African American Emigration to Haiti

James Theodore Holly's son, Arthur, opened a clinic. Arthur Holly also contributed to the Ethnological Movement and esoterica.

Although perhaps more than 15,000 African Americans lived in Haiti for at least some time across the 19th century, little has been said of those who chose to stay in the Caribbean republic. A plethora of historians have studied the causes and context of the two major waves of black emigration to Haiti, but few have said much of any detail on the descendants of those who decided to permanently reside there. Scholars disagree on how many stayed, and since there is a wide disagreement on the total numbers who came in the 1820s (estimates run from 6,000 to 13,000), one must make an educated guess on the total numbers of black Americans who were either long-term residents or naturalized Haitians. Of course, tropical disease, climate, and many eventually leaving Haiti significantly reduced the black American population. Besides neighborhoods like Bourg Anglais in Port-au-Prince and Protestant churches in various Haitian towns, African Americans appear to have blended into the general population after a few generations. Unlike the Samana Americans in the Dominican Republic, descendants of the same black emigrants of the 1820s, black settlers in Haiti proper seem to have left fewer distinctive traces. 

Bishop John Hurst of the AME Church was born in Haiti. He was a descendant of African American immigrants. Like some other Haitians of African American descent (Hezekiah Grice's son, Francis, for example), he was educated in the US and died there. The AME's growth in Haiti and the Dominican Republic often relied on locals of African American heritage or West Indian migrants.

After attempting to track down individual African-Americans who emigrated, and consulting a variety of secondary and primary sources, it is possible that a few thousand chose to stay in the Black Republic. One can reach this estimate based on a fraction of the 6,000-13,000 emigrants remaining in Haiti from the 1820s onward. Some scholars have suggested that many or even most of these migrants stayed (or could not afford to pay for passage back to the US) while others propose a lower proportion remaining. However, a lower estimate is safer until more evidence is unearthed. It is difficult to imagine  even a third of the estimated numbers of African American emigrants of the 1820s staying in Haiti. Their numbers would have created a more lasting impact in Haitian towns, since most sources indicate that's where they eventually chose to settle. Later, of the 2000+ who came in between 1859 and the end of the US Civil War, perhaps a few hundred remained. This can be guessed from a source cited by Dixon that located over 200 African-American from the Geffrard-supported emigration program still in Haiti by 1864-1865. Since some of the 450 Louisiana Creoles who came to Haiti around the same time may have decided to remain, it is possible that over 200 African Americans became Haitians. This means that at least several hundred or a thousand stayed. They would have either assimilated into the larger population or joined West Indians and older African-Americans in the Protestant communities of urban Haiti. In addition to the organized emigration of African-Americans and Louisiana Creoles of Color, continuous individual or small-scale movements occurred throughout the century.

Part of a message by Pierre-Aristide Desdunes of New Orleans about Vodou and visting his cousin's property in Haiti. The Desdunes of New Orleans maintained contact with their relatives in Haiti, including a Haitian senator. Emile Desdunes and Pierre-Aristide's father returned to Haiti multiple times, with the former sent to Haiti for his education. Emile Desdunes later became a colonel in the Haitian military and an agent for Louisiana Creole emigration to Haiti in the 1850s. Another Desdunes was also prominent among Louisiana Creoles of color: Rodolphe Desdunes , who was part of the Comité des Citoyens.

Estimates from the size of the Protestant denominations, which also included West Indians or whites from Europe, would indicate that by the 1830s, Port-au-Prince may have had well over 100 or more African American residents. Jacmel, Cap-Haitien, Saint Marc, Les Cayes, and other Haitian towns almost certainly had their own communities, often based around early Protestant churches and denominations. This probably boosts the total number, and if one counts African Americans in Samana and other parts of eastern Hispaniola, one can easily imagine at least several hundred African American residents  or long-term sojourners in Haiti by the 1830s. Most were probably the emigrants who came through Boyer's supported plan. Individual African-Americans or smaller groups who came continuously also contributed to the black American population of the island, such as John Bell Hepburn, who emigrated to Haiti in the 1830s. Thorald Burnham and Julie Winch are among the few scholars to highlight the continuous nature of African American emigration to Haiti since abolitionists, free blacks, and emancipated slaves came singly or in smaller groups to Haitian free soil until the the end of the US Civil War. Some, perhaps sailors, educated free blacks, and those of Saint-Dominguan origin, may have returned to Haiti between 1804-1820. Silvain Simonise, for instance, was born in South Carolina and after his completing his education in France, decided Haiti was a better home than the US. Loring Dewey's correspondence also refers to the presence of free blacks from the US in Haiti prior to the Boyer emigration project. In some cases, African Americans came to Haiti after Emancipation.

