Haitian Immigration To The United States And Canada

Haiti has a sizeable diaspora, present primarily in the United States, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Canada, France (including its French Caribbean territories), the Bahamas, Brazil and Chile. They also live in other countries like Belgium, Turks and Caicos, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, among others.

In the United States alone, there are an estimated 2,003,000 people of Haitian ancestry, according to the 2010 Census; an estimated 500,000–800,000 Haitians live in the Dominican Republic and there is a Haitian community of about 165,000 in Canada. There are 185,865 Haitians in Chile,https://www.ine.cl/prensa/2020/03/12/seg%C3%BAn-estimaciones-la-cantidad-de-personas-extranjeras-residentes-habituales-en-chile-bordea-los-1-5-millones-al-31-de-diciembre-de-2019 the Haitian community in France numbers about 58,973, and up to 80,000 Haitians now live in the Bahamas.

North America

Particulars

Migration between people from Haiti in various forms to the United States is deeply rooted. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, an immigrant from Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), founded in 1833 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, has a thriving émigré community with the second largest population of Haitians of any state in the nation. There are large and active Haitian communities in Boston; Spring Valley, New York; New Jersey; Washington D.C.; Providence; Georgia; Connecticut and Pennsylvania. There are also large Haitian communities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Paris, France; Havana, Cuba; San Juan and Kingston.

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 and now Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, was a refugee from Haiti who came to Canada in 1968 at age 11.

Haitian 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 the strongman of Haiti. The political repression that characterized Duvalier's regime 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 throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s

Haitian migration peaked in 1981 in conjunction with the Mariel Boatlift from Cuba. While President Carter conducted backdoor negotiations with Fidel Castro to re-seal the Port of Mariel and stem Cuban migration, the same approach did not work with Haiti and in response the newly elected Ronald Regan began the policy of extraterritorial maritime interdiction conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard. This policy continues in force today with the current Secretary of Homeland Security noting, "The Coast Guard maintains a continual presence in the Florida straits and the Caribbean Sea, particularly around Puerto Rico and our maritime approaches, patrolling with air and sea military assets. Any migrant intercepted at sea, regardless of their nationality, will not be permitted to enter the United States. Migrants who do attempt to enter the United States by sea put their lives at incredible risk."

A 2011 article in the Journal of International Migration also considers Haitians "environmental refugees," noting that "the history of colonialization, repressive regimes and longstanding political turmoil in both countries aiti and the Dominican Republicare major contributors to the current
problems of environmental degradation. Major environmental problems on the island are deforestation, soil erosion and insufficient supplies of
potable water.".

Present status in the United States

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. 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.

That the Haitian community in the U.S. is one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups is reflected in its 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. 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 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 urged more economic aid for Haiti and criticized the lack of U.S. support for former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted in 2004 amid a violent uprising.

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 documented 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 undocumented 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 documented residents who do not 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.

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. Upper 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.

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.

In Manhattan, 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 Haitian residents, estimated at 23% of the population. In Westchester County the city of Mt. Vernon has a small but significant Haitian community.

The number of Haitians in New York makes them a highly visible community. In neighborhoods with higher concentration of Haitians the community has managed to establish institutions and businesses such as community centers, churches, music shops, grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, bars, beauty and barber shops, travel agencies, shipping companies, money transfer companies, and a hodgepodge of other enterprises. 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 French), 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, Kompa, 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. During the summer, some musicians perform a parading musical form called Rara in Central Park and Prospect Park.

According to the 2014–2015 English Language Learner Demographic Report published by the NYC Department of Education, 3,031 English Language Learners (ELLs) in K–12 schools in New York City speak Haitian Creole, making it the sixth most common home language of ELLs citywide and the fifth most common home language of Brooklyn ELLs. Because of the large population of Haitian Creole-speaking students within NYC schools, various organizations have been established to respond to the needs of these students. For example, Flanbwayan and Gran Chimen Sant Kiltirèl, both located in Brooklyn, New York, aim to promote education and Haitian culture through advocacy, literacy projects, and cultural/artistic endeavors. Other educators have called for a culturally relevant pedagogy to better meet the needs of Haitian Creole-speaking ELLs. For instance, noting the intrinsic value of cultural background knowledge on reading comprehension, Kristen L. Oscarsson employed Haitian folktales with a group of 4th and 5th grade Haitian students in the U.S. as a method of improving their literacy rates. At the end of her 12-week study, most of her students' reading skills had increased at least one grade level, with some increasing two or two and a half grade levels.

Miami

The documented Haitian-American population of Miami-Dade County, 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 undocumented 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. A large contingent of Haitians may be living in Miami undocumented. Haitian people seeking political asylum and/or economic opportunity have been steadily arriving in Florida shores since the early 1970s.

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 City and Boston), the Midwest ( Chicago) and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This particular group of Haitians is composed mostly of middle-class individuals who relocate to Florida due to the weather and its proximity to Haiti. These newer residents often live in the middle-class neighborhoods such as Miami Shores, North Miami Beach, El Portal and Miami Gardens. A 2021 article in the Journal of Haitian Studies suggests that " suggests that members of the Haitian diaspora living and working in the ethnic enclave of Little Haiti utilize diasporic transnationalism in their everyday lives as a means of maintaining culture and as a method of resistance against marginalization locally and globally."

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. Many of these Haitians found new lives in the Edison/Little River section of Miami, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. 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.

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.

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.

Haitians have settled in 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 and Malden. 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. 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. 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.

In the mind of most Americans, Boston is a city of politics, and politics in Boston is dominated by its Irish 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 unsurprising that Haitians in Boston are 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, attracting interest and sustaining success. These enterprises cater to the needs of any recently arrived and rapidly growing population. Haitian entrepreneurs have established businesses through the Boston metro region. Mattapan to Dorchester, on both sides of Blue Hill Avenue, 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 include office positions with the high-tech companies along Route 128, as well as positions as teachers in 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 metropolitan area, they are 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

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases