Transcript Haiti: Its History, Its Culture and Present Day Challenges

CHI ETA PHI Sorority Inc.’s
Black History Month Program
February 20, 2011
Five Kingdoms - 250,000 inhabitants (Tainos-Arawaks)
Guacanagaric: King of Marien
Caonabo – King of Maguana
Bohechio – King of Xaragua
Guarionex - King of Magua
Cotubanama - King of Higuey
 Aug. 3, 1492: Colombus sets sail






from Spain aboard the Santa
Maria, Pinta and Nina (200
sailors)
Oct. 11, 1492: lands on San
Salvador
Oct. 21, 1492: reaches Cuba
Dec. 5, 1492: sees Haiti and calls it
Hispaniola
Dec. 25, 1492: A storm destroys the
Santa Maria.
He builds a Fort with the wreckage
Jan. 16, 1493: Returns to Spain
 Indigenes forced to dig for gold
 In 19 yrs, local population down to 14,000
 Bartolomeo de Las Casas pleads for the Indians, gives moral grounds




for enslavement of Africans.
1511: Arrival of African slaves
Arrival of French Buccaneers on
Tortuga Island and northern
Hispaniola
Sep. 20, 1697: Treaty of Ryswick –
France gets the occidental part of the island and calls it SaintDomingue
1763: 30,000 Africans imported per year –Richest colony in the World
 93 millions lbs of raw sugar – 70 millions lbs of refined sugar –
 also coffee – cotton, cocoa

 European (White) – 30,000
 ……………………………
 ………………………………
 ………………………………..
 ……………………………………
 Quintroon (Octoroon & White)
 Octoroon (Quadroon & White)
 Quadroon (Mulatto & White)
 Mulatto (White & Black)
 Africans (480,000)
 In America
 The Blue Vein Society
 The Brown Paper Bag Test
 If you are White, you are alright – If you are brown, stick
around – If you are Black, stand Back
 In Egypt
 In India
 In Haiti : The color issue is intimately interwoven in
Haiti’s political history
 The colonialist system… was an exploitation of the
New Continent, of its inhabitants and of Africa, as a
supplier of slaves, in order to transfer capital which
was going first to render possible the initial
accumulation of riches in Europe and eventually fuel
the famous “Industrial Revolution” , i-e, the definitive
consolidation of European Capitalism.
 Andre Charlier, Dec. 2007
 In Preface to the 2nd Edition of
 Apercu sur la Formation Historique de la Nation Haitienne
 1789: French Revolution
 Declaration of Human Rights
 1791: Slave revolution - Bookman
 Toussaint Louverture conceives that St





Domingue should be autonomous.
Fought against the French for Spain who had
promised the end of slavery and equal rights
Then fought Spaniards and English and
occupied the entire island
He is named Governor General for Life
Constitution of 1801 abolishes slavery.
Napoleon sends 45,000 soldiers to defeat
Toussaint
1802: Tousaint deported to France
 November 18, 1803: Vertieres
battle
 Napoleon’s Army defeated
 January 1, 1804: Independence
Declaration – Dessalines head
of State – then Emperor
 Orders the erection of Forts
around the country to protect
against return of the French
 1807: Dessalines assassinated
 Haiti divided in three countries
Mode of Government: Republic
Head of State: President elected for 5 years
Population: 9 000,000
9 Departments + Diaspora
Money: Gourdes ( 40 gdes = 1 dollar)
 Young soldiers and officers fought at Savannah for the
Independence of the United States of A.
 First to fight for the notion that ALL MEN WERE
CREATED EQUAL.
 First successful Slave Revolution
 Alexandre Petion, first president of Haiti supported
Simon Bolivar in his fight to liberate South America
from Spain. He gave:
 Asylum when he was initially defeated
 Soldiers – Money – Printing Press - Arms & Ammunitions
 With the sole condition that Slavery be abolished in all
the liberated territories
 After losing most of Canadian territories to the British
 Ended France’s ambition to establish an Empire in
America
 1812: The Louisiana Territory was sold to the U.S.A.,
doubling the size of the country
 Thomas Jefferson refuses to recognize Haiti’s






