Haiti Emigration and Immigration

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Online Sources

• 1813-1834 Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1813-1834, index, incomplete, ($).
• 1668-1809 Saint Domingue Civil Registration, Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Haiti, index and images, ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Haiti, index and images, ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, index and images, ($)

Historical Background

• In 1492, Christopher Columbus left 39 men on the island of Hispaniola (which became Haiti and the Dominican Republic), who founded the settlement of La Navidad. Relations with the native peoples, initially good, broke down and the settlers were later killed by the Taíno.
• The western part of the island was thus gradually settled by French buccaneers; among them was Bertrand d'Ogeron, who succeeded in growing tobacco and recruited many French colonial families from Martinique and Guadeloupe.
• In 1697 France and Spain divided Hispaniola between them. France received the western third and named it Saint-Domingue. The French set about creating sugar and coffee plantations, worked by vast numbers of slaves imported from Africa.
• The French settlers were outnumbered by slaves by almost 10 to 1. According to the 1788 Census, Haiti's population consisted of nearly 25,000 Europeans, 22,000 free coloreds and 700,000 African slaves.
• The French colonial government allowed some rights to free people of color (gens de couleur), the mixed-race descendants of European male colonists and African female slaves (and later, mixed-race women). Over time, many were released from slavery and they established a separate social class. White French Creole fathers frequently sent their mixed-race sons to France for their education. More of the free people of color lived in the south of the island, near Port-au-Prince, and many intermarried within their community. They frequently worked as artisans and tradesmen, and began to own some property, including slaves of their own.
• Inspired by the French Revolution of 1789 and principles of the rights of man, the French settlers and free people of color pressed for greater political freedom and more civil rights. Soon a full-blown slave rebellion had broken out across the entire colony, the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804). It has been estimated that between 24,000 and 100,000 Europeans, and between 100,000 and 350,000 Haitian ex-slaves, died in the revolution.
• The independence of Saint-Domingue was proclaimed under the native name 'Haiti' in 1804. Leaders ordered the massacre of nearly all white men, women, children; between January and April 1804, 3,000 to 5,000 whites were killed, including those who had been friendly and sympathetic to the black population. Only three categories of white people were selected out as exceptions and spared: Polish soldiers, the majority of whom had deserted from the French army and fought alongside the Haitian rebels; the small group of German colonists invited to the north-west region; and a group of medical doctors and professionals. Reportedly, people with connections to officers in the Haitian army were also spared, as well as the women who agreed to marry non-white men.
• The revolution led to a wave of emigration. In 1809, 9,000 refugees from Saint-Domingue, both white planters and people of color, settled en masse in New Orleans.
• The American Colonization Society (ACS) encouraged free blacks in the United States to emigrate to Haiti. Starting in September 1824, more than 6,000 African Americans migrated to Haiti, with transportation paid by the ACS. Many found the conditions too harsh and returned to the United States.
• During the political turmoil throughout Haiti's history, the government changed hands continually and native Haitians were frequently executed in large numbers.
• For example, in 1964 Francois Duvalier proclaimed himself 'President for Life'; an uprising against his rule that year in Jérémie was violently suppressed, with the ringleaders publicly executed and hundreds of mixed-raced citizens in the town killed. The bulk of the educated and professional class began leaving the country. In 1971 Duvalier died, and he was succeeded by his son Jean-Claude Duvalier. In total, roughly 40,000 to 60,000 Haitians are estimated to have been killed during the reign of the Duvaliers. Through the use of his intimidation tactics and executions, many intellectual Haitians had fled, leaving the country with a massive brain-drain. Amidst the continuing turmoil in the 1980-1990s, many Haitians attempted to flee the country.

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