terms and me trying to define them

Biographical info about the author:

• Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
• Parents immigrated to to New York and left her and her brother to be raised by aunt/uncle
• Childhood was influenced by studying/storytelling/church
• Bilingual in French/Hatian Creole
• Started writing at 9, moved to Brooklyn @ 12 to join her parents and dealt with unfamiliarity via literature
• Lived in a mainly haitian community and didn’t understand racism until she went to college
• Wrote an essay about immigration and then wrote a short story which turned into her first novel Breath, Eyes, Memory

Timeline for haiti’s history from independence to present day

• 1803: Haitians design a flag that turns the French flag on its side and removes the white band. They gain independence at The Battle of Vertieres
• 1804: On Jan 1, General Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares the plant Haiti (Ayiti in Creole) that means mountainous country
• 1806: Dessalines is assassinated
• 1807-20: Civil war in Haiti divides the country into the northern kingdom of Henri Christophe and southern republic of Alexandre Petion. Christophe’s army rebels and he commits suicide, letting Jean-Pierre Boyer reunify the country and become president of the entirety in 1820
• 1821: President Boyer invades Santo Domingo right after they declare independence from Spain. They control the island until 1844
• 1838: France recognizes Haitian independence in exchange for 150mil frances. They have to take out loans of 70mil francs to pay it off and gain international recognition. Most nations shun Haiti for ~40 years out of fear of causing unrest
• 1862: US grants Haiti diplomatic recognition by sending Frederick Douglass as Consular Minister
• 1915: President Wilson orders US Marines to occupy Haiti and establish the Haitian National Guard. Peasants resist and grow under the leadership of Charlemagne Peralt who then is assassinated in 1919
• 1934: US withdraws from Haiti
• 1937: Haitians living near the Dominican republic are massacred under the orders of Dominican president
• 1957: Duvalier declares himself president for life
• 1971: Duvalier dies in office and declares his 19 y/o son as successor
• 1972: Haitian boat people flee and land in florida
• 1976: widespread protest against restriction of the press take place
• 1970-80s: Baby Doc exploits intl. assistance and looks to invest in textiles. Unions are quickly destroyed
• 1980: 100s of HR workers, journalists, and lawyers are arrested and exiled
• 1983: Pope John Paul II visits Haiti and declares things must change
• 1985: numerous anti-govt demonstrations take place around the country and are unified under the event of four children being shot dead by soldiers
• 1986: widespread protest vs Baby Doc leads to the US arranging for him to be exiled to France and put General henri Namphy in his place
• 1987: a new constitution is overwhelmingly approved. General elections are cut short due to beginning with many people being shot dead soon after opening in november
• 1988: military controlled elections result in Leslie Manigat being installed as President in January. She is ousted by Namphy in 4 months who is ousted by General Prosper Avril in november
• 1989: Pres. Avril orders massive repression against political parties/unions/students/democratic organizations
• 1990: Instability is resolved with the election of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a parish priest
• 1991: A coup is attempted, but fails. They try again 8 months later and 1000+ people die.
• 1992-1995: political things happen that i dont really understand
• 1996: President Preval is inaugurated with a new govt forming under PM Rosny Smarth. They promise agricultural production, administrative reform, and economic modernization.

Haiti’s fight for and gain of independence

• Napoleon tried to use Haiti as a place to get slaves from and they revolted starting in 1791.

Toussaint L’Ouverture

• A former slave gifted with natural military genius and took control of the rebel slaves in 1791.
• Jan 1802, he agrees to a ceasefire and retires to his plantation in 1803 and gets arrested and taken to a dungeon in the French Alps before being tortured and dying in April

Boukman

• A slave in Haiti and one of the more visible leaders of the revolution. He conducted a religious ceremony at the Bois Caiman where a freedom covenant was made. This ceremony a catalyst for the uprising that marked the beginning of the revolution

1937, Dominican massacre

• Trujillo was determined to dominate the entirety of the island and ordered a massacre on 15,000~20,000 Haitians on the dominican side of the massacre river.

Rafael Trujillo

• Dominican politician and soldier, ruled the Dominican Republic from Feb1930-May1961, when he was assassinated. He had a dangerous personality cult and ordered the massacre of 1937

Voodoo religion

• The belief in a distant/unknowable supreme creator known as Bondye who doesn’t care about Human affairs but his spirit servants Ioa do, and they care about a lot of human stuff so they worship the Ioa.

Duvalier (Papa Doc)

• Used a cult of personality to help his rule. Was a physician prior to election and frequently ran and won in unannounced elections before taking the title “President for Life” in 1964 before naming his son his successor on his deathbed.

Tonton Macoute

• The Macoute was a special ops unit in the Haitian military created by Papa Doc in 1959 and were named after a Haitian myth of a bogeyman that kidnapped and punished bad children and put them in in a sack and eat them for breakfast later.

Jean Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc)

• Papa Doc’s successor and son, lived an extremely lavish lifestyle while most of his country suffered from extreme poverty. His strong anti-communist stance helped his relations with the US. He was forced to flee to France after rebellion in 1986.