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Visions of a Modern Nation: Haiti at the World's

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St. Hubert, Hadassah
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 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

VISIONS OF A MODERN NATION: HAITI AT THE WORLD’S FAIRS

By

Hadassah St. Hubert

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Faculty

of the University of Miami
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Coral Gables, Florida

August 2018
 ©2018
Hadassah St. Hubert
All Rights Reserved
 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

VISIONS OF A MODERN NATION: HAITI AT THE

WORLD’S FAIRS

Hadassah St. Hubert

Approved:

________________ _________________
Kate Ramsey, Ph.D. Eduardo Elena, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History Associate Professor of History

________________ _________________
Edmund Abaka, Ph.D. Donette Francis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History Associate Professor of English

________________ _________________
Michael A. Gomez, Ph.D. Guillermo Prado, Ph.D.
Silver Professor of History, Middle Eastern Dean of the Graduate School
and Islamic Studies
New York University
ST. HUBERT, HADASSAH
(Ph.D., History)
Visions of a Modern Nation: (August 2018)
Haiti at the World’s Fairs

Abstract of a dissertation at the University of Miami.

Dissertation supervised by Associate Professor Kate Ramsey

No. of pages in text. (213)

This dissertation focuses on the motivations of successive Haitian governments

from the late nineteenth century to the 1960s in participating in world’s fairs abroad and

in mounting expositions in Haiti. In particular, it explores why and how world’s fairs

became a primary path through which Haitian officials and elites sought to represent and

defend the nation’s image internationally. World’s fairs were mostly held in countries of

the global north as showcases of national progress, imperial reach and power. Having

overthrown French colonial rule in 1804 and been denigrated by detractors abroad for

decades thereafter, Haitian governments sought to demonstrate through participation in

late nineteenth century expositions that they and people of African descent more broadly

were capable of “civilization.” While colonized “others” were being displayed at human

zoos at these international events, Haiti, the sole independent black nation participating,

attempted to represent itself as a beacon of black progress through the nation’s pavilion

architecture and displays. Haitian governments in the late nineteenth century also sought

investment and new markets for Haitian goods and products through participation in and

mounting of world’s fairs. The government of Sténio Vincent (1930-1941) participated

particularly actively in international expositions, even while Haiti was still under U.S.

occupation. Vincent used each event to declare Haiti's sovereignty, seek European trade
and investment, and highlight Haitian history and culture to attract tourism. His

administration created a precedent for how future Haitian governments represented the

nation abroad in these contexts. Under the presidency of Dumarsais Estimé (1946-1950),

Haiti launched its own Bicentennial International Exposition (1949-1950), which

transformed a portion of the capital of Port-au-Prince into a visionary “modern” city that

celebrated the culture and production of the Haitian masses in order to draw tourists. My

study concludes with an examination of Haiti’s participation in expositions in the 1960s

during the dictatorship of François Duvalier (1957-1971). The Duvalier regime continued

Haiti’s long-standing tradition of participation in world’s fairs and expositions to counter

negative international portrayals of the country. In this case, the bad press Duvalier

sought to counter stemmed from his authoritarian abuses of power. The Duvalier regime,

known for its black nationalist rhetoric asserting Haiti’s autonomy, participated in these

international events to attract foreign investment, revealing a dependency on the very

western nations from which it claimed its independence. My dissertation contributes to

our understanding of how successive Haitian governments negotiated neocolonial

relationships at these international events to uplift the nation’s image, open foreign

markets for Haitian products, encourage foreign investment, and cultivate tourism.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of my

committee members, Kate Ramsey, Eduardo Elena, Donette Francis, Edmund Abaka, and

Michael A. Gomez. I could never thank you all enough for your advice and guidance

throughout this process. I am especially indebted to my advisor Kate Ramsey, whose

unrelenting belief in me and my work from the beginning attests to her dedication to her

students. I would like to thank the faculty of the History Department at the University of

Miami for providing support and mentorship that has contributed to my personal and

professional development. Ashli White, Robin Bachin, Mike Bernath, Mary Lindemann,

and Donald Spivey have always made themselves available when I needed research and

career advice.

