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Afro-American Emigration to Haiti During the American Civil War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

William Seraille
William Seraille*
Affiliation:
New York City, New York
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Extract

By 1860, racism had taken its toll on the psyche of thousands of free blacks. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, the South's demands for the extension of slavery and the re-opening of the African slave trade, the Dred Scott decision of 1857 and the denial of suffrage, the right to hold public office, the right to be a juror, policeman or judge convinced thousands of free blacks to seek dignity away from the country's shores. Liberia, which had attracted Afro-Americans since the 1820's, was too far away and considered unhealthy for expatriates. But Haiti, jewel of the Caribbean, was near and most importantly, she beckoned to her northern brothers to come south.

In 1859 Fabre Geffrard, military hero of the wars with the Dominican Republic, overthrew the despotic regime of Emperor Faustin I and formed a republican form of government with himself as president for life. Haiti needed to be developed. President Geffrard looked to America's black agriculturists to replace the thousands of Haitians killed in the nation's wars and revolutions.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , October 1978 , pp. 185 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1978

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