| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 45,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Port-au-Prince | |
| Languages | |
| American English · Haitian Creole | |
| Religion | |
| Protestantism · Roman Catholicism · Mormonism · Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| African Americans · Canadians in Haiti |
American Haitians comprise the descendants of free blacks from the United States to Haiti in the early 19th century as well as recent immigrants and expatriates as well as their locally born descendants. At the time of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, there were about 45,000 US citizens living in Haiti. [1] [2]
During the antebellum era, many free blacks emigrated to Haiti. Although a few emigrants left for Haiti during the 1810s, it was not until 1824 that with the support of the Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer that emigration from the United States increased. Several thousand free blacks left for Haiti in the summer of 1824 and the flow continued until 1826 when the Haitian government stopped paying and defraying the transportation costs.
On July 28, 1915, the United States occupied Haiti and about 330 US Marines landed at the capital, Port-au-Prince on the authority of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to safeguard the interests of U.S. corporations. The occupation ended on August 1, 1934, after Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirmed an August 1933 disengagement agreement, and the last contingent of U.S. Marines departed on August 15, 1934.
During the Duvalier dictatorship, many American businessmen came to Haiti with their families to start or run the assembly plants that sprang up there. [3]
In recent years, many Americans came to the country to work for international aid and relief agencies on development projects, or at hospitals and feeding stations. Many Haitian Americans have also returned to the country. Hundreds of young children born in New York City or Miami to parents who fled Haiti under the Duvaliers and their successors have chosen to return. The American expatriate community live mostly in Port-au-Prince and maintain a system of neighborhood "wardens" to act as intermediaries with the American embassy in the capital.
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, to the east of Cuba and Jamaica and south of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island which it shares with the Dominican Republic. To its south-west lies the small island of Navassa Island, which is claimed by Haiti but is disputed as a United States territory under federal administration. Haiti is 27,750 square kilometers (10,714 sq mi) in size, the third largest country in the Caribbean by area, and has an estimated population of 11.4 million, making it the most populous country in the Caribbean.
The recorded history of Haiti began on 5 December 1492, when the European navigator Christopher Columbus landed on a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. It was inhabited by the Taíno and Arawakan people, who variously called their island Ayiti, Bohio, and Kiskeya(Quisqueya). Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, naming it La Isla Española, later Latinized to Hispaniola.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies to become a priest. He became a focal point for the pro-democracy movement first under Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier and then under the military transition regime which followed. He won the 1990–91 Haitian general election, with 67% of the vote. As a priest, he taught liberation theology and, as a president, he attempted to normalize Afro-Creole culture, including Vodou religion, in Haiti.
François Duvalier, also known as Papa Doc, was a Haitian politician who served as the President of Haiti from 1957 to 1971. He was elected president in 1957 on a populist and black nationalist platform. After thwarting a military coup d'état in 1958, his regime rapidly became more autocratic and despotic. An undercover government death squad, the Tonton Macoute, indiscriminately killed Duvalier's opponents; the Tonton Macoute was thought to be so pervasive that Haitians became highly fearful of expressing any form of dissent, even in private. Duvalier further sought to solidify his rule by incorporating elements of Haitian mythology into a personality cult.
Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed "Baby Doc", was a Haitian politician who was the President of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father François "Papa Doc" Duvalier as the ruler of Haiti after his death in 1971. After assuming power, he introduced cosmetic changes to his father's regime and delegated much authority to his advisors. Thousands of Haitians were killed or tortured, and hundreds of thousands fled the country during his presidency. He maintained a notoriously lavish lifestyle while poverty among his people remained the most widespread of any country in the Western Hemisphere.
The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 United States Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on the authority of President of the United States Woodrow Wilson to establish control of Haiti's political and financial interests. The invasion and subsequent occupation was promoted by growing American business interests in Haiti. The July intervention took place following years of socioeconomic instability within Haiti that culminated with the murder of President of Haiti Vilbrun Guillaume Sam by insurgents angered by his ordered executions of elite opposition. The occupation ended on August 1, 1934, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirmed an August 1933 disengagement agreement. The last contingent of marines departed on August 15, 1934, after a formal transfer of authority to the American-created Gendarmerie of Haiti.
Haitian Americans are Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest proportion of Haitians in the United States live in the South Florida area. In addition, they have settled in major Northeast cities such as New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. and in Chicago and Detroit in the Midwest. Most are immigrants or their descendants from the mid-late 20th-century migrations to the United States. Haitian Americans represent the largest group within the Haitian diaspora. Same as Haitian communities in other countries and Haiti itself, the vast majority of Haitian Americans are of black African descent.
Pierre-Eustache Daniel Fignolé (1913–1986) was a Haitian politician who became Haiti's provisional head of state for three weeks in 1957. He was one of the most influential leaders in the pre-Duvalier era, a liberal labor organizer in Port-au-Prince so popular among urban workers that he could call upon them at a moment's notice to hold mass protests, known as "woulo konpresè"—Haitian Creole for "steamroller."
Michèle Bennett is the former First Lady of Haiti and the ex‑wife of former President of Haiti, Jean‑Claude Duvalier. They fled to France together when he resigned in 1986; they divorced in 1990.
Haiti–United States relations are bilateral relations between Haiti and the United States.
Tourism in Haiti is an industry that has generated just under a million arrivals in 2012, and is one of the main sources of revenue for the nation. With its favorable climate, second longest coastline of beaches and most mountainous ranges in the Caribbean, waterfalls, caves, colonial architecture and distinct cultural history, Haiti has had its history as an attractive destination for tourists. However, unstable governments have long contested its history and the country's economic development throughout the 20th century.
Crime in Haiti is investigated by the Haitian police.
The historiography of Haitian cinema is very limited. It consists only one double issue of the journal of the French Institute of Haiti Conjonction, released in 1983, devoted to film; a book by Arnold Antonin, published during the same year, entitled Matériel pour une préhistoire du cinéma haïtien ; and an article by the same author in the 1981 book Cinéma de l’Amérique latine by Guy Hennebel and Alfonso Gumucio Dagrón.
James Theodore Augustus Holly was the first African-American bishop in the Protestant Episcopal church, and spent most of his episcopal career as missionary bishop of Haiti.
The Anti-Duvalier protest movement was a series of demonstrations in Haiti from 23 May 1984 – 7 February 1986 that led to the overthrow of President Jean-Claude Duvalier and the Duvalier dynasty regime.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Haiti–Mexico relations refers to the diplomatic relations between Haiti and Mexico. Both nations are members of Association of Caribbean States, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Organization of American States and the United Nations.
The Duvalier dynasty was an autocratic family dictatorship in Haiti that lasted almost twenty-nine years, from 1957 until 1986, spanning the rule of the father-and-son duo François and Jean-Claude Duvalier.
The Republic of Haiti from 1859 to 1957 was an era in Haitian history plagued with political struggles, the period of American occupation and multiple coups and elections until the Duvalier dynasty seized control of the country in 1957.
Cuba-Haiti relations refer to the bilateral relations between Cuba and Haiti. Cuba has an embassy in Port Au Prince and Haiti has an embassy in Havana.
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