Toussaint L'Overture Cane

Description: This cane belonged to Toussaint L’Ouverture, a military and political leader in the Haitian Revolution. The revolution began as a slave revolt in the French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1791 and ended with emancipation and the founding of the free nation of Haiti in 1804. Nearly half a million enslaved people gained freedom. These events terrified U.S. slaveholders and other whites while they heartened African Americans. The United States did not recognize the independence of Haiti from France until 1862. A U.S. Department of State official acquired this cane there later in the 19th century.

See more items in: Political History: Political History, General History Collection; Government, Politics, and Reform; American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
Exhibition: American Democracy
Exhibition Location: National Museum of American History

National Museum of American History

ID Number: PL.011095
accession number: 49134
catalog number: 011095

Object Name: Cane

Physical Description: wood (overall material); brown (overall color)
Measurements: overall width at handle: 35 in x 4 1/4 in; 88.9 cm x 10.795 cm

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .

Thanks to Verizon for support of this Our Shared Future: Reckoning with our Racial Past project.

These files consist of 3D scans of historical objects in the collections of the Smithsonian and may be downloaded by you only for non-commercial, educational, and personal uses subject to this disclaimer (https://3d.si.edu/disclaimer) and in accordance with the Terms of Use (https://3d.si.edu/termsofuse).

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.

View manifest View in Mirador Viewer

3D Model