Juliette Toussaint

Haitian-American philanthropist

Juliette Toussaint

Painting by Anthony Meucci (c. 1825)

Born|

Marie-Rose Juliette Noel

c. 1786

Saint-Domingue (now Haiti)

Died| May 14, 1851(1851-05-14) (aged 64–65)

New York City, United States

Spouse| Pierre Toussaint

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Black Catholicism

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* Pope: Leo XIV
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Background

* African Christianity
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* Age of Discovery
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* Haitian Revolution
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People

|  Saints

* Moses the Black
* Augustine
* Monica
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* Peter Claver
* Katharine Drexel

On the way to sainthood

* Pierre and Juliette Toussaint
* Mary Elizabeth Lange, OSP
* Henriette Delille, SSF
* Augustus Tolton
* Samuel Henderson
* Julia Greeley
* Mary Theodore Williams, FHM
* Thea Bowman, FSPA
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Cardinals

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* James Healy
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* Patrick Healy, SJ
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Seminarians

* William Augustine Williams

Families

* Healy family

Institutions

|  Churches

* Basilicas

Basilica of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception (Norfolk, Virginia)

* Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica

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St Augustine (New Orleans)

* St Augustine (D.C.)
* St Francis Xavier (Baltimore)
* St Benedict the Moor (NYC)
* Most Pure Heart of Mary (Mobile)

Religious communities

* Oblate Sisters of Providence
* Sisters of the Holy Family
* Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
* The Josephites
* Society of African Missions

Fraternal orders

* Knights of Peter Claver

Schools

* Xavier University of Louisiana
* Claver College
* St. Augustine High School (New Orleans)
* St. Augustine Seminary (Bay St. Louis)
* St. Anthony's Mission House

Organizations

* Colored Catholic Congress
* Federated Colored Catholics
* National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus
* National Black Sisters' Conference
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* The National Office for Black Catholics
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Literature

* History of Black Catholics in the United States (Davis)

Worship

* Gospel Mass
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Rites

Roman

* Ordinary Form
* Zaire Use

Controversies

* Jesuit Bend Incident
* George Stallings (Imani Temple)

Miscellaneous

* Anti-Catholicism
* Ecumenism

Relations with:

* Protestantism
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Societal issues

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Juliette Noel Toussaint (c. 1786 – May 14, 1851) was a formerly enslaved Haitian-American philanthropist who collaborated closely with her husband Pierre Toussaint in helping the poor and doing charitable works in downtown New York.[1] Her husband was declared a Venerable in 1996 by Pope John Paul II.[2]

Her name is listed among the donors of the New York African Society for Mutual Relief.[3]

## Life

[edit]

### Early life

[edit]

Little is known about Juliette's early life. She was born into slavery in the former French colony of Haiti in the year 1786.[4] The Noel family came to Baltimore with their slave owners at some point during the Haitian Revolution. There she labored as a housemaid, assistant cook and nanny.[3]

### Marriage and family

[edit]

Photograph of Pierre Toussaint.

In the wake of the Haitian Revolution, Pierre Toussaint's master went into exile in New York City with him, granting them the opportunity to meet one another. Juliette was 20 years younger than him. While still working for her master, Pierre saved enough money to purchase her freedom.[4] They were married privately on August 5, 1811. For four years, they boarded at the house of Pierre's master before finally settling on Franklin Street. Pierre worked as a hairdresser while Juliette focused on household needs and volunteered for the local church activities.[2][3]

They adopted Euphemia, the daughter of Pierre's late sister Rosalie, who had died of tuberculosis, raising the girl as their own. They provided for her education and music classes.

### Philanthropy

[edit]

The couple attended daily masses and began a career of charity for New Yorkers experiencing poverty regardless of color and creed. They often brought baked goods to the children of the Colored Orphan Asylum and donated money to its operations. They sheltered and fostered numerous street children, travelers, and homeless people in their own house.

Together, the Toussaints organized a credit bureau, an employment agency, and a refuge for priests. Many Haitian refugees went to them, and they helped them find jobs. They often arranged sales of goods so they could raise money to live on. With the Oblate Sisters of Providence, they established a school for Black children.

They also helped raise money to build a new Roman Catholic church in New York, which became Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mott Street. Pierre was also a benefactor of the first New York City Catholic school for Black children at St. Vincent de Paul on Canal Street.[5][3]

### Later years

[edit]

On May 14, 1851, Juliette died of natural causes. Two years later, Pierre Toussaint died on June 30, 1853. They were buried alongside Euphemia in the cemetery of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral.[3]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Juliette Toussaint". New York Historical Society. 31 May 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
2. ^ a b Sontag, Deborah (1992-02-23). "Canonizing a Slave: Saint or Uncle Tom?". The New York Times. p. 1\. ProQuest 108964280. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
3. ^ a b c d e James Sullivan (21 November 2019). "Mary-Noel Juliette Toussaint". Black Past. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
4. ^ a b "Pierre Toussaint". Slavery and Remembrance. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
5. ^ "Boniface Hanley, O.F.M." EWTN. Retrieved 14 January 2021.

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* Wallace Willis
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South America|

* Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua
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Non-fiction books|

* The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)
* The Narrative of Robert Adams (1816)
* American Slavery as It Is (1839)
* Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845)
* The Life of Josiah Henson (1849)
* Twelve Years a Slave (1853)
* My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)
* Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
* The Underground Railroad Records (1872)
* Biography of a Slave (1875)
* Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881)
* Up from Slavery (1901)
* Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States (1936–38)
* The Peculiar Institution (1956)
* The Slave Community (1972)
* Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" (2018)

Fiction/novels|

* Oroonoko (1688)
* Sab (1841)
* Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
* The Heroic Slave (1852)
* Clotel (1853)
* The Bondwoman's Narrative (c. 1853 – c. 1861)
* Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856)
* Our Nig (1859)
* Jubilee (1966)
* The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967)
* Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976)
* Underground to Canada (1977)
* Kindred (1979)
* Dessa Rose (1986)
* Beloved (1987)
* Middle Passage (1990)
* Queen: The Story of an American Family (1993)
* Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons (1996)
* Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade (2001)
* Walk Through Darkness (2002)
* The Known World (2003)
* Unburnable (2006)
* The Book of Negroes (2007)
* The Underground Railroad (2016)

Young adult books|

* Amos Fortune, Free Man (1951)
* I, Juan de Pareja (1965)
* Copper Sun (2006)

Essays|

* "To a Southern Slaveholder" (1848)
* A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853)

Plays|

* The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858)
* The Octoroon (1859)
* Omar (2022)

Documentaries|

* Unchained Memories (2003)
* Frederick Douglass and the White Negro (2008)

Related|

* Abolitionism in the United States
* African-American literature
* Anti-Tom novels
* Atlantic slave trade
* Captivity narrative
* Caribbean literature
* Films featuring slavery
* Slavery in the United States
* Songs of the Underground Railroad
* Treatment of slaves in the United States
* List of last surviving American enslaved people
* Book of Negroes (1783)
* Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book (1847)
* Slave-Trading in the Old South (1931)
* Sarah Johnson's Mount Vernon (2008)
* Slave Songs of the United States (1867)
* Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems about Slavery (2002)
* The Hemingses of Monticello (2008)

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