Dutty Boukman

'Dutty Boukman (Boukman Dutty) (died November 1791) was a slave in Haiti who was one of the most visible early leaders of the Haitian Revolution. According to some contemporary accounts, Boukman may have conducted a religious ceremony in which a freedom covenant was affirmed; this ceremony would have been a catalyst to the slave uprising that marked the beginning of the Haitian Revolution. Dutty Boukman may have been a self-educated slave perhaps born on the island of Jamaica. Some sources indicate that he was later sold by his British master to a French plantation owner after he attempted to teach other Jamaican slaves to read, who put him to work as a commandeur (slave driver) and, later, a coach driver. His French name came from his English nickname, "Book Man," which some scholars, despite accounts suggesting that he was a Vodou houngan, have interpreted as meaning that he may have been Muslim, since in many Muslim regions the term "man of the book" is a synonym for an adherent of the Islamic faith. One scholar suggests that it is likely that Boukman "was a Jamaican Muslim who had a Quran, and that he got his nickname from this." Other scholars suggest that Boukman may have practiced a syncretic blend of traditional African religion and a form of Christianity.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutty_Boukman