Independence
Embargo on Haiti until The American Civil War – No
access to American ports
Haiti disinvited to 1st Pan-American Congress – 1821
1838 -Haiti forced to pay indemnity to France
=90,000,000 gold francs ($21,000,000, ooo)
1862: Recognition by the US: No taxes on US ships in
Haitian ports
Haiti humiliated repeatedly by US - Germany
American Occupation – 1915-1934
 The American Occupation
 FDR: If we can keep the Haitian with shoes fighting
against those without shoes, we have nothing to fear
from Haiti
 Reinforcement of Color Segregation
 Four mulatto presidents : Dartiguenave–Borno–Roy–Vincent
 After the Occupation: Lescot only promotes light skin officers
and his cabinet includes almost exclusively mulattos
 Attack on Haitian identity
 Anti-superstition campaign – destruction (Theft) of Taino
figurines
 1937: Slaughter of 20,000 Haitian and Haitiano-Dominican
farmers on the Border Zone – No reaction in US or Haiti
 1946: “Black” Revolution
 1946: Dumarsais Estime is elected President of Haiti
 1947: The Indemnity to France is paid (122years)
 New Beginnings for Haiti
 Modernization of downtown Port-au-Prince
 Bicentennial of Port-au-Prince World’s Fair
 Participation of France, US, Italy, etc…
 Marian Anderson performs at the Theatre de Verdure
 Ambitious Agro-Industrial projects and Power plant
 Haiti is with Cuba the top touristic attraction of the
Caribbean
Enough rice to feed the population and export
Number of Farming
Families
Engaged in Rice
Production
93,000 Families
(20% of population)
Other Groups
involved in the Rice Sector
Supplemental agricultural workers =22,000
Local traders = 8,000
(buy paddy, dry it and mill it)
Millers = 400
(process paddy to produce white rice)
Venders i.e Madan Saras = 300
(bring rice to markets or sell to retail traders)
 1939-1960 Replacement of Food crops by Cash Crops
 1981: African Swine fever epidemic – destruction of all
local Creole pigs –Replacement by US porkers )four
footed princesses)
 The cost of the return of J-B Aristide
 Reduction of the tariffs on rice to 3%(the lowest)
 Interdiction by IMF to subsidize rice farmers
 Destruction of the poultry industry (market is flooded with
US chicken claws, necks and gizzards)
 The repatriation without trials of all illegal immigrants to US
 Consequences: Farmers migrate to the cities(slums)
 Boat People to Florida and the Bahamas
 Migration to the Bateys in DR
Tariffs on Rice Trade Imposed by IMF
Year
Tariff
Bound Tariff
50 %
Dominican Rep
40%
Haiti
1986
35%
CARICOM
1999
25%
Haiti
1995
3%
Rice
Fiscal Year
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
Mme Gougousse
2.2
4.2
5.8
8.4
7.2
6.2
6.7
7.3
Imported
2.2
3.7
3.7
5.4
5
5.6
•Environmental Degradation
•Unsustainable Agricultural techniques
•Deforestation
•Soil Erosion
•Oil Embargo (Aristide-Clinton)
•Economic Policies: Local and International
•Lack of Access to Capital
•Lack of Mechanization
•Lack of Transportation
•Lack of Storage Facilities
•Inability to purchase high yield rice seeds
•Land Tenure System
• Lack of Governance
•Poor condition of Irrigation Canals
•Lack of Access to education and health care
•Lack of security for farmers
•Societal Factors
•Lack of Support of Haitian Farmers
 2004- Aristide sent to
exile - Haiti declared
failed state – under UN
control
 Haitian Government
marginalized
 Bill Clinton and Paul
Farmer = Rulers of Haiti
 January 12, 2010: 7.1 (rs)
destroys Port-au-Prince
and surrounding
localities
 African Contribution
 French (European) Contribution
 Results:
 Language: Creole
 Normand French Syntax
 Vocabulary: French, African, Taino, Spanish, English
 Religion : Vodou – (Makumba- Santeria – Obia)
 West African religious rituals (Fon, Ewe)
 Catholicism imposed by the Europeans and adopted in order
to preserve ancestral practices  Religious Syncretism
 Painting”
 “Naïve” or Primitive
School
 Dewitt Peters - 1943
 Centre d’Art – 1944
 Best known: Prefete
Duffaut, The Obin
Brothers(Seneque and
Philome), Castera Bazile,
Jean-Baptiste Bottex
 Favorite themes: Voodoo
-Landscapes – Rural
Markets- Historic events
 They are painters with artistic education. They are
artists who have been educated, trained, and learned
from other masters on how to refine their crafts. Most
of those artists were molded in the French tradition.
H. Lesser, Curator of Exhibits at the Charles Summer
School Museum and Archives in Washington, D.C.,
pointed out that although there is the European
influence in those that went abroad, "the Haitian
elements are also visible". Today, modernism
transcends into vivid colors, renowned artistic styles
such as surrealism, pointilism, and impressionism.
Jean-Claude Garoute
Christ
Patrick Vilaire
Paper Cut-Outs
 Pottery
 Ceramic
 Wood Carving (Mahogany)
 Stone Carving
 Metal (copper jewels)
 Double tradition:
 African: Drum at the center
 Other instruments: Vaksin –
Maniboula, Tcha-Tcha, Tambou
marengwen
 Ibo, Petro, Congo
 Twoubadou (Troubatour)
 Catherine Dunham
 European: Piano and Violin
 Waltz, Minuet, Quadrille
 Composer: Ludovic Lamothe
 Lina Mathon Blanchet
 Fusion – Original Haitian
 Carmen Brouard
 Lynn Rouzier – Lavinia Williams
 Meringue: Issa-El-Saieh, Jazz des
Jeunes
 Compas Direct: Nemours Jn-Baptiste
 Kompa: Mini-Jazz
 1825: Youth Education entrusted to French Clerics
 Our Ancestors were Barbarians
 Anti-Superstition Campaign
 Lescot
 2010 - Creation of School in Haiti (Labadee ) teaching
in Esperanto
 2010 - Creation of University teaching in Spanish
 Pat Robertson: Haiti’s problems stem from pact they
made with the Devil to secure their independence
 Dominicans: We are White and God-fearing
Catholics; Haitians are Blacks and Devil-worshippers
 Media portrayal – always slums and political strife
 Ever seen a positive image of Haiti on TV or in the
 Constant repetition of key phrases: Haiti the poorest
country of the western Hemisphere
 Young Haitian-Americans ignorant of their ancestral
past and ashamed of their country of origin
Pour le pays
Pour les Ancetres
Marchons unis (bis)
Dans nos rangs, point de traitres
Du sol, soyons seuls maitres
Marchons unis(bis)
Pour le pays
Pour les ancetres
Marchons, Marchons, Marchons unis
Pour le pays
Pour les ancetres
For the country
For our forefathers
Let’s walk together (bis)
Within our ranks, no traitor
Of our soil, let’s be the only masters
Let’s walk together (bis)
For the country
For our forefathers
Let’s walk (ter) together
For the country
For the forefathers