I would like to thank past and current graduate students, Camilo Vera, Ashley

Mateiro, Danielle Boaz, Jennifer Garçon, Elizabeth Gonzalez Jimenez, Matthew

Davidson, and Amelia Hintzen, Nelson Marquez II, Drew Wofford III, and Stephanie

Skenyon for all the chats, laughter, and venting time. Camilo, Ashley, and Jennifer, I am

truly thankful for all our writing meet-ups and helping me stay on course. I would not

have completed this dissertation without your constant assistance along the way.

Additionally, I would like to acknowledge Rosie Gordon-Wallace, Nadève Ménard,

Manouchecka Celeste, Marvin Dawkins, Chantalle Verna, Julio Capo Jr., Adam Silvia,

Claire Payton, Marvin Chochotte, Grace Sanders, and Tonya St. Julien for their guidance,

research commentary and being a soundboard for my ideas. I would like to thank the

many colleagues that have offered me much encouragement during this process. Thanks

to Anna Tokar, Norbert Kosobudzki, Daphné Vanessa Pierre, Shamil Rodriguez, Samuel

iii
François, Werner Habermann, Weedens Blanchard, Scarlette Elizee, Jermaine Archer,

Christian DeBriffault, Guerdiana Thelmar, Tanya Desdunes, Hülya Miclisse-Polat,

Matthew Pigatt, Valerie Pigatt, Glendon Hall, Rhoda Moïse, Shameka Thomas, and

Edwing Medina.

I am grateful to the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship, the History Department,

Special Collections at the University of Miami, the College of Arts and Sciences, the

Graduate School, the Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas (UMIA), the

Center for the Humanities, and the UGrow program for supporting my research, writing,

and career training. Special thanks to Christina Favretto, Jay Silvestre, Beatrice Skokan,

Paige Morgan, and Martin Tsang for helping me with my research and guiding me on my

next journey.

I am also appreciative of the feedback and suggestions I received presenting at the

Haitian Studies Association, the Caribbean Studies Association, and the Association for

the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora. I am thankful to Digital Library of the

Caribbean (dLOC) and the Green Family Foundation, Brooke Wooldridge, Rose

Nicholson, Miguel Asencio, Mireille Charles, and Kimberly Green for their research

assistance when I was conducting research in Haiti’s archives. I owe an immense debt of

gratitude to the staff at Archives Nationales d’Haïti, Bibliothèque Haïtienne de Frères de

l’Instruction Chrétienne, Bibliothèque Nationale d'Haïti, and Centre International de

Documentation & d'Information Haitienne Caraïbéenne & Afrocanadienne Archives

(CIDIHCA), National Archives and Record Administration (NARA), Library of

Congress (LOC), Archives Nationale d’Outre-Mer (ANOM), Bibliothèque du Ministère

des Affaires Étrangères, Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), Special Collections

iv
at John’s Hopkins Sheridan Libraries, Wolfsonian-FIU, the Smithsonian Institution, and

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. I especially want to thank Frantz

Voltaire at CIDIHCA for helping me locate important materials and images for this

project.

I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Marie Yvette and Faubert

St. Hubert, whose stories about Haiti have very much influenced my research interests. A

special thanks to my aunt, Nolette Alexandre, who has always encouraged me to keep

moving forward and pursue this advanced degree. Many of my aunts and uncles have

supported my research including, Morice Teleus, Medor Teleus, and Daniel Teleus,

Jeanne Teleus, and Rosie Fils. Thanks to my sisters as well as my many cousins, and

other family members that have assisted me while conducting research. Finally, I would

like to recognize my husband, Dimmy Herard, who has been my greatest source of

encouragement during the dissertation writing process. You are my love for eternity and

beyond. Thank you for pushing me to the finish line.

