Haitian immigration to the United States and Canada
Encyclopedia
Millions of Haitians live abroad, chiefly in North America: the Dominican Republic
, United States, Cuba
, Mexico
(mainly in Mexico City
and Cancun
), Canada (primarily Montreal
) and Bahamas. They also live in other countries like France
, French Antilles, the Turks and Caicos, Jamaica
, Puerto Rico
, Venezuela
, Brazil
, Cote d'Ivoire
, Senegal
, and French Guiana
.
In the United States alone there are an estimated 1.2 million Haitians, not including illegals plus 200,000 in Canada and an estimated 1,000,000 in the Dominican Republic
. The Haitian community in France
numbers about 90,000, and up to 80,000 Haitians now live in the Bahamas. A UN envoy in October 2007 found racism
against blacks in general, and Haitians in particular, to be "rampant" in every segment of Dominican society. Discrimination against Dominicans that work in Haiti exist but is "minimal". The administration of President Barack Obama
administration has made Haiti a priority in the hemisphere, reviewing immigration
policy.
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, an immigrant from Saint-Domingue
(present-day Haiti), founded the first nonindigenous settlement in what is now Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. The State of Illinois and City of Chicago declared du Sable the Founder of Chicago on October 26, 1968.
In January 2010, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
announced that Canada
will consider fast-tracking immigration
to help Haitian earthquake refugees. US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
announced that the estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Haitians "not legally in the United States" as of January 12, 2010, would be granted a form of asylum called temporary protected status
(TPS). Thousands of Haiti earthquake survivors, including Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of earthquake, could be relocated to the US. Senegal
is offering parcels of land – even an entire region if they come en masse – to people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.
There is a significant Haitian population in South Florida
, specifically the Miami enclave of Little Haiti
. New Orleans, Louisiana
has many historic ties to Haiti that date back to the Haitian Revolution. New York City
, especially in Flatbush
, East Flatbush and Springfield Gardens, also has a thriving émigré community with the second largest population of Haitians of any state in the nation. There are also large and active Haitian communities in Boston
, Spring Valley
(New York), New Jersey
, Washington D.C., Providence, Rhode Island
, Georgia (USA)
, Connecticut
and Pennsylvania
. There are also large Haitian communities in Montreal, Quebec, Paris, France, Havana, Cuba, San Juan, Puerto Rico
and Kingston, Jamaica
.
Anténor Firmin
was a 19th century Haitian anthropologist, perhaps the first black anthropologist and an early writer of négritude
, who influenced 20th century American anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits
.
Michaëlle Jean
, the former Governor General of Canada
, was a refugee from Haiti who came to Canada in 1968 at age 11.
Haiti
an immigrants have constituted a very visible segment of American and Canadian society, dating back to before the independence of Haiti from France
in 1804. Haiti's proximity to the United States, and its status as a free black republic in the years before the American Civil War
, have contributed to this relationship. Many influential early American settlers and black freemen, including Jean Baptiste Point du Sable and W. E. B. du Bois, were of Haitian origin.
In modern times, large-scale emigration from Haiti is mostly because they have been steadily migrating in significant numbers to the United States since the late 1950s—early 1960s, soon after François Duvalier
(“Papa Doc”) became president of Haiti. The political repression that characterized the Duvalier period forced large numbers of Haitians to seek safer harbor in the United States. Sustained political oppression, economic hardship, and lack of opportunity continued to drive contingents of Haitian immigrants out of their homeland all throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s (Zéphir 1996, 2001; Catanese 1999).
Haitian immigration persists to the present day, as evidenced in the numerous reports of major news networks, such as those of CNN
or the New York Times, about the boat people disembarking on the Florida shores as recently as October 2002. One The combination of push and pull factors led Haitians to cross the Caribbean Sea
, by plane or by boat, legally or illegally, in order to reach the shores of America, the perceived land of opportunity, to begin new lives. An examination of the records of the Census Bureau as well as those of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) allows for reasonable inferences about the size of the legal Haitian population currently residing in the United States. However, estimates provided by community leaders who offer assistance to the illegal population as well suggest that the actual number of the Haitian diaspora is higher than that recorded in government documents. In short, there is good reason to believe that the Haitian diaspora in the United States
exceeds 850,000, and according to community leaders may be close to 1 million.
Haitian community in the country, with an estimated 329,883 of the 694,123 Haitians nationwide. And their status as one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups is reflected in their political gains.
Florida boasts two Haitian-American state lawmakers, and another recently served as secretary of health under former Gov. Jeb Bush, who actively courted the community's votes. In Chicago, Kwame Raoul
, the son of Haitian émigrés, now fills Sen. Barack Obama's former state Senate seat. And Pierre-Richard Prosper
, the son of Haitian doctors, served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes after he was nominated by President Bush in January 2001. He ended his term in 2005.
Under heavy lobbying by the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus and some Republicans, Congress last month enacted the HOPE Act, and President Bush signed it. The act provides duty-free imports for some Haitian textiles. The Bush administration also spared Haiti some of the deep aid cuts that hit other Latin American nations.
The Congressional Black Caucus
has long been Haiti's strongest advocate, urging more economic aid and criticizing the lack of U.S. support for former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
, ousted in 2004 amid a violent uprising. And after the elections last November, Democrats active on Haiti issues now hold key posts.
Michigan Rep. John Conyers
heads the Judiciary Committee, giving him a key say on immigration and refugee matters. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York now chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which steers U.S. trade policy, among other matters. One member of that committee is U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek
of Miami, who is traveling to Haiti today to discuss immigration issues with President René Préval
and the U.S. ambassador in Port-au-Prince.
New York City
New York City has the largest concentration of Haitians in the United States as well as the oldest established Haitian communities of the country. The conservative estimate of the legal Haitian population in the New York City Metropolitan Area, as recorded by INS is approximately 156,000. However, community leaders and directors of community centers, who come in constant contact with the illegal population, strongly believe that the actual number is closer to 400,000. This number includes the non-immigrant (temporary visitors, students, temporary workers and trainees) and undocumented entrants, as well as the legal population who does not bother to fill out the census forms for a variety of reasons. Moreover, the New York City Haitian population represents a very heterogeneous group, reflecting the various strata of Haitian society. Members of the middle class started migrating during the U.S. occupation in the 1920s and 1930s; at the time they established their enclaves in Harlem
, where they mingled with African Americans and other Caribbean immigrants who were contributing to the Harlem Renaissance
. Significant waves followed exponentially during the Duvalier
era that started in 1957 and ended in 1986 with the ousting of Baby Doc. These waves were more heterogeneous than previous ones, as no single class of Haitians was immune from the Duvaliers’ dictatorship. To date, cohorts of Haitians continue to come to New York, many being sent for by relatives already established in the city.
Haitians reside in all the boroughs.
Brooklyn
The largest communities are found in Brooklyn where the legal population is placed at approximately 88,763, and in Queens where the number of Haitians is believed to be around 40,000. Members of the community who are of working-class background tend to establish their residence in Brooklyn, primarily in the neighborhoods of Flatbush
, Crown Heights
, East Flatbush
, and Canarsie
; many are apartment dwellers many homes in the area are duplexes and triplexes. Middle-class
Haitians who choose to stay in Brooklyn own brownstone homes in the Park Slope
area and single family homes in the Midwood
section.
Queens
Generally speaking, Haitians themselves consider the majority of their compatriots living in Queens to be mostly middle class. Members of this group enjoy ownership of their homes or cooperative apartments in the neighborhoods of Cambria Heights
, Queens Village
, Springfield Gardens
, and Jamaica
. Less privileged Haitians settle in the working-class neighborhoods of Rosedale
; generally members of the professional community live in the more affluent section of Holliswood
, and some move to the adjacent counties of Nassau
and Suffolk
which are parts of Long Island
.
