480 p., This dissertation examines the role of the Haitian Revolution and Haiti's national history in the construction of Black Internationalism and Black Atlantic intellectual culture in the first half of the twentieth century. The author argues for the centrality of Haiti in the genesis of Black internationalism, contending that revolutionary Haiti played a major place in Black Atlantic thought and culture in the time covered. Suggests viewing the dynamics between the Harlem Renaissance, Haitian Indigenism, and Negrtude and key writers and intellectuals in terms of interpenetration, interindepedence, and mutual reciprocity and collaboration.
637 p., Utilizes perceptions and attitudes towards the Haitian Revolution as a means to resituate party conflict and the boundaries of American nationalism in the Early Republic. The concept of nationalism is utilized in both the shaping of political culture and in the institutional formation of the state. As a result, the Haitian Revolution generated contradictory factional responses between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans to the emergence of revolutionary abolitionism in the Atlantic. On a more popular level, the ordeal of Haiti engendered a fear of black militant abolitionism that hardened American attitudes towards the possibility of further slave emancipation in the United States.
Very few people have ever heard of the war between the Blacks and Mulattoes in Haiti. This was a war between light-skinned Blacks and dark skinned Blacks. Interestingly, outsiders who had a stake in dividing Haiti's victorious army engineered this war. The old adage of divide and conquer that was used and is still used. If the students at Howard University who devised the paper bag test had only read of the war between mulattoes and black in Haiti they would have been ashamed of their actions. Other African Americans immigrated to Haiti, stayed, and became prominent members of Haitian society. Hezekiah Grice was an Afro American leader, and a supporter of emigration by Blacks to Haiti. He was convinced that there would never be full emancipation for Blacks in this country. Outraged at the treatment of his people in America, he immigrated to Haiti, and became the director of Public Works in Port-Au-Prince.
480 p., By the end of 1825, 6,000 African Americans had left the United States to settle in the free black Republic of Haiti. After arriving on the island, 200 immigrants formed an enclave in what is now Samaná, Dominican Republic. The Americans in Samaná continued to speak English, remained Protestant (in a country of devout Catholics), and retained American cultural practices for over 150 years. Relying on historical archaeological methods, this dissertation explores the processes of community formation, maintenance, and dissolution, while paying particular attention to intersections of race and nation.
Congressman Gregory Meeks who represents the Sixth Congressional District of South East Queens, home to a large Haitian migrant population, also expressed his concern about [Jean-Bertrand Aristide]'s removal from office and the role the United States, might have had in the affair. "I'm one who thinks that Aristide had some problems in the country. However, I believe in the institution of democracy and that we needed both sides to sit down pursuant to the CARICOM agreement," he told the Gleaner. Other members of the delegation who called on Secretary General [Kofi Annan] were Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California; Kendrick Meek from Florida; Donald Payne - New Jersey; Major Owen - New York; John Conyers - Michigan and actor and human rights activist, Danny Glover.
-, Do they know that the "democratically elected" president they are defending didn't abide by the rules of democracy? Do they know that he condoned violence and assassination, including that of journalists? Do they know that kidnapping for ransom were ordered by the chief to fill up his coffers? Do they know that Haiti became a haven for drug dealers under the watch of their "democratically elected" friend? It won't be long before the truth comes out concerning the crimes that have been committed in the name or at the command of [Jean-Bertrand Aristide]. The defenders of the "humble priest of the shanty-towns" will have much explaining to do about the new multimillionaire status of their man. Anyway one cuts it, it's a major scandal of corruption and embezzlement for a president whose monthly salary was $10,000.
276 p., A critical examination of Haitian migration and displacement in North America that engages both a theoretical and literary analysis of exile and diaspora as consequences of migration and displacement. Argues that Haitian writers in North America inscribe migration by troping exile and diaspora to speak of the predicament of displaced migratory subjects and their inevitable crossings of places, landscapes, borders, cultures, and nations. Analyzes three novels by Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat: Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), The Farming of Bones (1998), and the Dew Breaker (2004); and two novels by Haitian Canadian writer Myriam Chancy: Spirit of Haiti (2003) and The Scorpion's Claw (2005).
"The U.S. government would prefer to tell Haiti what to do and when and how to do it," said Eugenia Charles, the Haitian-born director of Fondasyon Mapou, a Washingtonbased group that seeks to improve the quality of life for Haitians. The group sponsors weekly demonstrations in front of the Haitian Embassy demanding that political prisoners be freed and democracy be restored in Haiti. Thomas Griffin, a Philadelphia attorney and human rights advocate who traveled to Haiti last year, presented details of his findings to members of the Congressional Black Caucus on March 2. His report, released by the Center for the Study of Human Rights at the University of Miami School of Law, found that "Haiti's security and justice institutions fuel the cycle of violence. Summary executions are a police tactic, and even wellmeaning officers treat poor neighborhoods seeking a democratic voice as enemy territory where they must kill or be killed." [Barbara Lee]'s Haiti TRUTH (The Responsibility to Uncover the Tuth about Haiti) Act would form a TRUTH commission to investigate United States involvement in [JeanBertrand Aristide]'s removal.
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.
