglas, who would introduce me to Tom, and a few years later, lovely Eleanor.
The Jacob Lawrence portrait hat I have chosen for Tom’s birthday
tribute is of Toussaint L’Ouverture, a key leader of the Haitian Revolution who
defeated Napoleon’s forces, leading to Haitian independence in 1804. Toussaint
L’Ouverture became Haiti’s first president before being deceived and imprisoned
by Napoleon in 1802. The epitaph often used for Haiti is “poorest country in
the Western Hemisphere,” rather than first free Black republic, which I know it
as, having learned from my parents and a comic book biography they gave me as a
child.
Something I admire about Tom and which inspires me, is his
wide-ranging intellectual curiosity. I imagine this contributed to his interest
in maps. Tom shared with us this lecture about maps and Haitian history (YouTube) and recently texted us about the New York
Times series detailing the country-pillaging taxes levied by France after the
Haitian revolution and the subsequent economically destabilizing actions of the
United States. I am enriched by learning about history and culture beyond the
canon that most of us studied in school.
Here is another interesting discussion about Haiti https://www.worldaffairs.org/media/blog/912.
It’s been fun to share interest in Haiti with Tom and Eleanor! Happy Birthday Tom! from Yamilee Bermingham
El Paso Museum of Art - Toussaint Louverture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lawrence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_Louverture