Alonzo Holly, son of James Theodore Holly. He studied in Europe and the US, but spoke on Haiti's behalf during the Occupation to UNIA audiences. All of Holly's children have left a mark in Haitian medicine, religion, or intellectual thought.

Another complication of tracking African Americans in 19th century Haiti is the question of Louisiana Creoles. Creoles of color retained links with relatives in Haiti, and, according to Duplantier, perhaps 450 emigrated there between 1859 and the end of the US Civil War. Examples of Creoles of color traveling to Haiti include Pierre-Aristide Desdunes, who recounted visiting his Haitian cousins. Another Desdunes, Emile, was educated in Haiti and chose Haitian citizenship. Emile Desdune was the initial agent for Louisiana Creole emigration to Haiti under Emperor Soulouque. Other Creoles, such as Joseph Colastin Rousseau, also chose Haiti as their homeland, and remained cognizant of their ancestral and cultural ties with Haitians. These groups, unlike free blacks from the antebellum US, were Francophone and predominantly Catholic, which made it even easier for them to assimilate into Haitian society. The fairer-skinned among them may have excelled as colorism possibly assisted in their assimilation. Moreover, their presence in Haiti was a topic of interest in Port-au-Prince newspapers, highlighting familial ties between prominent Haitians and Louisiana Creoles. Nevertheless, arriving at an accurate estimate of the numbers who chose to stay in Haiti is difficult, and may require a comparison with Creole emigration to Mexico during the same period.

Prince Saunders was one of the most prominent African-Americans who came to Haiti in the early 19th century. An educator initially associated with Henri Christophe, he stayed in Haiti to serve the government until his death in 1839.

Since we are assuming that at least several hundred African Americans chose to become Haitians, predominantly in urban areas, one can begin to tackle the question of their influence and legacy in Haiti. Through the AME, Baptist, Episcopalian, and Wesleyan Methodist churches, African American influence in Haiti probably surpassed their actual numbers. The AME Church, an independent African American Protestant denomination, included prominent members among the African American settlers. John Allen, Bishop Richard Allen's son, chose to emigrate, where his skills in printing were valued. Although Allen eventually returned to the US, the African Methodist Episcopal church sent clergy to cater to the spiritual needs of the emigrants in Haiti. Other African American Protestant settlers likewise influenced Haiti's spiritual terrain by introducing camp ground meetings and bible study sessions at their homes in Morne-à-Tuf. Indeed, African-American Protestants built perhaps the earliest chapel in Haiti in the 1830s, which Corvington claimed could hold up to 200 people. Corvington also mentions small schools established by African Americans in the area, which may have contributed to the retention of the English language and Protestant faiths among descendants of the settlers. Some of the names associated with black American families in that time were remembered by Joseph Jérémie in his memoir: Jackson, Jacsin, Cook, Day, Jones, Horton.

Septima Clark, an African American educator and activist, had a mother and uncle who lived in Haiti. Her mother lived there for less than 8 years, but her relatives may have stayed in Haiti longer. Her mother's brother worked for a cigar factory there as a sampler before eventually returning to the US.

African American Protestants were also active in other parts of Haiti besides the capital. Jean Price-Mars's father, for instance, converted to the Baptist faith because African Americans were active in forming early churches in Dondon, Cap-Haitien, and Grande Riviere du Nord. Indeed, according to Jacques C. Antoine's study of Price-Mars, it was an African American, Samuel Waring, who came to Haiti to enter the coffee trade, who established the Baptist church in Price-Mars's hometown. Thomas Paul, another important black Baptist in Haiti, was active in the 1820s. For the Wesleyan Methodists, who were established in Haiti quite early and included some prominent local families (Pressoir, Bauduy, and Louis-Joseph Janvier's grandfather), African Americans were also present. Indeed, a Pressoir married an African American, suggestive of close ties between Haitian converts and African American immigrants. The growth of their denomination in the later decades of the 19th century partly relied on locals of African American descent, such as Alexandre Jackson and Joseph Hogarth, for native clergy, educators, and preachers. Similarly, the Episcopalians under James Theodore Holly recruited two native-born Haitians who were probably of African American origin: Pierre Jones and Charles Benedict, who were educated in the US and contributed to Haiti as educators, school inspectors, and reverends of the Episcopalians. Theodora Holly also worked in education, suggesting a close link between African American Protestants and intellectual (moral?) elevation of Haiti. 