, a small concentration of working-class Haitians (7%) congregates on the Upper West Side
and Harlem
. Some reside along Cathedral Parkway and in Washington Heights
. Very few Haitians (less than 1%) establish their niches in the Bronx. In this discussion, it is also important to recall that Haitians have established communities in the neighboring counties of Westchester
and Rockland
that are included in the Greater New York Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as in the city of Bridgeport
, Connecticut
. In fact, Spring Valley
in Rockland County has a relatively large segment of the New York population, estimated at close to 20,000. In Westchester County the city of Mt. Vernon has a small but significant Haitian community.
), such as Yoyo Fritaille, Le Manoir, Le Viconte, Haiti Parcel & Cargo Inc., and Bakery Creole. On intensely hot days, passersby strolling along these avenues and boulevards have their nostrils filled with the aromas of fried meats and plantains, and their ears with rhythms of Sweet Micky
, Konpa, Zin
, T-Vice, CaRiMi, Tabou Combo, and Boukman Eksperyans
, to name some of the most celebrated musical groups and bands. Animated conversations in Haitian Creole can be heard, as members of the community “hang out” in those shops and businesses to discuss home politics and news, exchange gossip, find out what goes on in the community, and keep alive their various traditions, be they culinary, intellectual, literary, or artistic.
, based on government records, is approximately 100,000. However, when one factors in the attested underrepresentation of the Census data, as well as the number of illegal immigrants, there is good reason to believe that community leaders and technocrats who work with the Haitian community are not wrong to place Haitian population at over 200,000. Miami is an interesting city in that it continuously replenishes itself with Haitian immigrants, in addition to a host of other ethnic groups from the Caribbean and Latin America
. On the one hand, a large contingent of Haitians may have arrived illegally to Miami. Haitian people seeking political asylum and/or economic opportunity have been steadily pouring onto the southern Florida
shores since the early 1970s.
Little Haiti
Haitians have established themselves in the Edison/Little River area of Miami, which eventually came to be referred to as Little Haiti. Once they are able, some end up moving out of Little Haiti to the neighboring municipality of North Miami, where a relatively large segment of Haitian immigrants of lower middle-class background relocates. On the other hand, Miami is also experiencing another wave of Haitian immigration, this time coming from the Northeast United States (New York
and Boston
), the Midwest (Chicago
), and Montreal
, Canada. This particular group of Haitians is composed mostly of middle-class individuals who, having worked assiduously for many years, have been able to save money and profit from the sale of their homes in order to relocate to Miami, where the cost of living is lower than that of Boston and New York and where the tropical weather and lifestyle are reminiscent of those of their native Haiti. This class of Haitians live in the middle-class sections of Miami Shores, North Miami Beach, El Portal
, Miami Gardens, and the Southwest neighborhoods of Kendall
and Coral Gables.
Irrespective of the presence of middle-class Haitians, Miami is considered the city that received (and continues to receive) the largest segment of lower-class Haitians, consisting of poor peasants from andeyò (countryside) and urban dwellers who were roaming the streets in search of lavi (life). Many of these Haitians found new lives in the Edison/Little River section of Miami, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, which the Whites deserted in the 1970s. Soon after, this area became known as Little Haiti, and is now one of the most recognizable Haitian communities in the United States. From north to south, Little Haiti extends from 84th Street to 36th Street; from west to east, it is ten blocks wide, stretching from 6th Ave, NW to 4th Ave, NE. It is crossed by two major north-south axes: Miami Avenue, and Second Avenue NE renamed Avenue Morrisseau-Leroy after the revered Haitian writer who championed the cause of Haitian Creole in literature, and who spent the later years of his life in Miami until his death in the late summer of 1998. The main thoroughfares that cross east/west are 36th, 54th, 62nd, and 79th Streets. Estimates of the population of Little Haiti vary from 40,000 to 55,000. Little Haiti is also considered one of the poorest areas of Miami-Dade County. The following figures were released by the Edison/Little River Neighborhood Planning Program (1994–96): The per capita income is $5,693, the median household income is $14,142, and close to half the population lives below poverty level. City government efforts are currently underway to revitalize the neighborhood, by creating long-term economic development, and improving housing and infrastructure. The City of Miami has established in Little Haiti a neighborhood service center (along with others throughout the metropolitan area), known as Neighborhood Enhancement Teams (NET) to address the social problems of the community.
Delray
Delray Beach, Florida, has become the US town with the largest percentage Haitian population in the United States. More than just sheer numbers, the Haitian community also grew geographically, economically, and socially; extending itself while maintaining a relatively low profile in the community it has adopted as its own. This growth has paralleled the incredible economic turnaround of Delray Beach as a municipality. It represents the awakening of a community which for a long time has lived in the shadow of its larger neighbor in Miami. The impressive growth has also brought about some strains within the Haitian community and in the community’s interactions with the other residents of Delray Beach.
Boston
Boston has attracted significant numbers of immigrants from Haiti for over 40 years. This arrival over time of Haitians in Boston corresponded to several waves of migration that have come to the United States from the Caribbean
country since the 1950s. The largest of these migratory waves in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s flowed into the metropolitan New York area. Since the late 1970s, the largest destination has expanded to include South Florida.
To characterize Boston-area Haitians as simply a smaller-scale version of the migration to New York or to South Florida is misleading. Since their arrival in New England
's hub, Haitians in Boston have adopted some unique traits of their new home and have adapted quite well to that new homeland. And today, as one of the Boston metropolitan area’s largest immigrant groups — perhaps its largest group — they are becoming key players in shaping that area's future.
Haitians have settled in various sections within the Boston city limits and its surrounding area. The location and diffusion of the population has mirrored the growth of the community. Highly concentrated in the city at first, Boston’s Haitians slowly expanded to neighboring municipalities and, most recently, to far-flung suburbs. There are, for example, significant numbers of the population in Brockton
, Randolph, Massachusetts
, and Malden, Massachusetts
. The area of greatest Haitian concentration in Boston proper is in Mattapan, followed by Dorchester
, Hyde Park
and Roxbury
.
Blue Hill Avenue is an important Haitian thoroughfare. The street runs through Roxbury and Dorchester, and along its last section, in Mattapan, is Boston's Haitian ‘downtown.’ There, the street is dotted with several Haitian businesses. Many Haitian churches and organizations have their headquarters along Blue Hill Avenue also.
On the north bank of the Charles River
, Haitians settled in Cambridge
in the 1950s and 60s. The population in this area now numbers approximately 7,500. Interestingly, although Haitians did not arrive in nearby Somerville
until the early 1990s, the community there today is almost as large as the one in Cambridge. Currently, however, increasing costs of living in Cambridge and Somerville are beginning to drive out people of modest means. The result has been the relocation of many of these area’s Haitians to the more affordable neighboring towns of Revere
, Everett
, and Lynn
.
population, particularly the legendary Kennedy family
. In today’s city, however, where the traditionally powerful white population has recently become a minority, another immigrant group — Haitians — has found itself in a position to play an important role in building institutions, starting enterprises and building broad political coalitions with other groups.