v
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... vii

Chapter

INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1

1 BREAKING OUT OF ISOLATION: HAITIAN REPRESENTATION IN LATE-

19TH CENTURY EXPOSITIONS .......................................................................22

2 EXPRESSIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY?: STÉNIO VINCENT, EXPOSITIONS,

AND HAITIAN NATIONALISM ......................................................................61

3 A GREATER DESTINY: THE BICENTENNIAL INTERNATIONAL

EXPOSITION OF PORT-AU-PRINCE 1949-1950..............................................99

4 IMAGE DÉFORMÉE: FRANÇOIS DUVALIER’S HAITI AND THE

WORLD’S FAIRS .............................................................................................. 144

EPILOGUE ................................................................................................................196

WORKS CITED ........................................................................................................203

vi
 List of Figures

Figure 1.1: Lysius Salomon, President of Haiti (1879-1888). Courtesy of CIDIHCA.

28

Figure 1.2: 1881 Agricultural Fair Grounds. Image from Georges Corvington, Port-
au-Prince au cours des ans Vol 2. 30

Figure 1.3: Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty welcoming a group of women labeled
"Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, Peru, La Plata, Chili, Hayti, and Ecuador” to the World's
International and Cotton Centennial Exposition. Image from Library of Congress. 35

Figure 1.4: Images from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History,
Department of Anthropology. 37-38

Figure 1.5: Florvil Hyppolite, President of Haiti (1889-1896). Courtesy of CIDIHCA.

43

Figure 1.6: Aerial View of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Image from
Wolfsonian-FIU Museum. 49

Figure 1.7: Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Image from
Rand McNally and Company, Columbian Album. 55

Figure 2.1: Cité Internationale des Informations. Courtesy of Gallica. 74

Figure 2.2: Haiti’s Exhibit in Cité des Informations at the 1931 Colonial Exposition.
Image from Bulletin de la commune de Port-au-Prince. 80

Figure 2.3: Haiti’s Exhibit in Cité des Informations at the 1931 Colonial Exposition.
Image from A travers l'Exposition Coloniale. 81

Figure 2.4: Haitian Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exposition. Image from
the BIE Archives 1937 Exposition Section Étrangères. 86

Figure 2.5: Interior of Haiti’s Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exposition.
Image from BIE Rapport General. 88

Figure 2.6: Pan American Union Building. Courtesy of the Museum of the
City of New York. 93

Figure 3.1: Tourists shopping for mahogany goods in Haiti. Courtesy of the Pan
American World Airways Records, University of Miami’s Special Collections. 113

Figure 3.2: Top of the Citadel. Courtesy of the Pan American World Airways
Records, University of Miami’s Special Collections. 114

vii
 Figure 3.3: Presidential Palace of Haiti. Courtesy of the Pan American World
Airways Records, University of Miami’s Special Collections. 116

Figure 3.4: Sketch of the International Exposition of Port-au-Prince. Courtesy of

Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC). 117

Figure 3.5: Views of the Cité de l’Exposition. Courtesy of CIDIHCA. 122

Figure 3.6: Sixtine Chapel donated by Vatican City. Guatemala’s pavilion was
situated in front of the chapel. Courtesy of CIDIHCA. 123

Figure 3.7: Bicentennial International Exposition of Port-au-Prince featuring Jean

Léon Destiné. Courtesy of Pan American World Airways. 128

Figure 3.8: Data gathered from Pan American World Airways Records, University of
Miami’s Special Collections. 138

Figure 4.1: Caribbean Pavilion. Courtesy of Bill Cotter. 167

Figure 4.2: Caribbean Pavilion Restaurant. Courtesy of Queens Memory. 170

Figure 4.3: Photo of the Haitian Pavilion. Courtesy of Library and Archives of
Canada. 179

Figure 4.4: Haitian waitresses at the Haitian pavilion. Courtesy of Library and
Archives of Canada. 184

viii
 Introduction

“Pour la race noire, Haïti c'est le soleil se levant à l'horizon."

