Haitians in the Dominican Republic

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Haitians in the Dominican Republic
Priscilla Mundo and Katie Schrimsher
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• Haitian Exploitation in the Dominican Republic

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(No Transcript)
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Haiti

• A long history of conflicts and unrest
• 1821 President Boyer invades Santo Domingo
  (following the DRs declaration of independence
  from Spain). The entire island was controlled by
  Haiti until 1844.
• 1838 Haiti receives independence from France by
  an indemnity of 150 million francs
• 1867 Constitution, economic and political
  stability, until
• 1911-2004 Revolutions, dictatorships, coups with
  brief intermittent periods of economic stability

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Dominican Republic

• 1822-1844 Controlled by Haiti
• 1916-1924 US occupied DR and recruited Haitians
  to work in sugar cane industry
• 1930 Rafael Trujillo came to power- efforts
  toward Dominicanization
• 1952- DR began importing Haitian laborers
• 1986- civil liberties given to Haitians labor
  contracts, human rights, max. work hours, and
  housing

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The Borderlands

• Border was an inconsequential political structure
• People went back and forth for different purposes
  on a daily basis.
• Not many were pure Dominicans as they
  intermarried
• Many residents spoke both Spanish and Haitian
  Creole, or a blend of the two.
• Transnational region no clear hierarchy existed,
  just cultural, religious, and linguistic
  distinctions
• UNTIL

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Rafael L. Trujillo Antihaitianismo

• President of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to
  1938, Dictator through 1961
• Open-door policy which favored Caucasians in
  order to whiten the nation
• Dominicanization standard Spanish in schools,
  names of towns, rivers, etc. changed to Spanish
  ones, official border, colonies dispossessed
  many Haitians
• Parsley Massacre of 1937 killed or expelled
  about 15,000 Haitians, used pronunciation of
  perejil to determine identity
• Anti-Haitian propaganda through speeches, the
  media, books, and historical texts, deploring
  their Africanness, language, and Vodou
  practices

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What do you think?

• What factors in the islands history impacted the
  status of Haitians in the DR?

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Today

• About 500,000 Haitians live in the Dominican
  Republic today
• Many migrated (often illegally) to work in the
  sugar cane industry, taking jobs that Dominicans
  were reluctant to do
• Lighter complexion associated with higher status
• Work in the cane fields is looked down upon
• Derogatory slurs are common in social and
  political domains
• Spanish heritage is emphasized
• Only Spanish language is used in marketplace,
  media, education, and government domains (not
  Haitian Creole)

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What do you think?

• What could be done to improve the status of
  Haitians in the Dominican Republic today?

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What do you think?

• How do you think the lower status of Haitians
  affects intergroup relations (marriage, work,
  education)?

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Resources

• http//www.student.britannica.com/eb/art/print?id
  52624articleTypeId0
• http//www.travelinghaiti.com/history.asp
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Haiti
• Howard, David. (2001). Coloring the Nation.
  Hemisphere A Magazine of the Americas, 9 (3),
  21-23.
• Morgan, N.T. (1987). Language maintenance and
  shift among Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
  Ann Arbor, MI UMI Dissertation Services.
• Turits, Richard Lee. (2002) A World Destroyed, A
  Nation Imposed The 1937 Haitian Massacre in the
  Dominican Republic. Hispanic American Historical
  Review, 82 (3), 589-635.