The strong organizational basis of the community is evident from the broad array of public and private entities that serve it. To those who have followed the community’s evolution, it has come as not much of a surprise that Haitians in Boston are now beginning to develop themselves into an emerging, local political force. A variety of entrepreneurial activities established in the Haitian population have been highly successful in the Boston area. Activities focusing on food services (catering and restaurants), money transfer, tax preparation, and financial management are among the most common enterprises attracting interest and sustaining success. This is not surprising considering the needs of any recently arrived and rapidly growing population. Haitian entrepreneurs have established businesses through the Boston metro region. It is from Mattapan to Dorchester, on both sides of Blue Hill Avenue, however, where they are in greatest profusion.
Many of the area’s earliest immigrants from Haiti were skilled professionals who went on to become locally prominent lawyers, doctors, and educators. In increasing numbers, Haitian immigrants are working in the region’s health care system, particularly as nurses. One community leader suggests that a visit to any nursing home in the Boston area, would uncover the fact that 75% of those working there are Haitian. Other common areas of employment among Boston’s Haitians include office positions with the high-tech companies located along Route 128, as well as positions as teachers in the area’s elementary and high schools.
The Haitian community in Boston, now almost 50 years old, has adjusted to several waves of immigration, each bringing people with different socio-economic backgrounds, interests, and needs. Members of today’s community include a variety of generations and individuals that have had radically different life experiences, ranging from a 70-year-old man who arrived in the late 1950s to a 10-year-old, third generation child who has never been to Haiti. Finding the common ground among such diverse members of the population is one issue in the community as is another one, dictated at least in part by geography. As Haitians spread throughout the Boston metropolitan area, they are in the process of becoming somewhat economically segmented, with the blue-collar, lower-middle-class population in places like Mattapan or Somerville confronting quite different issues and challenges than the more white-collar, upper-middle-class families in places like Randolph, on the outer fringes of the metropolitan area.
New Jersey
New Jersey is also home to the fourth largest population of Haitians in the United States after Florida, New York and the Boston area. There are several areas of New Jersey which the communities of Haitians live. The largest is in North Jersey where the population is visible around the Essex County
cities of Irvington
, Orange
, East Orange
, Newark
concentrated in the area of Vailsburg. Other areas of North Jersey where a Haitian presence is visible are in Elizabeth
, Bayonne
, and Jersey City
. There is also a growing population in the suburbs of Essex and Union County in West Orange
, Maplewood
, Roselle
and Union. Other growing populations of the Haitian community can be seen in Central and South Jersey specifically in Asbury Park
, Trenton
, Willingboro and the Pleasantville
/Atlantic City
area.
where a very active Haitian student organization is present on campus.
, and some in other areas like Olney, East Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill, and West Philadelphia
. The conservative number of Haitians in Philadelphia is 30,000.
Chicago
There are two elected Haitian-American official in the Chicago area, an alderman in Evanston
, a suburb that straddles the city’s north side where many Haitian immigrants have settled and state senator Kwame Raoul. Lionel Jean-Baptiste, an attorney in private practice, was elected alderman in Evanston on April 3, 2001 becoming the first Haitian-American in the state to hold public office. Of the 8,000 residents in his ward, only about a hundred are Haitian and only about 30 of them registered voters, but that hasn’t stopped Haitians throughout the region from claiming him as their own. Eighty percent of the financing for his campaign came from Haitian donors. Still, the community has had difficulty asserting itself.
Indeed, Illinois’ Haitian population of about 15,000 is much smaller than that of Haitian communities on the East Coast. There are about half a million Haitians in the New York
, New Jersey
and Connecticut
region, about 250,000 in Florida and about 70,000 in Massachusetts. Unlike those states, Illinois’ Haitian community is widely dispersed, with small enclaves of Haitian professionals, middle and working class people and poor, undocumented refugees scattered in small clusters in and around Chicago. There is not a Little Haiti neighborhood here, like in Miami, to act as a voting block.
, Douglas
, Dekalb
, and Clayton
counties. Within those counties, they live, work, and shop in such towns as Lawrenceville
, Smyrna
, Marietta
, Decatur
, Stone Mountain
and Austell. One of the areas of Haitian businesses within this great urban sprawl is on Moreland Avenue in Atlanta proper, where two Haitian-owned businesses face each other in a small shopping center. A number of Haitian businesses are located in Marietta, but not within a close range of each other. In addition, many new Haitians from the Northeast and Florida are relocating to the middle-class area of Gwinnett County in Lawrenceville. This area is establishing itself as the center of Haitian economic development in the Atlanta metropolitan area with a family friendly culture and atmosphere with great schools, parks, and shops.
, the Southfield Freeway, 5 Mile Road and 8 Mile Road. Located within this general area is St. Gerard’s, one of two Roman Catholic churches attended by Detroit’s Haitians. Sacred Heart, the other, is located closer to downtown Detroit. Also not far from downtown, on Ferry Street in Detroit’s museum district near Wayne State University
, is another key institution of the Haitian community, the Espoir Center for Caribbean Arts and Culture.
Washington, D.C.
Haitians in the metropolitan Washington area are found in the city and in outlying areas in Virginia
and Maryland
. Although Washington’s Haitians are scattered within the region, the single location with the heaviest concentration of Haitian-Americans is the suburban area of Silver Spring
, Langley Park
and Hyattsville, Maryland
. As evidence of this fact, not only are such Haitian institutions as Yon-Yon’s catering business, but also one can occasional hear spoken Creole in shops and stores in this part of Montgomery County
and in nearby Prince George's County
.
overcrowded with at least 160 passengers left 82 dead. Some of the deceased were eaten by sharks say the survivors. In May 2009, similarly, nine Haitian migrants were killed when a boat loaded with approximately 30 passengers capsized. 124 Haitian migrants were repatriated to Haiti after attempting to reach the United States. The U.S. coast guard reported that a 60 metres (196.9 ft) boat was intercepted at the end of July 2009. Approximately 200 Haitian migrants were on board a ship which capsized on Tuesday July 28, 2009 killing at least 11. The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 113 survivors in the shallow waters off the Turks and Caicos Islands
coastline. Reports say that migrants may pay up to $500 to brokers for an opportunity to travel in these boats. The vessel had launched about three days ago. The ship hit a reef as they as they steered away from a police vessel in an attempt to hide. The injured are being cared for in an Caribbean Islands hospital. Lt-Cdr Matthew Moorlag of the US Coast Guard reported that approximately over 100 are illegal immigrants
.
, for linguistic and religious reasons. In coming to Canada, professional Haitians often had to bypass a Duvalier law forbidding them to leave Haiti. They frequently were forced to flee Haiti with false documents and with no legal proof of identity. Upon arrival in Canada they would declare their status as political refugees. The trend of French-speaking Haitian immigrants to Canada was to settle in Quebec—95% of them. By 1965, some 2,000 Haitians had arrived. The period covering the late 1960 through the 1970s saw a dramatic change in both the volume and background of Haitian immigrants. This was the beginning of the massive exodus in response to the Duvalier regime. Haitians were drawn to Canada because of its tolerant immigration laws - foreign visitors, arriving with only a tourist visas, could later apply for landed immigrant status while in Canada. Canada also held an Eden
-like quality for the Haitians, an image painted by friends already in Quebec who sent reports home that employment was abundant and well-paid. From 1973 to 1976 an average of approximately 3,000 Haitians were admitted to Canada each year, with a peak of 4,750 in 1974. The settlement of Haitians in Canada by the end of the exodus was estimated to have reached 45,070, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. 75 000 people born in Haiti arrived in Quebec between the years of 1961 and 2006 according to the community organization Maison d'Haiti based in Montreal
.
Michaëlle Jean
, the former Governor General of Canada
, is a Haitian immigrant who came to Canada with her family at the age of 11.
