Bayyinah Bello: On Victoria "Toya" Montou

Victoria "Toya" Montou (died 1805) was a female soldier and freedom fighter in the army of Jean-Jacques Dessalines during the Haitian Revolution. Toya Montou was not the only woman to serve in the Haitian army during the revolution, other exceptions are Marie-Jeanne Lamartiniére, who served at the Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot in 1802, and Sanité Belair.
▨
▨
Before the revolution, Montou had worked alongside Dessalines as a slave. She was described as intelligent and energetic, and shared a close relationship with Dessalines and the same hatred toward slavery. Although she is not related by blood, Dessalines always introduced her as his aunt and affectionately called her Mantou. Due to Dessalines' mother dying in childbirth and his father being sold to another plantation, she raised him and his two older brothers, Louis and Joseph Duclos, who would later adopt the last name Dessalines after Haiti's Independence.
▨
▨
During the Haitian Revolution, she fought as a soldier in active service; on at least one documented occasion, she commanded soldiers in action during battle. In 1804, Dessalines became emperor. When Montou was dying, the emperor demanded the doctor to treat her as he would him, and stated that Toya was his aunt who had shared his feelings since before the revolution. She was given a state funeral with a procession of eight sergeants and Empress Marie-Claire Heureuse.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
#negritude #PanAfricanism #Haiti #Ayiti #Africa #Alkebulan  #colonialism #imperialism #jeanjacquesdessalines #bayyinahbello #HaitianRevolution✊🌍🌎✊▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃ In the video is Bayyinah Bello giving a brief description of Victoria Montou's life, and shaping the man who would become Haiti's greatest hero