Empowering Global Citizens

unlike many African nations, they fought for it, rather than had it bestowed
upon them. For this reason, the Haitian Revolution remains a very impor—
tant piece of history that has been commemorated through art.

The charismatic yet controversial figure ofToussaint Louverture has been a
particularly rich subject for art and poetry. The teacher first reads William
Wordsworth’s poem “To Toussaint L’Ouverture.” (Note that this poem can
be very difficult for young learners to understand, so the teacher should
take care to explain the complex language and to focus the learning on how

Louverture was unhappy because he was not free.)

The class is paired with a class of students in Haiti so that they can learn about
how Haitian students learn about the Haitian Revolution. The teachers of each
class collaborate to show their students the paintings ofJacob Lawrence,8 which
tell the story of Louverture’s life and Haiti’s struggle for independence. The
teachers show their classes one painting at a time and asks the classes to describe
the story each painting tells. The American teacher then shares biographical
information about Louverture from a source like The Louverture Project (see
resources below). The Haitian teacher asks his or her students to use what they
have learned previously about the Haitian Revolution to caption the paintings.
Next, the students break into pairs and share how they interpreted the paint—
ings and their thoughts on the similarities and differences in the stories they
tell. Ideally, the students will talk about how Louverture is represented and
about what devices the artist used to convey information and feeling.

(Note that the teachers should both take care to explain to the students that
while these particular paintings tell a particular story, there is no “right” way
to interpret art.)

A possible student—level resource for the Haitian Revolution is a leveled
reader (the sixth—grade reader is available below, on, above grade level) from