The Haitians of professional backgrounds received warm welcome in their new home. Their expertise was needed and they found work right away. Most had a level of education that was higher than that of the average Québécois. At the time, the medical, educational and civil service sectors of Quebec society were expanding. Haitians were in demand and filled a gap in the labour force.
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, United States, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
(mainly in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and Cancun
Cancún
Cancún is a city of international tourism development certified by the UNWTO . Located on the northeast coast of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico, more than 1,700 km from Mexico City, the Project began operations in 1974 as Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR Cancún is a city of...
), Canada (primarily Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
) and Bahamas. They also live in other countries like France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, French Antilles, the Turks and Caicos, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Cote d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, and French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
.
In the United States alone there are an estimated 1.2 million Haitians, not including illegals plus 200,000 in Canada and an estimated 1,000,000 in the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. The Haitian community in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
numbers about 90,000, and up to 80,000 Haitians now live in the Bahamas. A UN envoy in October 2007 found racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
against blacks in general, and Haitians in particular, to be "rampant" in every segment of Dominican society. Discrimination against Dominicans that work in Haiti exist but is "minimal". The administration of President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
administration has made Haiti a priority in the hemisphere, reviewing immigration
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
policy.
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, an immigrant from Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue
The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...
(present-day Haiti), founded the first nonindigenous settlement in what is now Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. The State of Illinois and City of Chicago declared du Sable the Founder of Chicago on October 26, 1968.
In January 2010, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
announced that Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
will consider fast-tracking immigration
Immigration to Canada
Immigration to Canada is the process by which people migrate to Canada to reside permanently in the country. The majority of these individuals become Canadian citizens. After 1947, domestic immigration law and policy went through major changes, most notably with the Immigration Act, 1976, and the...
to help Haitian earthquake refugees. US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st...
announced that the estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Haitians "not legally in the United States" as of January 12, 2010, would be granted a form of asylum called temporary protected status
Temporary protected status
Temporary protected status is a temporary immigration status to the United States, granted to eligible nationals of designated countries.In 1990, as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 , P.L...
(TPS). Thousands of Haiti earthquake survivors, including Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of earthquake, could be relocated to the US. Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
is offering parcels of land – even an entire region if they come en masse – to people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.
There is a significant Haitian population in South Florida
South Florida metropolitan area
The South Florida metropolitan area, also known as the Miami metropolitan area, and designated the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area by the U.S...
, specifically the Miami enclave of Little Haiti
Little Haiti
Little Haiti or La Petite Haïti, and traditionally known as Lemon City, is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida, United States known as a traditional center for Haitian immigrants, and Francophone culture in the city.-Lemon City, early farming days:...
. New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
has many historic ties to Haiti that date back to the Haitian Revolution. New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, especially in Flatbush
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
, East Flatbush and Springfield Gardens, also has a thriving émigré community with the second largest population of Haitians of any state in the nation. There are also large and active Haitian communities in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Spring Valley
Spring Valley, New York
Spring Valley, incorporated on July 9, 1902 is a village spanning the Town of Ramapo and Town of Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Nanuet; east of Airmont and Monsey; south of Hillcrest and west of West Nyack...
(New York), New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Washington D.C., Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, Georgia (USA)
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. There are also large Haitian communities in Montreal, Quebec, Paris, France, Havana, Cuba, San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
and Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
.
Anténor Firmin
Anténor Firmin
Joseph Auguste Anténor Firmin , better known as simply Anténor Firmin, was a Haitian anthropologist, journalist, and politician. Firmin is best known for his book De l'Égalité des Races Humaines , which was published as a rebuttal to French writer Count Arthur de Gobineau's work Essai sur...
was a 19th century Haitian anthropologist, perhaps the first black anthropologist and an early writer of négritude
Négritude
Négritude is a literary and ideological movement, developed by francophone black intellectuals, writers, and politiciansin France in the 1930s by a group that included the future Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor, Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, and the Guianan Léon Damas.The Négritude...
, who influenced 20th century American anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits
Melville J. Herskovits
Melville Jean Herskovits was an American anthropologist who firmly established African and African American studies in American academia. The son of Jewish immigrants, he obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago in 1923 and obtained his Master's and Ph.D...
.
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation, from 2005 to 2010....
, the former Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
, was a refugee from Haiti who came to Canada in 1968 at age 11.
Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an immigrants have constituted a very visible segment of American and Canadian society, dating back to before the independence of Haiti from France
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic...
in 1804. Haiti's proximity to the United States, and its status as a free black republic in the years before the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, have contributed to this relationship. Many influential early American settlers and black freemen, including Jean Baptiste Point du Sable and W. E. B. du Bois, were of Haitian origin.
In modern times, large-scale emigration from Haiti is mostly because they have been steadily migrating in significant numbers to the United States since the late 1950s—early 1960s, soon after François Duvalier
François Duvalier
François Duvalier was the President of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. Duvalier first won acclaim in fighting diseases, earning him the nickname "Papa Doc" . He opposed a military coup d'état in 1950, and was elected President in 1957 on a populist and black nationalist platform...
(“Papa Doc”) became president of Haiti. The political repression that characterized the Duvalier period forced large numbers of Haitians to seek safer harbor in the United States. Sustained political oppression, economic hardship, and lack of opportunity continued to drive contingents of Haitian immigrants out of their homeland all throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s (Zéphir 1996, 2001; Catanese 1999).
Haitian immigration persists to the present day, as evidenced in the numerous reports of major news networks, such as those of CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
or the New York Times, about the boat people disembarking on the Florida shores as recently as October 2002. One The combination of push and pull factors led Haitians to cross the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
, by plane or by boat, legally or illegally, in order to reach the shores of America, the perceived land of opportunity, to begin new lives. An examination of the records of the Census Bureau as well as those of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) allows for reasonable inferences about the size of the legal Haitian population currently residing in the United States. However, estimates provided by community leaders who offer assistance to the illegal population as well suggest that the actual number of the Haitian diaspora is higher than that recorded in government documents. In short, there is good reason to believe that the Haitian diaspora in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
exceeds 850,000, and according to community leaders may be close to 1 million.
Haitian community in the country, with an estimated 329,883 of the 694,123 Haitians nationwide. And their status as one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups is reflected in their political gains.
Florida boasts two Haitian-American state lawmakers, and another recently served as secretary of health under former Gov. Jeb Bush, who actively courted the community's votes. In Chicago, Kwame Raoul
Kwame Raoul
Kwame Raoul is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 13th district since his appointment to fill the seat vacated by Barack Obama in 2004...
, the son of Haitian émigrés, now fills Sen. Barack Obama's former state Senate seat. And Pierre-Richard Prosper
Pierre-Richard Prosper
Pierre-Richard Prosper is an American lawyer, prosecutor and former government official. He served as the second United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues under President George W...
, the son of Haitian doctors, served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes after he was nominated by President Bush in January 2001. He ended his term in 2005.
Under heavy lobbying by the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus and some Republicans, Congress last month enacted the HOPE Act, and President Bush signed it. The act provides duty-free imports for some Haitian textiles. The Bush administration also spared Haiti some of the deep aid cuts that hit other Latin American nations.
The Congressional Black Caucus
Congressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus is an organization representing the black members of the United States Congress. Membership is exclusive to blacks, and its chair in the 112th Congress is Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.-Aims:...
has long been Haiti's strongest advocate, urging more economic aid and criticizing the lack of U.S. support for former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
, ousted in 2004 amid a violent uprising. And after the elections last November, Democrats active on Haiti issues now hold key posts.