Louis Joseph Janvier, La république d'Haïti et ses visiteurs (1840-1882)

This dissertation explores why and how participation in world’s fairs became a

primary path through which Haitian governments in the late nineteenth and twentieth

centuries attempted to defend the country’s image abroad. The overthrow of French

colonialism in Saint-Domingue in 1804 created the first independent black state, and

thereafter the new nation struggled to gain recognition in a world where slavery persisted.

For over two decades, Western nations sought to isolate Haiti since its assertion of racial

equality challenged white supremacy. Thereafter, gradual recognition was accompanied

by repeated international accounts of the decline of “civilization” in the “Black

Republic,” sometimes authored by diplomatic representatives to Haiti. World's fairs and

expositions were frequently mounted during these years in Europe and North America as

showcases of national progress as well as imperial reach and power. They were used, on

the one hand, to bring people together and promise a better future, and on the other, to

reinforce existing class, political, economic, cultural, and racial hierarchies. Haitian

governments sought to demonstrate that they, and by extension other people of African

descent, were capable of “civilization.” For Haitian governments, participation in and

mounting of exposition displays became a means of demonstrating Haiti’s “progress” in

order to counter the nation's international image problem and seek foreign trade and

investment.

1
 2
This study examines several key questions: Why did Haitian governments, from

Faustin Soulouque (1847-1859) to François Duvalier (1957-1971), seek to ensure Haiti’s

participation in world’s fairs and in two instances (1881 and 1949) decide to mount their

own? In light of Haiti’s status as an early postcolonial nation founded after a slave

revolution, what were the social, economic, and political implications of their

involvement with world’s fairs? Finally, in light of Haiti’s history and international

positioning, how did the Haitian state construct the nation’s image at world’s fairs

sponsored by colonial and imperial powers? The participation of Haitian governments in

these events is illuminating of Haiti’s position in the world order, international relations,

and political history during these eras. World’s fairs were museums of sorts that

chronicled how participating and host nations saw themselves during those periods.

Haiti’s participation reveals the preoccupation of political leaders with being accepted as

a sovereign black nation in the context of narratives circulating about the nation’s

incapacity for self-government. Haitian governments used exposition displays to

celebrate the country’s independence and autonomy, dispel negative international images,

and demonstrate the nation’s “progress.” However, participation in these events also

reflected, increasingly, Haiti’s position of dependency in the world economic order.

While from the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries Haitian governments sought to

use these events to encourage foreign investment, their doing so raised complex questions

and at times internal conflict regarding the preservation of Haiti’s sovereignty.

This dissertation examines Haiti’s involvement in and exhibits at the 1884-1885

New Orleans Exhibition World’s Cotton Centennial, the 1893 World's Columbian

Exposition in Chicago, the 1931 Exposition Coloniale Nationale in Paris, the 1937
 3
Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne also in Paris, the

1939 and 1964 New York World’s Fairs, and Expo ’67 in Montréal, as well as Haiti’s

own expositions in 1881 and 1949. My study analyzes the specific aims and aspirations

of each Haitian government in participating in and mounting these expositions, tracing

what priorities remained consistent and which ones shifted over time. In each case,

economic goals were closely linked to efforts to improve the nation’s international image.

Specifically, I examine how representation at these international events provided an

opportunity for Haiti to re-shape negative foreign perceptions through their pavilions’

“modern” architecture in order to encourage foreign investment and markets for Haitian

products, and, eventually, tourism. This is the first in-depth historical study exploring the

motives of successive Haitian governments (1881-1967) as they participated in

international events that largely reinforced the existing colonial and neocolonial world

order. I also examine how, in mounting their own displays, these same governments

made and combatted claims about Haiti’s position within these political, economic, and

racial structures.

