Haitians and African Americans : a heritage of tragedy and hope

In this first comprehensive study of the relations between Haiti and black America from the colonial period to the present, Leon Pamphile shows how historical ties between these two communities of the African diaspora have affected their respective histories, cultures, and community lives. Spanning some 200 years of relations between Haiti and African Americans, Pamphile's study is valuable for its thorough grounding in primary material, offering especially detailed treatments of 19th-century relations. He examines perceptions of Haiti in the United States during the debate over emancipation and slavery in the first half of that century and Haiti's role as a model in the struggle for liberation and then an asylum for many escaping oppression in the United States. His treatment of the decades from emancipation into the early 20th century, as descendants of African slaves struggled for legitimacy and respect in the post-slavery setting, is similarly meticulous. He highlights efforts to rehabilitate and elevate the black communities as well as dilemmas posed to African American leaders who defended Haitian independence during the U.S. occupation of 1915-34 and then sought to promote economic development on the island. He also treats relations between Haitian Americans and African Americans in major U.S. cities such as Baltimore, New Orleans, Charleston, and Philadelphia and traces the changing view of African American leaders toward Haiti during the Duvalier and post-Duvalier period as well as the role played by African American leaders in the U.S.-Haiti policy debate. His account covers individuals and events up to the period immediately following the multinational intervention of 1994. Pamphile demonstrates that Haiti and the African American community, though separated by national cultures, remained linked by the common experience of slavery and its aftermath. His detailed accounts of these connections in the areas of politics, agriculture, performing arts, religion, and family organization will provide valuable insights to scholars working in Caribbean and American history and foreign policy and in race relations. Table of Contents......Page 8 Foreword, by Richard K. Seckinger ix......Page 10 Acknowledgments xiii......Page 14 Chronology xv......Page 16 Introduction 1......Page 20 1. Haiti: The Sun of Hope, 1800–1865 8......Page 27 2. The Quest for an Asylum, 1824–1865 34......Page 53 3. Religion as a Weapon, 1824–1900 60......Page 79 4. Partners in Defending the Race, 1869–1915 80......Page 99 5. The Struggle Against a Racist Occupation, 1915–1934 102......Page 121 6. The Rise of Black Consciousness, 1920–1940 129......Page 148 7. Promoting Human Rights and Economic Development, 1940–1956 148......Page 167 8. Managing the Haitian Political Quagmire, 1957–2000 165......Page 184 Epilogue: The Ongoing Struggle 189......Page 208 Notes 197......Page 216 Bibliography 219......Page 238 Index 233......Page 252 ''In this well-documented and perceptively argued analysis, Leon D. Pamphile straightforwardly examines multifaceted aspects of the relations between African Americans and Haitians both at home and abroad and insightfully shows how these two subalternized groups have inscribed chunks of their histories inside the genealogies of each other's life trajectories.