Michigan Rep. John Conyers
John Conyers
John Conyers, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1965 . He is a member of the Democratic Party...
heads the Judiciary Committee, giving him a key say on immigration and refugee matters. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York now chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which steers U.S. trade policy, among other matters. One member of that committee is U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek
Kendrick Meek
Kendrick Brett Meek is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for from 2003 to 2011. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2010 Senate election for the seat of Mel Martinez, but he lost in a three way race to Republican Marco Rubio along with Independent Charlie Crist.-Early life,...
of Miami, who is traveling to Haiti today to discuss immigration issues with President René Préval
René Préval
René Garcia Préval is a Haitian politician and agronomist who was the President of the Republic of Haiti from 14 May 2006 to 14 May 2011. He previously served as President from February 7, 1996, to February 7, 2001, and as Prime Minister from February 1991 to October 11, 1991.-Early life and...
and the U.S. ambassador in Port-au-Prince.
New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
New York City has the largest concentration of Haitians in the United States as well as the oldest established Haitian communities of the country. The conservative estimate of the legal Haitian population in the New York City Metropolitan Area, as recorded by INS is approximately 156,000. However, community leaders and directors of community centers, who come in constant contact with the illegal population, strongly believe that the actual number is closer to 400,000. This number includes the non-immigrant (temporary visitors, students, temporary workers and trainees) and undocumented entrants, as well as the legal population who does not bother to fill out the census forms for a variety of reasons. Moreover, the New York City Haitian population represents a very heterogeneous group, reflecting the various strata of Haitian society. Members of the middle class started migrating during the U.S. occupation in the 1920s and 1930s; at the time they established their enclaves in HarlemHarlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, where they mingled with African Americans and other Caribbean immigrants who were contributing to the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
. Significant waves followed exponentially during the Duvalier
François Duvalier
François Duvalier was the President of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. Duvalier first won acclaim in fighting diseases, earning him the nickname "Papa Doc" . He opposed a military coup d'état in 1950, and was elected President in 1957 on a populist and black nationalist platform...
era that started in 1957 and ended in 1986 with the ousting of Baby Doc. These waves were more heterogeneous than previous ones, as no single class of Haitians was immune from the Duvaliers’ dictatorship. To date, cohorts of Haitians continue to come to New York, many being sent for by relatives already established in the city.
Haitians reside in all the boroughs.
BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
The largest communities are found in Brooklyn where the legal population is placed at approximately 88,763, and in Queens where the number of Haitians is believed to be around 40,000. Members of the community who are of working-class background tend to establish their residence in Brooklyn, primarily in the neighborhoods of FlatbushFlatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
, Crown Heights
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....
, East Flatbush
East Flatbush, Brooklyn
East Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 17 Though the borders of East Flatbush are highly subjective, its northern border is roughly at Empire Boulevard and East New York Avenue east of East 91st Street, its southern...
, and Canarsie
Canarsie, Brooklyn
Canarsie is a neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, United States. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18....
; many are apartment dwellers many homes in the area are duplexes and triplexes. Middle-class
Haitians who choose to stay in Brooklyn own brownstone homes in the Park Slope
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Park Slope is a neighborhood in western Brooklyn, New York City's most populous borough. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and 15th Street to the south, though other definitions are sometimes offered. Generally...
area and single family homes in the Midwood
Midwood, Brooklyn
Midwood is a neighborhood in the south central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, New York, USA, roughly halfway between Prospect Park and Coney Island. The neighborhood is within Community District 14...
section.
QueensQueensQueens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
Generally speaking, Haitians themselves consider the majority of their compatriots living in Queens to be mostly middle class. Members of this group enjoy ownership of their homes or cooperative apartments in the neighborhoods of Cambria HeightsCambria Heights, Queens
Cambria Heights is a middle-class neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Springfield Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, the Elmont, Nassau County border on the east, Queens Village to the north, St. Albans to the west, and...
, Queens Village
Queens Village, Queens
Queens Village is mostly a residential neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens.The Queens Village Post Office serves the ZIP codes of 11427 , 11428 , and 11429...
, Springfield Gardens
Springfield Gardens, Queens
Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton & Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to the west by Farmers Boulevard...
, and Jamaica
Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...
. Less privileged Haitians settle in the working-class neighborhoods of Rosedale
Rosedale, Queens
Rosedale is a suburban neighborhood in Queens. The neighborhood is on the Nassau County, New York - Queens border and is part of Queens Community Board 13.- History :...
; generally members of the professional community live in the more affluent section of Holliswood
Holliswood, Queens
Holliswood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Holliswood is in east central Queens bounded by the Grand Central Parkway to the north, Francis Lewis Boulevard to the east, Hillside Avenue to the south and 188th Street on the west. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community...
, and some move to the adjacent counties of Nassau
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
and Suffolk
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
which are parts of Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
.
Other areas
In ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, a small concentration of working-class Haitians (7%) congregates on the Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
and Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. Some reside along Cathedral Parkway and in Washington Heights
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on Manhattan island by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the...
. Very few Haitians (less than 1%) establish their niches in the Bronx. In this discussion, it is also important to recall that Haitians have established communities in the neighboring counties of Westchester
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
and Rockland
Rockland County, New York
Rockland County is a suburban county 15 miles to the northwest of Manhattan and part of the New York City Metropolitan Area, in the U.S. state of New York. It is the southernmost county in New York west of the Hudson River, and the smallest county in New York outside of New York City. The...
that are included in the Greater New York Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as in the city of Bridgeport
Bridgeport
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut.Bridgeport may also refer to:-Places:In Canada:* Bridgeport, Nova ScotiaIn the United States:* Bridgeport, Alabama* Bridgeport, California, in Mono County...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. In fact, Spring Valley
Spring Valley, New York
Spring Valley, incorporated on July 9, 1902 is a village spanning the Town of Ramapo and Town of Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Nanuet; east of Airmont and Monsey; south of Hillcrest and west of West Nyack...
in Rockland County has a relatively large segment of the New York population, estimated at close to 20,000. In Westchester County the city of Mt. Vernon has a small but significant Haitian community.
Ethnic visibility
The sheer number of Haitians in New York makes them a highly visible ethnic community. In their ethnic neighborhoods, Haitians have managed to visibly recreate the cultural habits of their homeland with the establishment of many ethnic businesses, such as music shops, grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, bars, beauty and barber shops, travel agencies, shipping companies, money transfer companies, and a hodgepodge of other businesses, which prominently display their allegiances to their native country. Those are found all along Flatbush, Church, and Nostrand Avenues, as well as along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn; on Linden, Farmers and Francis Lewis Boulevards, and Jamaica and Hillside Avenues in Queens. They are easily recognizable since many display signs written both in English and Haitian Creole (sometimes in FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
), such as Yoyo Fritaille, Le Manoir, Le Viconte, Haiti Parcel & Cargo Inc., and Bakery Creole. On intensely hot days, passersby strolling along these avenues and boulevards have their nostrils filled with the aromas of fried meats and plantains, and their ears with rhythms of Sweet Micky
Sweet Micky
Michel Joseph Martelly , also known by his stage name "Sweet Micky", is a Haitian politician, former musician and businessman, currently the incumbent President of Haiti....
, Konpa, Zin
Zin
Zin may refer to:*Zin, Afghanistan, a town in Afghanistan*Zin Desert, in the Sinai*Wadi Zin, a wadi in the Negev desert, that flows to the Dead Sea*Zinfandel, a variety of red grape commonly used to make wine...
, T-Vice, CaRiMi, Tabou Combo, and Boukman Eksperyans
Boukman Eksperyans
Boukman Eksperyans is a mizik rasin band from the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The band derives its name from Dutty Boukman, a vodou priest who led a religious ceremony in 1791 that is widely considered the start of the Haitian Revolution...
