Just as dance forms originating from Saint-Domingue made their way into southern culture, religion also left its indelible marks. It is well documented that the Vodou religion in New Orleans began to blossom around 1800 with Sanite Dede, a free woman of color who arrived from Saint-Domingue. The Saint-Domingan Vodou priestess was replaced in 1820 by New Orleans's native Marie Laveau, who became legendary. Haitians were for the most part Catholic; their presence in the various U.S. cities where they settled gave rise to the establishment of a number of biracial congregations. In Baltimore, in 1829, four colored Saint-Domingan women--Elizabeth Lange, Marie Magdelene Baas, Marie Rose Boegue, and Marie Therese Duchemin--established the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the world's first Black religious community, and founded the School for Colored Girls.
Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), emphasized the relevance of Haiti's historical past because Haiti was the land where the Negroes repelled the Whites and established an independent republic. In the same vein, writers of the Harlem Renaissance embraced Haiti's history and culture. Claude McKay's work, for example, is replete with tales of Haiti's heroic past. [Langston Hughes], perhaps the most central figure of the Harlem Renaissance movement, having read of "Toussaint L'Ouverture, Dessalines, King Christophe, proud Black names," made a pilgrimage to Haiti.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
32 p., Follows the island's history from colony to independence and beyond. Fabulous images and special spreads on food and life in a Maroon village show a side of Jamaica not depicted in tourist pamphlets. Other topics include: The Taino people -- Jamaica's first inhabitants; The slave trade and the plantation system; Pirates of the Caribbean; Rebellion and resistance to slavery and oppression; Jamaican heroes such as Paul Bogle ,Nanny, Marcus Garvey and Alexander Bustamante; Jamaican influence abroad and Jamaican foods made famous.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
546 p, In-depth treatment of Jewish images of and behavior toward Blacks during the period of peak Jewish involvement in Atlantic slave-holding. Based on a wide-range of sources in several languages.
