Haitians and African Americans share a history

Serghino René

The historical relationship between Haitians and African Americans has been largely misunderstood. Dr. Leon D. Pamphile wants to change that.

Pamphile, executive director of the Functional Literacy Ministry of Haiti, talked last week about his book, “Haitians’ & African Americans’ Struggle Against Racism Through the NAACP,” as part of Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice Lecture Series.

He highlighted the ongoing relationship of African Americans and Haitians, as well as their past shared efforts to defeat slavery in the 19th century.

“I’m not just trying to focus on the negative, but I wanted to highlight the reality of what took place,” said Pamphile. “By highlighting it, we can bring some positive change.”

Briefly spanning the last 200 years of American and Haitian history, Pamphile walked his listeners through the Haitian Revolution, perceptions of Haiti in the United States during the debate over emancipation and slavery in the early 1800s, and the African American and Haitian partnership that pushed the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s decision in that case reinforced the legal doctrine that “separate but equal” public facilities and services were permissible so long as the separate sections receive an equal quality of treatment. The doctrine was reversed in 1954 after the Brown v. Board of Education case determined that the existence of such facilities was inherently unconstitutional on the grounds that “separate but equal” public education could never provide black Americans with facilities of the same quality available to whites.

He also described the relationship between Haitians and African Americans in major U.S cities like Baltimore, New Orleans and Boston.

“Haiti was able to fulfill what the American and the French Revolutions could not do,” said Pamphile. “Haiti witnessed the fulfillment of equal rights for all men, and this is what made the Haitian Revolution such a powerful force.”

Pamphile put particular focus on the African American and Haitian relationship during U.S. occupation of Haiti between 1915 and 1934, describing how African Americans aided in the struggle through the intervention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

“During the next two decades, Haitians and African Americans fiercely fought to liberate Haiti from U.S. military control,” said Pamphile.

Pamphile goes into greater detail in his book, discussing the politics, people and events that make the larger story. His account covers individuals and events up to the period immediately following the multinational intervention into Haiti in 1994.

Although African Americans don’t revere Haiti like they did a century ago, Pamphile says we need to remember the past.

“Only through understanding and learning from the past will we achieve peace, or we will be forced to repeat it,” said Pamphile.