, to name some of the most celebrated musical groups and bands. Animated conversations in Haitian Creole can be heard, as members of the community “hang out” in those shops and businesses to discuss home politics and news, exchange gossip, find out what goes on in the community, and keep alive their various traditions, be they culinary, intellectual, literary, or artistic.
Miami
The legal population of Miami-Dade County, FloridaMiami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...
, based on government records, is approximately 100,000. However, when one factors in the attested underrepresentation of the Census data, as well as the number of illegal immigrants, there is good reason to believe that community leaders and technocrats who work with the Haitian community are not wrong to place Haitian population at over 200,000. Miami is an interesting city in that it continuously replenishes itself with Haitian immigrants, in addition to a host of other ethnic groups from the Caribbean and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. On the one hand, a large contingent of Haitians may have arrived illegally to Miami. Haitian people seeking political asylum and/or economic opportunity have been steadily pouring onto the southern Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
shores since the early 1970s.
Little HaitiLittle HaitiLittle Haiti or La Petite Haïti, and traditionally known as Lemon City, is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida, United States known as a traditional center for Haitian immigrants, and Francophone culture in the city.-Lemon City, early farming days:...
Haitians have established themselves in the Edison/Little River area of Miami, which eventually came to be referred to as Little Haiti. Once they are able, some end up moving out of Little Haiti to the neighboring municipality of North Miami, where a relatively large segment of Haitian immigrants of lower middle-class background relocates. On the other hand, Miami is also experiencing another wave of Haitian immigration, this time coming from the Northeast United States (New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
), the Midwest (Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
), and Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada. This particular group of Haitians is composed mostly of middle-class individuals who, having worked assiduously for many years, have been able to save money and profit from the sale of their homes in order to relocate to Miami, where the cost of living is lower than that of Boston and New York and where the tropical weather and lifestyle are reminiscent of those of their native Haiti. This class of Haitians live in the middle-class sections of Miami Shores, North Miami Beach, El Portal
El Portal, Florida
El Portal is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The village name is derived from the Spanish phrase for "the gate," after two wooden gates that once stood as a gateway to the village. The population was 2,505 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S...
, Miami Gardens, and the Southwest neighborhoods of Kendall
Kendall, Florida
Kendall is a suburban neighborhood of metropolitan Miami, Florida, United States. As of the 2000 census, the area had a total population of 75,226....
and Coral Gables.
Irrespective of the presence of middle-class Haitians, Miami is considered the city that received (and continues to receive) the largest segment of lower-class Haitians, consisting of poor peasants from andeyò (countryside) and urban dwellers who were roaming the streets in search of lavi (life). Many of these Haitians found new lives in the Edison/Little River section of Miami, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, which the Whites deserted in the 1970s. Soon after, this area became known as Little Haiti, and is now one of the most recognizable Haitian communities in the United States. From north to south, Little Haiti extends from 84th Street to 36th Street; from west to east, it is ten blocks wide, stretching from 6th Ave, NW to 4th Ave, NE. It is crossed by two major north-south axes: Miami Avenue, and Second Avenue NE renamed Avenue Morrisseau-Leroy after the revered Haitian writer who championed the cause of Haitian Creole in literature, and who spent the later years of his life in Miami until his death in the late summer of 1998. The main thoroughfares that cross east/west are 36th, 54th, 62nd, and 79th Streets. Estimates of the population of Little Haiti vary from 40,000 to 55,000. Little Haiti is also considered one of the poorest areas of Miami-Dade County. The following figures were released by the Edison/Little River Neighborhood Planning Program (1994–96): The per capita income is $5,693, the median household income is $14,142, and close to half the population lives below poverty level. City government efforts are currently underway to revitalize the neighborhood, by creating long-term economic development, and improving housing and infrastructure. The City of Miami has established in Little Haiti a neighborhood service center (along with others throughout the metropolitan area), known as Neighborhood Enhancement Teams (NET) to address the social problems of the community.
DelrayDelray Beach, FloridaDelray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,020. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S...
Delray Beach, Florida, has become the US town with the largest percentage Haitian population in the United States. More than just sheer numbers, the Haitian community also grew geographically, economically, and socially; extending itself while maintaining a relatively low profile in the community it has adopted as its own. This growth has paralleled the incredible economic turnaround of Delray Beach as a municipality. It represents the awakening of a community which for a long time has lived in the shadow of its larger neighbor in Miami. The impressive growth has also brought about some strains within the Haitian community and in the community’s interactions with the other residents of Delray Beach.Ethnic visibility
Most of the Haitian businesses in Little Haiti are found along the major arterials mentioned above; like those of New York, they are unmistakably Haitian with names such as Bèl Fouchèt, Piman Bouk, Les Cousins, Libreri Mapou, and Cayard Market. They include restaurants, grocery stores, dry cleaning establishments, tailor and shoe repair shops, shipping and money transfer companies, botanicas (shops that sell mostly religious/spiritual objects, including Vodou artifacts), among others. Little Haiti is the heart of the Haitian community of Miami.BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
Boston has attracted significant numbers of immigrants from Haiti for over 40 years. This arrival over time of Haitians in Boston corresponded to several waves of migration that have come to the United States from the CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
country since the 1950s. The largest of these migratory waves in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s flowed into the metropolitan New York area. Since the late 1970s, the largest destination has expanded to include South Florida.
To characterize Boston-area Haitians as simply a smaller-scale version of the migration to New York or to South Florida is misleading. Since their arrival in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
's hub, Haitians in Boston have adopted some unique traits of their new home and have adapted quite well to that new homeland. And today, as one of the Boston metropolitan area’s largest immigrant groups — perhaps its largest group — they are becoming key players in shaping that area's future.
Haitians have settled in various sections within the Boston city limits and its surrounding area. The location and diffusion of the population has mirrored the growth of the community. Highly concentrated in the city at first, Boston’s Haitians slowly expanded to neighboring municipalities and, most recently, to far-flung suburbs. There are, for example, significant numbers of the population in Brockton
Brockton, Massachusetts
Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 93,810 in the 2010 Census. Brockton, along with Plymouth, are the county seats of Plymouth County...
, Randolph, Massachusetts
Randolph, Massachusetts
The Town of Randolph is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 32,112. Randolph adopted a new charter effective January 2010 providing for a council-manager form of government instead of the traditional town meeting...
, and Malden, Massachusetts
Malden, Massachusetts
Malden is a suburban city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 59,450 at the 2010 census. In 2009 Malden was ranked as the "Best Place to Raise Your Kids" in Massachusetts by Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine.-History:...
. The area of greatest Haitian concentration in Boston proper is in Mattapan, followed by Dorchester
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated and is today endearingly nicknamed "Dot" by its residents. Dorchester, including a large...
, Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Massachusetts
Hyde Park is a dissolved municipality and currently the southernmost neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Hyde Park is home to a diverse range of people, housing types and social groups. It is an urban location with suburban characteristics...
and Roxbury
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868...
.
Blue Hill Avenue is an important Haitian thoroughfare. The street runs through Roxbury and Dorchester, and along its last section, in Mattapan, is Boston's Haitian ‘downtown.’ There, the street is dotted with several Haitian businesses. Many Haitian churches and organizations have their headquarters along Blue Hill Avenue also.