Theodora Holly, daughter of James Theodore Holly, spent time in the US contributed to the African American press articles about her Haitian homeland. She was active in the UNIA and connected African American and Haitian women through the International Council of Women of the Darker Races of the World.

For some of the African American emigrants, particularly James Theodore Holly, black America had to contribute to the moral elevation of Haiti through antebellum notions of Anglo-Saxon civilization's superiority. Protestantism was perceived as superior to Catholicism and Vodou, and African Americans could be agents for the salvation of Haiti as the black nationality. Of course, many Haitian intellectuals also saw in Haiti the rehabilitation of the black race or shared the civilizationist discourse of African American black nationalists. However, most Haitian intellectuals were either nominally Catholic or avoided overt references to religion (unless denigrating Vodou and African 'atavism'). Thus, African American Protestants contributed to a distinct form of black nationalist thought in Haiti through their religiously-informed worldview. Haitian Protestants, like Louis Joseph Janvier, came to share their preference for Protestantism over Catholicism, but never relinquished the idea of Haiti as part of the "Latin" world. Nevertheless, the African American and West Indian Protestant presence acted as a bridge between African American and Haitian thought by the rise of Garveyism, further cementing Haiti's role as a symbolic central node of black intellectual thought, despite the small numbers of actual UNIA adherents in Haiti. It also facilitated Haitian-African American cultural contact and exchange, perhaps making things easier for Haitians of Protestant extraction, such as Price-Mars, to visit Tuskegee and find inspiration in racial uplift, Booker T. Washington and African American leadership.

Article from Le Progrès on Louisiana Creoles and African American immigrants in Haiti. Haiti under Geffrard introduced some urban amenities while also experiencing a brief economic boom from the rise of cotton prices during the US Civil War. African American immigrants were believed to be best suited to drastically improve Haiti's cotton industry in the Artibonite region.

Beyond the religious impact, which, unsurprisingly, influenced intellectual and political thought, African Americans in Haiti also left behind a presence in the trades, crafts, and urban laboring masses. According to a source cited by Nicholls, African Americans contributed to an improvement in the quality of Haitian trades and artisan occupations. Thus, even if the vast majority of African American immigrants, who were were northern free blacks, abandoned agricultural pursuits, their intended purpose in Haiti, many left behind a positive legacy in urban Haiti. An apprentice of James Forten, for instance, was a prominent sailmaker in Cap-Haitien mentioned by Benjamin Hunt. Louisiana Creoles of color were associated with trades in New Orleans, and those who stayed in Haiti likely contributed to the improvement of standards. Many found work in other sectors, such as Edouard Osmont of New Orleans, who ran a restaurant in 1860s Port-au-Prince. Robert Wainwright, according to Corvington, enjoyed a favorable reputation as a cabinetmaker for bourgeois families in Port-au-Prince. Black artisans would have interacted with their Haitian counterparts in Bel Air or Morne-a-Tuf, perhaps sharing skills or marrying locals who could have expanded business and clientele networks. If the black immigrants were fair-skinned, it would not be surprising if local Haitians saw them favorably and marriage between the two groups could have assisted in the upward social mobility of the petit-bourgeois. Freemasonry probably contributed to their assimilation, too, as many free blacks and Haitians were members of lodges. James Theodore Holly himself was a member, and performed funerary rites for Freemasons of different religious backgrounds.

This article from Le Progrès alludes to the familial ties between Creoles and Haitians.

Among tailors, shoemakers, and bakers, Benjamin Hunt identified African Americans or Creoles as running the best establishments in Port-au-Prince ca. 1860. These African American artisans in the lucrative trades, like the later Cuban immigrants, therefore improved local standards and may have introduced new forms of fraternal organization and mutual aid associations. They also played a pivotal role in the urban transformation of Port-au-Prince as new restaurants, neighborhoods, and early attempts at modernization required forms of labor that the local population either could not meet or perform. Of course, Haitian towns by the 1820s had local artisans and popular quarters such as Bel Air. But African American and Louisiana Creoles could find success as more reputable artisans or by filling in niches for new services. For instance, most of the Louisiana Creole emigrants were masons, bricklayers, builders, carpenters, tailors, or shoemakers, which meant they could have provided a number of services for the bourgeois residents of Haitian cities. Some may have also used their background as mechanics for repairing mills or other machinery associated with sugar production and distilleries. Like the Cubans or West Indian immigrants, some African Americans could do quite well in Haiti. Indeed, John Hepburn, who became a prominent commerçant, ran the finest hotel and magasin in 1860s Port-au-Prince, located near Place Geffrard. He is credited by Corvington for introducing ice cream and may have been the wealthiest African American in 19th century Haiti. Born to a white father and enslaved mother, Hepburn, like his brother, Moses, who stayed in northern Virginia, inherited some of his father's wealth, which, combined with his knowledge of English, facilitated his rise as a trader with connections to British or North American firms. African American medical professionals, artists, and similar educated professionals could also thrive in Haiti.

