Background
Louis Étienne Félicité Lysius Salomon was born to a wealthy black landowning family in the South on 30 June 1815 in Les Cayes.
Louis Étienne Félicité Lysius Salomon was born to a wealthy black landowning family in the South on 30 June 1815 in Les Cayes.
Well educated, he very early became committed to preventing political domination of Haiti by mulattoes.
When Faustin Soulouque reestablished black dominance, Salomon served as his minister of finance for 11 years. He was made duke of Saint Louis de Sud after Soulouque declared himself emperor in 1849.
After the overthrow of Soulouque in 1858, Salomon lived in exile. In 1867 He was named Haiti’s diplomatic representative in Europe. He used his exile to broaden his knowledge , to travel, and to become acquainted with world affairs.
While abroad, Salomon acquired the reputation as the leading defender of black interests in Haiti. This reputation, which elevated him in the twentieth century to the status of a patron saint of Haitian black nationalism, prolonged his exile.
During Salomon’s period abroad, the Haitian elite coalesced into factions of mulattoes, “Liberals,” and blacks, “Nationalists.” Salomon became the acknowledged leader of the Nationalists. When President Boisrond Canal stepped down after a turbulent period in office, Salomon returned an overwhelming number of Nationalists to the National Assembly, which in October, by a vote of 74-13, elected Salomon president.
He married a French woman, Louise Magnus.