On the north bank of the Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
, Haitians settled in Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
in the 1950s and 60s. The population in this area now numbers approximately 7,500. Interestingly, although Haitians did not arrive in nearby Somerville
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
until the early 1990s, the community there today is almost as large as the one in Cambridge. Currently, however, increasing costs of living in Cambridge and Somerville are beginning to drive out people of modest means. The result has been the relocation of many of these area’s Haitians to the more affordable neighboring towns of Revere
Revere, Massachusetts
Revere is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and located approximately from downtown Boston. It is named after the American patriot Paul Revere. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 51,755.- History :...
, Everett
Everett, Massachusetts
Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, near Boston. The population was 41,667 at the 2010 census.Everett is the last city in the United States with a bicameral legislature, which is composed of a seven-member Board of Aldermen and an 18-member Common Council...
, and Lynn
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
.
Ethnic visibility
In the mind of most Americans, Boston is a city of politics, and politics in Boston is something dominated by its IrishIrish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
population, particularly the legendary Kennedy family
Kennedy family
In the United States, the phrase Kennedy family commonly refers to the family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald that was prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the...
. In today’s city, however, where the traditionally powerful white population has recently become a minority, another immigrant group — Haitians — has found itself in a position to play an important role in building institutions, starting enterprises and building broad political coalitions with other groups.
The strong organizational basis of the community is evident from the broad array of public and private entities that serve it. To those who have followed the community’s evolution, it has come as not much of a surprise that Haitians in Boston are now beginning to develop themselves into an emerging, local political force. A variety of entrepreneurial activities established in the Haitian population have been highly successful in the Boston area. Activities focusing on food services (catering and restaurants), money transfer, tax preparation, and financial management are among the most common enterprises attracting interest and sustaining success. This is not surprising considering the needs of any recently arrived and rapidly growing population. Haitian entrepreneurs have established businesses through the Boston metro region. It is from Mattapan to Dorchester, on both sides of Blue Hill Avenue, however, where they are in greatest profusion.
Many of the area’s earliest immigrants from Haiti were skilled professionals who went on to become locally prominent lawyers, doctors, and educators. In increasing numbers, Haitian immigrants are working in the region’s health care system, particularly as nurses. One community leader suggests that a visit to any nursing home in the Boston area, would uncover the fact that 75% of those working there are Haitian. Other common areas of employment among Boston’s Haitians include office positions with the high-tech companies located along Route 128, as well as positions as teachers in the area’s elementary and high schools.
The Haitian community in Boston, now almost 50 years old, has adjusted to several waves of immigration, each bringing people with different socio-economic backgrounds, interests, and needs. Members of today’s community include a variety of generations and individuals that have had radically different life experiences, ranging from a 70-year-old man who arrived in the late 1950s to a 10-year-old, third generation child who has never been to Haiti. Finding the common ground among such diverse members of the population is one issue in the community as is another one, dictated at least in part by geography. As Haitians spread throughout the Boston metropolitan area, they are in the process of becoming somewhat economically segmented, with the blue-collar, lower-middle-class population in places like Mattapan or Somerville confronting quite different issues and challenges than the more white-collar, upper-middle-class families in places like Randolph, on the outer fringes of the metropolitan area.
New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
New Jersey is also home to the fourth largest population of Haitians in the United States after Florida, New York and the Boston area. There are several areas of New Jersey which the communities of Haitians live. The largest is in North Jersey where the population is visible around the Essex CountyEssex County, New Jersey
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 783,969, ranking it third in the state after Bergen County and Middlesex County; Essex County's population has declined from 786,147 as of the bureau's...
cities of Irvington
Irvington, New Jersey
Irvington is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 53,926, a decline of 11.2% from the 60,695 residents enumerated in the 2000 Census.-Geography:...
, Orange
Orange, New Jersey
The City of Orange is a city and township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 30,134...
, East Orange
East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange is a city in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the city's population 64,270, making it the state's 20th largest municipality, having dropped 5,554 residents from its population of 69,824 in the 2000 Census, when it was the state's 14th most...
, Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
concentrated in the area of Vailsburg. Other areas of North Jersey where a Haitian presence is visible are in Elizabeth
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
, Bayonne
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
, and Jersey City
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
. There is also a growing population in the suburbs of Essex and Union County in West Orange
West Orange, New Jersey
West Orange is a township in central Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 46,207...
, Maplewood
Maplewood, New Jersey
Maplewood is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 23,867.-History:...
, Roselle
Roselle, New Jersey
Roselle is a Borough located in Union County in the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 21,085....
and Union. Other growing populations of the Haitian community can be seen in Central and South Jersey specifically in Asbury Park
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Asbury Park is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, located on the Jersey Shore and part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 16,116. The city is known for its rich musical history, including its association with...
, Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
, Willingboro and the Pleasantville
Pleasantville, New Jersey
-Local government:Pleasantville operates under the City form of New Jersey municipal government, led by a Mayor and a seven-member City Council. The City Council consists of two members elected from wards to three-year terms, and five members elected at-large to four-year terms in office, all of...
/Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
area.
Ethnic visibility
The visibility of Haitians living in New Jersey especially in North Jersey can be seen in the different businesses such as music shops, grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, bars, beauty and barber shops, travel agencies, tax companies, shipping companies, money transfer companies, and a hodgepodge of other businesses, which display their allegiances to their native country. Those are found all along Main Street and Central Avenue in Orange and East Orange, along Springfield, Stuyvesant and Clinton Avenues in Irvington and along South Orange Avenue in Newark and East Orange. Haitian-American youth are especially visible at collegiate institutions, such as Rutgers UniversityRutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
where a very active Haitian student organization is present on campus.
Philadelphia
Next to the NYC/New Jersey/Connecticut/Massachusetts area, Philadelphia has also become home to a growing number of Haitians. Like many other groups, the lower cost of living in Philadelphia has attracted many immigrants who entered the US through New York. Unlike New York, the community is not centralized. There are large numbers of Haitians in North Philadelphia, NortheastNortheast Philadelphia
Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Northeast and the Great Northeast, is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 Census, the Northeast has a sizable percentage of the city's 1.547 million people — a population of between 300,000 and 450,000,...
, and some in other areas like Olney, East Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill, and West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the southwest, and...
. The conservative number of Haitians in Philadelphia is 30,000.
ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
There are two elected Haitian-American official in the Chicago area, an alderman in EvanstonEvanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, a suburb that straddles the city’s north side where many Haitian immigrants have settled and state senator Kwame Raoul. Lionel Jean-Baptiste, an attorney in private practice, was elected alderman in Evanston on April 3, 2001 becoming the first Haitian-American in the state to hold public office. Of the 8,000 residents in his ward, only about a hundred are Haitian and only about 30 of them registered voters, but that hasn’t stopped Haitians throughout the region from claiming him as their own. Eighty percent of the financing for his campaign came from Haitian donors. Still, the community has had difficulty asserting itself.
Indeed, Illinois’ Haitian population of about 15,000 is much smaller than that of Haitian communities on the East Coast. There are about half a million Haitians in the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
region, about 250,000 in Florida and about 70,000 in Massachusetts. Unlike those states, Illinois’ Haitian community is widely dispersed, with small enclaves of Haitian professionals, middle and working class people and poor, undocumented refugees scattered in small clusters in and around Chicago. There is not a Little Haiti neighborhood here, like in Miami, to act as a voting block.