Reverend Pierre E. Jones was one of the native clergymen trained by James Theodore Holly. He was educated in Philadelphia with another native Haitian. Based on his surname, it is likely that Jones was a descendant of African Americans, perhaps the very same Jones who were part of the African American Protestant community in Morne-a-Tuf.

African Americans were also engaged in a variety of occupations among the "proto-proletariat" of Port-au-Prince and other towns. Many found work as servants for English or Anglophone residents and companies. McKenzie, whose Notes on Haiti are invaluable for information on Haiti during the Boyer years, alluded to his African-American servants. McKenzie and other foreign sources alluded to the ubiquitous presence of African-Americans in Port-au-Prince. Hunt identified them among the rag-pickers in Port-au-Prince, or the day laborers. Burnham's analysis of marriage records found many employed as washerwomen, ropemakers, shoemakers, or leatherworkers. Among the day laborers and urban poor of them, some were described as indolent, like Haitian natives. This probably reflects the class bias of Haitian elites and class or racial biases of white foreigners' accounts, who saw in the Haitian poor alleged racial characters of tropical laziness and vagrancy. However, even by the late 19th century, Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien were developing poor quarters where much of the population struggled to find work or lived a meager life. Some black immigrants from the US entered this category, and, consequently, become harder to track. Through their Protestant networks and benevolent societies, one may surmise that such immigrants and their descendants have shaped 19th century working-class culture.

Michel Mauleart Monton Michel Mauleart Monton was born in New Orleans to a Haitian father. He was raised in Haiti and became an immortal figure by composing the music for Oswald Durand's Choucoune. Monton's life is a great example of continued links between Louisiana Creoles and Haiti. 

In terms of agriculture, the Louisiana Creoles probably did not invest much in land. Yet other sources identify them as bringing machinery to Haiti for agricultural production. Some may have retained familial ties to landowning families, like the Desdunes. Such connections may have enabled Creoles access to large estates where they could have experimented with revivals of sugar production or cotton and tobacco. Some African Americans also pooled their resources together and achieved moderate success. Fanning, for instance, came across an article from a Quaker publication about 8 black immigrant families near Port-au-Prince who collectively owned land and sold produce at the Port-au-Prince market. Their frugality and cooperative farm may have made them more successful than other African American farmers who worked as sharecroppers on Haitian estates or small-scale farmers who had to deal with peasant neighbors stealing their crops and animals. Given their unfamiliarity with agriculture and urban backgrounds, it is not surprising that most moved to cities. The example of James Theodore Holly's initial colony at Drouillard demonstrated quite clearly the toll of tropical disease on African Americans, too. In the early 1820s emigration wave, African Americans were also blamed for introducing smallpox, which devastated Haitians and the immigrants. 

Advertisement for John Allen, a prominent African-American who came to Haiti in the 1820s and stayed longer than most. His hope for free produce movement and manufacturing in Haiti came to a bust, which may have prompted his eventual return to the US.

Despite not knowing exactly how many African Americans permanently settled in Haiti across the 19th century, it was likely at least 1000. Rural migration appears to have largely failed, but many African-Americans stayed in the various cities and towns. Families who descend from these migrants include the Hogarth, Jones, Holly, Wainwright, Jackson, Hurst, Simonise, Day, Horton, Gordon, Cook and many others. While they occupy a prominent place in the history of Protestantism in Haiti, many were active links between Black America and Haiti well into the 20th century. The legacy of James Theodore Holly and his Haitian-born or raised children best exemplify this trend. Through their activism and intellectual engagement with Black America, they're the best example of Haiti-African American transnational links. Arthur Holly even became a major figure in the Ethnological movement, part of a shift among Haitian intellectuals with regards to Vodou and Haiti's African heritage. Their Protestant congregations pushed the Haitian state toward greater religious liberty, and many members became active in various trades. Unfortunately, African Americans in Haiti were not able to benefit from a government like that of Henri Christophe, which could have pushed for stronger industrialization through textile production, education, agrarian reform, and shipping. Just imagine if African Americans like Forten and other prosperous free blacks would have been able to support Haitian industry and reforms to industrialize and make Haiti less dependent on the Western powers? Sadly, by the time large-scale black American migration to Haiti developed, Boyer and subsequent Haitian governments were ensuring such an alternative would be impossible. 

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