Dessalines, Jean-Jacques, << `day sa` LEEN, zhahn zhahk >> (1758-1806), is one of Haiti’s national heroes. He helped free the country from French rule and became its first chief of state.
Dessalines was born in slavery at Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, in what is now Haiti. He served as an officer in the French army. In 1791, he joined a movement for freedom by slaves in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). The movement helped lead to the abolition of slavery there in 1793. Then he fought under General Toussaint Louverture against the British and the Spanish, who tried to take Saint-Domingue from France. Dessalines became a general. He later fought under Toussaint in a revolution against French rule. In 1802, the French arrested Toussaint. Dessalines then became the revolution’s leader. In 1804, he declared the colony the independent country of Haiti and assumed the title of governor general for life. He soon proclaimed himself emperor. He was murdered by rivals on Oct. 17, 1806.
See also Toussaint Louverture.