Atlanta
Presently, there is already a sizable Haitian community in Atlanta. And it is, indeed, growing at a rapid pace. Unlike most other Haitian-American centers, though, Atlanta does not have a central neighborhood where it is located. The community, like the city, is spread out considerably over a large area. To a certain extent this diffusion of the Haitian population has been a hindrance to the community’s ability to organize itself. At this moment, however, the tide seems to be turning, as a number of issues are galvanizing the community and bringing it closer together. Changes in the migration flows of Haitians to Atlanta, awareness of national-scale Haitian-American issues and the approaching bicentennial of Haiti’s independence are all factors contributing toward the solidification of Atlanta’s spread out Haitian population.Ethnic visibility
The Haitian community is spread out over the large, greater metropolitan area of Atlanta. And, because there is no single area within the metropolitan vastness where Haitians have settled, there is no specific Haitian commercial area. Haitians live, work and shop throughout the greater Atlanta area which now includes the surrounding Gwinnett, CobbCobb County, Georgia
Cobb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. Its county seat and largest city is Marietta, which is located in the center of the county. The county was named for Thomas Willis Cobb, who in the early 19th century was a United States representative and senator from Georgia...
, Douglas
Douglas, Georgia
Douglas is a city in Coffee County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,589. Douglas is the county seat of Coffee County and the core city of the Douglas, Georgia Micropolitan Statistical Area which has a population of 48,708 as of the 2008 census...
, Dekalb
DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population of the county was 691,893 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is the city of Decatur. It is bordered to the west by Fulton County and contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta...
, and Clayton
Clayton County, Georgia
Clayton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 236,517. The 2008 Census estimate placed the population at 273,718. The county seat is Jonesboro...
counties. Within those counties, they live, work, and shop in such towns as Lawrenceville
Lawrenceville, Georgia
Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Gwinnett County, Georgia, in the United States. The Census Bureau estimates the 2008 population at 29,258...
, Smyrna
Smyrna, Georgia
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 40,999 people, 18,372 households, and 9,498 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,949.9 people per square mile . There were 19,633 housing units at an average density of 1,412.6 per square mile...
, Marietta
Marietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, United States, and is its county seat.As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 56,579, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs...
, Decatur
Decatur, Georgia
Decatur is a city in, and county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. With a population of 19,335 in the 2010 census, the city is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple zip codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name...
, Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain, Georgia
Stone Mountain is a city in eastern DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The population was 5,802 at the 2010 census. It is an outer suburb of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area.-Geography:...
and Austell. One of the areas of Haitian businesses within this great urban sprawl is on Moreland Avenue in Atlanta proper, where two Haitian-owned businesses face each other in a small shopping center. A number of Haitian businesses are located in Marietta, but not within a close range of each other. In addition, many new Haitians from the Northeast and Florida are relocating to the middle-class area of Gwinnett County in Lawrenceville. This area is establishing itself as the center of Haitian economic development in the Atlanta metropolitan area with a family friendly culture and atmosphere with great schools, parks, and shops.
Detroit
Haitians in the Detroit area are not located in any single neighborhood or part of the city. The greatest concentration of Haitian families, however, is in Northwest Detroit, within an area bounded by Telegraph RoadTelegraph Road (Michigan)
In the U.S. state of Michigan, US Highway 24 , also known as Telegraph Road, is a major north–south state trunkline highway; it is mostly divided highway. The total length is approximately and is signed as US 24 in its entirety...
, the Southfield Freeway, 5 Mile Road and 8 Mile Road. Located within this general area is St. Gerard’s, one of two Roman Catholic churches attended by Detroit’s Haitians. Sacred Heart, the other, is located closer to downtown Detroit. Also not far from downtown, on Ferry Street in Detroit’s museum district near Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
, is another key institution of the Haitian community, the Espoir Center for Caribbean Arts and Culture.
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Haitians in the metropolitan Washington area are found in the city and in outlying areas in VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. Although Washington’s Haitians are scattered within the region, the single location with the heaviest concentration of Haitian-Americans is the suburban area of Silver Spring
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
, Langley Park
Langley Park, Maryland
Langley Park is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Washington, D.C. metro area. It is located inside the Capital Beltway, on the northwest edge of Prince George's County, Maryland, bordering Montgomery County, Maryland....
and Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 17,557 at the 2000 census.- History :The city was named for its founder, Christopher Clark Hyatt. He purchased his first parcel of land in the area in March 1845...
. As evidence of this fact, not only are such Haitian institutions as Yon-Yon’s catering business, but also one can occasional hear spoken Creole in shops and stores in this part of Montgomery County
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...
and in nearby Prince George's County
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
.
Deaths
In the spring of 2007 a sloopSloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
overcrowded with at least 160 passengers left 82 dead. Some of the deceased were eaten by sharks say the survivors. In May 2009, similarly, nine Haitian migrants were killed when a boat loaded with approximately 30 passengers capsized. 124 Haitian migrants were repatriated to Haiti after attempting to reach the United States. The U.S. coast guard reported that a 60 metres (196.9 ft) boat was intercepted at the end of July 2009. Approximately 200 Haitian migrants were on board a ship which capsized on Tuesday July 28, 2009 killing at least 11. The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 113 survivors in the shallow waters off the Turks and Caicos Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.The Turks and...
coastline. Reports say that migrants may pay up to $500 to brokers for an opportunity to travel in these boats. The vessel had launched about three days ago. The ship hit a reef as they as they steered away from a police vessel in an attempt to hide. The injured are being cared for in an Caribbean Islands hospital. Lt-Cdr Matthew Moorlag of the US Coast Guard reported that approximately over 100 are illegal immigrants
Illegal immigration to the United States
An illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....
.
Canada
In the 1950s, the Haitian population in Canada only numbered in the forties. The emigration of Haitians in more substantial numbers began with the bloody dictatorship of Francois Duvalier in the early 1960s. The Haitian diaspora, including all emigrants and their immediate descendants, is estimated to number close to 100,000. Many chose Canada as their new home, specifically QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, for linguistic and religious reasons. In coming to Canada, professional Haitians often had to bypass a Duvalier law forbidding them to leave Haiti. They frequently were forced to flee Haiti with false documents and with no legal proof of identity. Upon arrival in Canada they would declare their status as political refugees. The trend of French-speaking Haitian immigrants to Canada was to settle in Quebec—95% of them. By 1965, some 2,000 Haitians had arrived. The period covering the late 1960 through the 1970s saw a dramatic change in both the volume and background of Haitian immigrants. This was the beginning of the massive exodus in response to the Duvalier regime. Haitians were drawn to Canada because of its tolerant immigration laws - foreign visitors, arriving with only a tourist visas, could later apply for landed immigrant status while in Canada. Canada also held an Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
-like quality for the Haitians, an image painted by friends already in Quebec who sent reports home that employment was abundant and well-paid. From 1973 to 1976 an average of approximately 3,000 Haitians were admitted to Canada each year, with a peak of 4,750 in 1974. The settlement of Haitians in Canada by the end of the exodus was estimated to have reached 45,070, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. 75 000 people born in Haiti arrived in Quebec between the years of 1961 and 2006 according to the community organization Maison d'Haiti based in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation, from 2005 to 2010....
, the former Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
, is a Haitian immigrant who came to Canada with her family at the age of 11.
Quebec
The early Haitian immigrants, those who came between 1960 and 1970, were usually from the Haitian elite. They came from a comfortable life in terms of their social and professional status. Most were doctors, academics, teachers and pursued careers in the liberal professions. In 1965, Canada welcomed 38 Haitians in these fields. In 1966, the number increased to 42. Almost no Haitians of the working class emigrated over the same period.The Haitians of professional backgrounds received warm welcome in their new home. Their expertise was needed and they found work right away. Most had a level of education that was higher than that of the average Québécois. At the time, the medical, educational and civil service sectors of Quebec society were expanding. Haitians were in demand and filled a gap in the labour force.