About
Who we are?
Who is Suzanne Simon Baptiste Louverture?
Suzanne Simon Baptiste was born in slavery on the Bréda plantation at Haut-du-Cap, near Cap-Français, around 1752. She was a négritte, négrette or négresse as they were called at the time.
She married Toussaint de Bréda, who later became Louverture, in 1781. She already had one child, Placide, and had two children with Toussaint, Isaac and Saint-Jean.
She was deported to France with her husband and children in 1802. Exiled first to Bayonne, then to Agen, where she arrived in 1803, she remained there until her death in 1816.
The founders
Dave Champagne
Dave CHAMPAGNE is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Award (2022). He is also a friend of Paul Harris. He obtained his MBA from Edinburgh Napier University. He has worked with numerous organizations to promote Creole culture, integration, and the social and professional development of Creole people living in Toronto. He is the founder of Champagne Group Services, Inc. a diversified management company with direct and indirect interests in financial services, agriculture, tourism and import-export.
Visit his website HERE
Robin Mitchell
Robin Mitchell is an award-winning associate professor in the Department of History at the University at Buffalo. She is a historian of 19th-century French history, specializing in discourses on race, gender and sexuality. She received her master's degree in modern European history from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her doctorate in modern European history from the University of California, Berkeley, with a specialization in women, gender, and sexuality. Mitchell has published numerous journal articles and her first book,Vénus Noire: Black Women and Colonial Fantasies in Nineteenth-Century France (University of Georgia Press, 2020), was nominated by the African American Intellectual History Society in its category “The best black history book for 2020”, and byThe Guardian as one of the “Best Books About Sex” in 2021. Her next book will be the first biography of Suzanne Simon Baptiste, also known as Madame Toussaint Louverture, a previously neglected but influential figure in the history of blacks in France. She is currently under contract with Princeton University Press.
Visit her website HERE
Gabriel Osson
Gabriel Osson, born in Haiti, is a Haitian-Canadian writer, poet and painter living in Toronto. Gabriel is an active member of the Franco-Ontarian community in the province of Ontario, Canada. Gabriel has published many books, his novel Hubert, le restavèk (2017) was a finalist for the Prix Christine Dimitriu Van-Saanen at the 2018 Toronto Book Fair. His novel Le jour se lèvera (2020) won the Alain-Thomas Award at the Toronto Book Fair in 2021. He's the recipient of the 2023 Ubuntu Awards for his dedication & achievements in community building.
Visit his website HERE
Sylvie Pourcel
Native and resident of Agen, Sylvie is the founder of the Théâtre au bout des doigts in Agen.
She is an actress, director and puppeteer. Defining herself as a linker, she welcomes and supports visual artists commissioned to recognize the commemorations of the abolition of slavery (Modeste Testas in Bordeaux, Toussaint Louverture in Agen).
The projects that are most important to her consist of building a bridge between his hometown, Agen, and her adopted city, Port-au-Prince through the arts and artists.
History links these two countries on many points including that of the family of Toussaint Louverture in Agen since 2018. She deploys her energy combines with that of the contributing partners, friends, members and enthusiasts to bring forgotten stories to light.
Visit her website HERE