Lois Lowry's Haiti In Crisis

M. Catherine Maternowska writes a very insightful book on the socioeconomic politics of family planning in Cite Soleil that is both very complete and interesting from the perspective of a student writing his thesis prospectus on a subject that is related to the topic of her book (to a limited extent). Learning about Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, really put the lives of the people living there into perspective, even more so in light of Hurricane Matthew. Maternowska incorporation of history, gender, power, and culture with fertility theory make this an incredible ethnography that recreates how women experience health.

Little is a town is rooted and build on the back bone of Haitians. This city now known as little Haiti was once known as the lemon city continues to face struggled that has placed them as an oppressed society. Many of the residents are oppressed for many reasons ranging from factors such as education, income, and physical power over their community. The Haitian and residents do not hold their power of influence in their community.

Earthquakes have afflicted the world since its inception. The sudden release of energy from volcanoes or displacing of earth plates can result in disasters of extreme magnitude. These usually naturally occurring phenomenon have been responsible from wiping out entire towns throughout history and until today continue to produce major loss of life and infrastructure. It can take years for a city or country to recover from a major event of this kind and when a third world country is involved, the result is usually exponentially worse than in a developed country. In the past decades Japan, Chile and Haiti have suffered the devastation an earthquake produces. This document will concentrate in Haiti, a small country in the Caribbean. On

Imperialism has carved entire continents, destroyed ancient cultures, uprooted millions of people from their ancestral homes, and created an oppressive systems that traps third world countries. In the book “Promises Not Kept”, the author, John Isbister states: “Imperialism shaped today’s third world.” This statement explains how the third world itself is nothing more than the aftermath of imperialism. The best method to demonstrate how imperialism plays out begins with colonization. European empires used this method to spread themselves around the world, strategically expanding their power. A process that created social forces, which are continually felt today, such as poverty and oppression. These empires changed nearly every facet

1492 - Christopher Columbus accidentally lands on present day Haiti and Dominican Republic and conquers the island for Spain,naming the island Hispaniola. 1697 - Spain gives the western part of Hispaniola to France, and the French name it Ayiti. 1801 - Toussaint Louverture (a former slave) becomes the self- proclaimed leader of Haiti and ends slavery 1804 - Haiti becomes independent from France and Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares himself emperor. 1806 - Dessalines is murdered and Haiti is split into a black north and mulatto south 1818-43 - Pierre Boyer unifies the north and south of Haiti, but excludes blacks from power. 1915 - US invades and "monitors" Haiti 1934 - US removes troops, but holds fiscal control for 13 more years 1956

The United States interest in Haiti, as mentioned above, began a huge increase in the first decade of the twentieth century. The extent of U. S. economic penetration was not as great as that of France and Germany, but by 1910 it controlled sixty percent of Haiti’s import industry. Unfortunately, the Haitian banking system did not follow this path and was, at this time, "perilously close to domination by European interests." (Langley, 1982, 70) In an effort to gain more control over Haitian economic affairs, the United States engaged in a battle with France and Germany over the Banque Nationale. Two banks from the U. S. attempted to obtain control of the bank but lost out to a German bank, which proceeded to ally itself

The cause and effects of the Haitian Revolution have played, and continue to play, a major role in the history of the Caribbean. During the time of this rebellion, slavery was a large institution throughout the Caribbean. The success of the sugar and other plantations was based on the large slave labor forces. Without these forces, Saint Domingue, the island with the largest sugar production, and the rest of the Caribbean, would face the threat of losing a profitable industry.

Haiti was once the first black independent republic in the world and the richest island in the Caribbean. Today Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the world. What could have happened to Haiti in almost two hundred years of history? The country experienced repeated civil war and foreign intervention. Haiti is not isolated from the international world. Thus, it was not out of concern for ordinary Haitians that the United States intervened in Haiti. It was out of concern for profit and stability within the United States' own backyard. The purpose of this paper is to show the negative aspect that the United States had played in the government of Haiti.

This passage is from the beginning of the book, and it gives the reader some insight into the complexity of Farmers life and how it almost seems as if he lives in two completely different worlds, poverty-stricken Haiti and upperclass Boston, and enjoys both. It also gives the reader a good description of Farmer’s character by expressing the fact that he would much rather assist the poor and live among them than help those who have never experienced poverty. To express this idea, the writer compared the “pleasant” Boston suburb to “the wasteland of central Haiti” and added that he could tell, just through listening, that Farmer enjoyed Haiti more. This passage also does a great job of setting up the remainder of the book by using dialogue to

59 percent of Haitian live in poverty and do not have their basic necessities. The Giver is a novel that was read as a class and also the article "Haiti in Crisis". In The Giver the people live in a utopia and have a perfect and happy life. The people who live in The Giver's community have a complicated free life and do not have to deal with the world problems. In the article "Haiti in Crisis" by Bryan Brown and Patricia Smith it explains how Haiti is a very unfavorable place and they are trying to rebuild from the horrific things that has happened in their past.

"Two hundred years ago, our precursors in Haiti struck a blow for freedom, which was heard around the world, and across centuries." – Baldwin Spencer

Haiti has long been known for its major export of Haitian migrants in search of a better way of life. It is an exodus that goes back several decades, however with recent times the numbers have increased dramatically. In fact, that numbers of Haitians fleeing Haiti in the early 1990's far exceeds the numbers recorded in earlier years. Between 1972- 1979, some 8,000- 10,000 Haitians arrived in the United States. Compare this number with the 14,443 Haitians interdicted between September 30, 1991 - January 1, 1992. By early 1994, this number totaled over 41,000 (Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, 1994). Economic deprivation has always been the predominant influence for the migrating of Haitians, yet in the

The caribbean is where a small island, contains two countries within its borders and a long history of conflict. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are two different country, with completely different cultures, from religion, to the food they eat, Two countries, with two different, yet correlating stories. A story of conflict is what unites these two countries. This paper will attempt to analyse that story, and answer how this small island came to be divided into two countries, and inhabited by two peoples of such different cultures. This paper will also take a small look at the results of this history, and it’s effects on both countries.

Saint-Domingue, now known as Haiti, was the Pearl of the Antilles. With 40 percent of Britain and France’s imported sugar and 60 percent of the world’s coffee (Klaus) Saint-Domingue was France's most prosperous colony (1). However, because of its massive number of slaves the colony did not last long. The slaves eventually revolted and took over Saint-Domingue and established the nation of Haiti. Edwidge Danticat created an allegory with her short story “A Wall of Fire Rising”.

In 1791 revolution broke out in the French colony of Saint Domingue, later called Haiti. The Haitian Revolution resounded in communities surrounding the Atlantic Ocean. One of the wealthiest European outposts in the New World, the Caribbean island's western third had some of the largest and most brutal slave plantations. Slave laborers cultivated sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton, and they endured horrible death rates, requiring constant infusions of slaves from Africa. In 1789 roughly 465,000 black slaves lived in the French colony on the island, along with fewer than 31,000 whites. In addition, there were about 23,000 free blacks and mixed-race people called gens de couleur, who might own land and accrue wealth but had no political