After 1804, Western nations sought to “silence” news of the successful Haitian

Revolution, which was seen as an “unthinkable” event, that could unleash a “contagion”

unless the new nation was isolated and controlled.1 Ashli White notes that,

When it was discussed, the revolution was couched in dismissive terms—

as an atrocious ‘race war’ in which bloodthirsty, rebellious slaves exacted
indiscriminate revenge on a helpless white population. These racist
accounts cast Haitian revolutionaries as devoid of humanity, let alone
political principle, and their authors cited the lamentable state of postwar

1
Ashli White, Encountering Revolution: Haiti and the Making of the Early Republic (Baltimore, Md:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), 3. Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the
Production of History (Boston, Mass: Beacon Press, 1995), 73.
 4
Haiti as evidence of the dangers of liberty, equality, and independence for
an ‘unprepared’ people.2

Haitian officials actively defended the new nation against foreign accusations of racial

inferiority and lack of governmental capacity and expertise. However, for the next two

decades Haiti was subject to an international diplomatic quarantine, with no formal

recognition of its Revolution and independence.

The lack of diplomatic recognition after the Haitian Revolution limited the

nation’s foreign trade, although the first government, under Jean-Jacques Dessalines

(1804-1806), did “encourage the overtures which were being made by Britain and the

United States,” despite Haiti’s constitutional ban on white property ownership.3 However

these governments refused to recognize Haiti in light of the persistence of slavery in the

British Caribbean colonies and the U.S. southern states. Moreover, no international

power wanted to establish diplomatic relations with Haiti unless France’s conditions for

diplomatic recognition were met. During the rule of Jean-Pierre Boyer (1818-1843), the

Haitian government “was prepared to agree to financial compensation to the dispossessed

French planters of Saint Domingue, and in a royal ordinance of 17 April 1825 the French

government recognized the independence of Haiti on condition that Haiti agree to an

indemnity of 150 million francs, and reduced customs charges on French vessels to half

that paid by those of other countries.”4 This indemnity was later lowered to 60 million

francs, however the nation would continue to suffer from the severe challenge of paying

2
Ibid., 3.

3
David Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier: Race, Colour, and National Independence in Haiti (New
Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1996), 37.

4
Ibid., 65.
 5
off a debt incurred for securing its own freedom from slavery and colonial rule. Even

after the establishment of diplomatic relations with France, the United States waited until

1862 to recognize Haiti due to pressure from southern slaveholding states, fears of black

insurrection, and widespread racism.5 Haiti’s fight to be treated and seen as an equal

among nations did not end with foreign diplomatic acknowledgement. In fact, in some

ways this struggle intensified in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as my

work on Haitian participation in world’s fairs and expositions during these decades

attests.

There were economic motivations to mounting such displays as well. The

aspiration of Haiti’s economic and political elites to restore large-scale agricultural

production and plantation labor stood in contradiction to the goals of the formerly

enslaved masses who pushed the Haitian Revolution forward and ended slavery in the

former Saint-Domingue. According to Carolyn Fick, “during the transitional period from

the abolition of slavery [in 1793] to the implantation of the new labor regime, some ex-

slaves… freely engaged themselves in what appeared to be an anarchistic appropriation

of plantation property for personal use.”6 After the Revolution, Haitian heads of state

faced challenges in trying to enforce plantation labor in a country where a majority of the

inhabitants intended to engage in subsistence agriculture after securing their freedom

from slavery. In 1826, then president of Haiti Jean-Pierre Boyer (1818-1843), created the

Code Rural legislation which intended to “reestablish state control over agricultural

5
Ibid., 6.

6
Carolyn E. Fick, The Making of Haiti: The Saint Domingue Revolution from Below (Knoxville:
University of Tennessee Press, 1990), 249.
 6
production.”7 Laurent Dubois notes that the law limited the movement of rural residents,

gave landowners power over their laborers, and “created a rural police to enforce these

regulations.”8 Despite this legislation, peasants continued to resist plans to organize

plantation labor, and “over time, many Haitian leaders —following the example of Pétion

