BLACK HISTORY MONTH: HAITIAN HISTORY IS BLACK HISTORY
Though Black History month is a time to commemorate black historical figures from the United States, you may not know about the cross cultural connection between Haitians and African Americans and the influence it had on black history in America.
Being the first free black republic and the first country to outlaw chattel slavery, many African Americans had a deep admiration for Haiti’s historical fight for liberation. During the Harlem Renaissance, an important time for cultural development in the African American community, such admiration increased as more people became more interested in connecting with other members of the African diaspora. Many black Americans hoped to travel to Africa to connect with their roots, but with the continent being thousands of miles from the United states, several black Americans chose to visit Haiti instead due to Haiti's closeness in location.
Writer and popular figure of Harlem renaissance, Langston Hughes was one of these individuals. In April of 1931, Hughes traveled to Port-au-prince to learn more about Haiti’s working class. There he observed the huge wealth gap within haiti. A gap that unfortunately has only seemed to widen over the past century. Hughes compared the experience of the working class haitians to the working class black americans. In Haiti, Hughes connected with Jacques Roumain, a Haitian writer and politician who advocated for the rights of working class Haitians. After meeting with Roumain, Hughes noticed that though the histories of the Haitian people and of Black Americans weren’t exactly the same, they did seem to rhyme. Hughes would go on to write about Haiti and its people in a novella titled Popo and Fifina: Children of Haiti, and a historical play about Haitian historical figure Jean-Jacques Dessalines, titled Drums of Haiti.
Hughes trip to Haiti helped deepen the connection between Black Americans and Haitians. He helped expose the class struggle in Haiti to Black Americans and explain the similarities to the class struggle in the US. After Roumain was imprisoned for his political opinions, Hughes’ further writings helped garner support for Roumain and soon, many Black activists in the US helped advocate for his release.
Though Haiti and the US now have a complicated relationship the connection between Black Americans and Haitians still remains. Despite the similarities in histories and struggle, one of the greatest things Haitians and Black Americans have in common is their resilience.
