This chapter considers the question of prejudice and ethnic consciousness by exploring anti-Haitian slurs and insults uttered amid arguments and public disturbances in 1930s border communities. The rise of Trujillo corresponded with a modest increase in ethnically charged public incidents. By 1930, Haitian ethnicity was becoming increasingly stigmatized as the act of calling someone Haitian began to appear in courtroom records of fights and public scandal. While ethnic Haitians were fully accorded the rights of residency through the 1920s, they were generally considered an ethno-national other. Despite their status as citizens according to the Dominican constitution, locally born ethnic Haitians were seen as belonging to a foreign ethnic type. From the testimonies of ethnic Haitians, it is clear that they too considered themselves an unmistakably distinct ethnic identity. Cases of “public scandal” involving ethnic Haitians record the occasionally profane and offensive ways in which Haitian ethnicity became increasingly stigmatized. Utterances such as haitiano come mierda, haitiano come gente, or negro del diablo, offer rare glimpses into popular anti-Haitian sentiment. While ethnic tension increased during the 1930s, until 1937 ethnic Haitians sometimes received protection from local officials. These contradictions exemplify the changing nature of the pre-1937 border.

Drawing on institutional records and oral testimonies, Chapter 4 shows that racial beliefs and prejudices did not just exist among the educated classes, but were present also among ordinary Italians. It reconstructs the difficulties that the children had to face as they entered adolescence in the late 1950s in a society that was not particularly kind to people who looked “different” or did not profess the dominant religion. This chapter describes the attempts on the part of some social workers to shelter these children from social hostility and marginalization in the communities in which they lived, and the rather mixed results of these attempts. The difficulties of adoption are also examined, along with stories of mothers who kept the children, and who were stigmatized along with them.