(died November 1791) Dutty Boukman was a Jamaican -born Haitian slave 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 Haïtian Revolution . Dutty Boukman may have been a self-educated slave 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 ...