Caribbean Crossing: African Americans and the Haitian Emigration Movement

Shortly after winning its independence in 1804, Haiti’s leaders realized

that if their nation was to survive, it needed to build strong diplomatic bonds

with other nations. Haiti’s first leaders looked especially hard at the United

States, which had a sizeable free black population that included vocal

champions of black emigration and colonization. In the 1820s, President

Jean-Pierre Boyer helped facilitate a migration of thousands of black Americans

to Haiti with promises of ample land, rich commercial prospects, and most

importantly, a black state. His ideas struck a chord with both blacks and

whites in America. Journalists and black community leaders advertised emigration

to Haiti as a way for African Americans to resist discrimination and show the

world that the black race could be an equal on the world stage, while

antislavery whites sought to support a nation founded by liberated slaves.

Black and white businessmen were excited by trade potential, and racist whites

viewed Haiti has a way to export the race problem that plagued America.

By the end of the decade, black Americans migration to Haiti began to ebb as

emigrants realized that the Caribbean republic wasn’t the black Eden they’d

anticipated. Caribbean Crossing

documents the rise and fall of the campaign for black emigration to Haiti,

drawing on a variety of archival sources to share the rich voices of the

emigrants themselves. Using letters, diary accounts, travelers’ reports,

newspaper articles, and American, British, and French consulate records, Sara

Fanning profiles the emigrants and analyzes the diverse motivations that fueled

this unique early moment in both American and Haitian history.