[Rosa Guy]'s personal life odyssey has been a major influence on the scope and tone of her writing. Upon arriving in the United States with her parents in the early 1930's and moving to Harlem at the age of eight, Rosa became a prolific observer of African-American culture and the forces that shape its existence in American society. Guy's novels have explored the stifling consequences of poverty in settings as far away as the Caribbean, or as near as New York's Harlem. Once it is published, her newest novel from Dutton Press, The Sun, The Sea, A Touch of the Wind will join an impressive body of literary material authored by Ms. Guy that include: Bird At My Window; A Measure of Time; And Then She Heard A Bird Sing; Edith Jackson; Ruby; Children of the Longing; and Music of Summer.
"I say that I'm Haitian first, and then we go from there," said Patrick Marcelin, the U.S.-born son of Haitian immigrants who raps in Creole and English as "Mecca a.k.a. Grimo." "I just happened to be born in America, but really I'm a Haitian brother. And Haiti is the direct daughter of Africa." The Black History Months he remembers studying never mentioned Haiti's history, even though Haiti was a destination for Black Americans searching for their cultural roots. Marcelin now also teaches in the Haitian Heritage Museum's school outreach program, exposing students to the American history he never learned. For example, when talking about writers from the Harlem Renaissance, Marcelin points out that [Zora Neale Hurston] wrote her novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" in Haiti in the 1930s, and the poet [Langston Hughes] wrote admiringly of the Haitian peasants who walked down mountain roads barefoot, balancing baskets on their heads, to sell their wares. "They should have been teaching this in school, that soldiers from Haiti came to fight in the American Revolution," Marcelin said. "I read about [Frederick Douglass] in the history books but I don't remember anything about him being the ambassador to Haiti. Or that the founder of Chicago was a Haitian brother."
In fact, whenever I am accused of "playing the Race Card ", I always let folk know that I didn't deal die hand. It has been my experience that if you ask "why?" long enough eventually it will come down to race. And if it is between or amongst people of the same color, Class becomes the issue. But we can argue about that in another post at another time. With instances such as these it's tough to holler "race" because Black folk make it easy for White folk to say, "Forget it". I have heard Black folk say, "Who do they think they are? How are White folks going to raise Black children? They have no idea what it's like to be Black"! And maybe they don't . . . but they don't know what it's like to be Asian, Indian, Haitian or African either. Now I am sure there will be those who will read this and say, "My family adopts ... in fact, they adopted me!" and they will go down a list that reads like that fifth chapter of Genesis in the Bible inserting "adopt" for every "begat". And while that is good for that particular family, that family and those like it are the exception and not the rule.
Today Haiti is looked at as a struggling island filled with poverty and conflict. It truly gets labeled with the "Third World" stereotype. Actually, the history of Haiti is rich and shows that it was actually the home of some of the greatest heroes in the fight to end western hemisphere slavery. Haiti caused the break up of the worst form of slavery in the history of the world. This island with the largest Black population in the Caribbean has immense economic challenges. This adventure taught the Haitian survivors a great lesson: The European military machines are vulnerable and can be defeated with proper planning. When they returned to Haiti, they spread that information amongst the slave populace and the planning began. In 1791, the historical slave revolt in Haiti began. It lasted until 1804. The rebellions caused Britain to give up on the slave trade in 1807 and the rest of Europe started their withdrawal of this evil practice. Many white French settlers left Louisiana and Haiti and moved to what are now Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Many of the free Haitians moved to New Orleans and those ties still exist. Haiti was the catalyst in the abolishment of slavery. Thank you my brother Haitians.
On March 1st and 2nd, The Riverside Church will open its doors to metropolitan New Yorkers for a Haiti Festival - a cultural and spiritual celebration of Haiti. The "Haiti Festival" will kick off Friday, March 1st with a workship service and live performances by Haitian folk and roots musicians. The Festival will continue on Saturday as Riverside Church is transformed into a traditional Caribbean marketplace alive with the rhythms and folklore of Haiti.
