In parts of the world, some people who sacrificed for their countries are given national holidays respectfully. In the United States there are also Columbus Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day to honor those who have in some sense dedicated their lives to America.

What about all the Black people who sacrificed their lives to fight oppression around the world? Where are their holidays? There are several Black leaders around the globe who have laid down their lives to protect Black people and should be held in high regard and given the same respect as others who have received holidays.

Below is a list of Black leaders who should be given holidays:

Toussaint L’OuvertureToussaint L’Ouverture was born an enslaved African in French Saint Domingue, now Haiti, in 1743. At the age of 33 he was given his freedom and later married. By all accounts he settled into a quiet life by 1791. As the leader of the Haitian Revolution, his military genius and political acumen transformed a partial society of thousands of enslaved African men, women and children into an independent state of Haiti.

Despite being a free man at the time, L’Ouverture put his life of for the Blacks in Haiti as a leader of the 1791 Boukman rebellion in the French colony of Saint Domingue. He gradually established control over the whole island and used political and military tactics to gain dominance over his rivals. Throughout his years in power, he worked to improve the economy and security of Saint Domingue. He restored the plantation system using paid labor, negotiated trade treaties with Britain and the United States, and maintained a large, well-disciplined army.

L’Ouverture’s Haitian Revolution shook the institution of slavery throughout the New World and his work led to the establishment of the first independent Black nation in the western hemisphere in 1804.