[President of the Republic of Haiti, 1807-1818] — simply accepted the push for mass

land ownership.”9 Many elite Haitians considered the division of land into smallholdings

across most of the country a barrier to developing international trade and a detriment to

the country’s political economy. However, later in the nineteenth century, President

Lysius Salomon (1879-1888) sought to increase Haiti’s exports through “a policy of

distributing small plots of land to anyone who committed to cultivating coffee, cotton,

tobacco, or indigo….”10 Salomon sought both to expand smallholding and plantation

agriculture through these policies. My research documents how one of the aims of

Salomon’s participation in expositions was to expand Haiti’s export markets, and also,

controversially, to attract international investors by distributing some state land to foreign

companies that would develop the nation’s agriculturally-based economy in spite of the

technical ban on foreign land ownership. Although it is unclear how many foreign

companies took up this offer, the Haitian government’s need to boost exports led to

policies that, at times, threatened the nation’s sovereignty.

7
Laurent Dubois, Haiti: The Aftershocks of History (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2012), 105.

8
Ibid.

9
Ibid.

10
Ibid., 107.
 7
While Haiti-focused historiography has extensively examined the country’s

international relations, and recent work on world’s fairs has explored colonial displays of

power, in neither of these literatures has Haiti’s participation in and mounting of

expositions received any sustained attention. In fact, Charles Forsdick notes “the apparent

absence of Haiti from the global phenomenon of the international exhibition.”11 My

research, however, documents quite the opposite, that in fact, Haiti actively participated

in world’s fairs but has often been omitted from secondary literature about them. For

example, The Books of the Fairs: Materials about World’s Fairs 1834-1916, in the

Smithsonian Institution Libraries, does not include Haiti’s 1881 Agricultural Exhibition,

nor the Smithsonian’s Haitian object holdings from the 1883 Boston Exhibition and the

1884-1885 New Orleans Exhibition World’s Cotton Centennial.12 In contrast, expositions

held in Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, South Africa, and Trinidad are

mentioned.

The 1949 International Exposition held in Port-au-Prince during the presidency of

Dumarsais Estimé (1946-1950) was and remains the only world exposition in Latin

America and the Caribbean that was officially sanctioned by the Bureau International des

Expositions (BIE), of which Haiti was member since its creation in 1928.13 The BIE,

11
Charles Forsdick, “Exhibiting Haiti: Questioning Race at the World’s Columbian Exposition 1893,” in
Nicolas Bancel, Thomas David, and Dominic Thomas, eds. The Invention of Race: Scientific and Popular
Representations (London: Taylor and Francis, 2014), 451 and 460.

12
Robert Rydell, The Books of the Fairs: Materials About World's Fairs, 1834-1916, in the Smithsonian
Institution Libraries (Chicago: American Library Association, 1992), 122-129.

13
Augustin Mathurin, Bi-centenaire de la fondation de Port-au-Prince, 1749-1949: Exposition
Internationale, 8 Décembre 1949-8 Juin 1950, à la mémoire du grand Président Léon Dumarsais Estimé
(Port-au-Prince: Impr. des Antilles, 1975). Paul Greenhalgh, Fair World: A History of World's Fairs and
Exposition from London to Shanghai 1851-2010 (Windsor: Papadakis, 2011), 28-29. Stephen P. Ladas,
Patents, Trademarks, and Related Rights (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1975), 548. The
first thirty member nations of the BIE were Austria, Belgium, Byelorussia, Bulgaria, Canada,
Czechoslovakia, Demark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Haiti, Hungary, Israel, Italy,
 8
based in Paris, regulates and provides guidelines for hosting world’s fairs and expositions

internationally. Those held prior to 1928 in Europe and the U.S. were retroactively

recognized by the BIE, while those hosted in Latin America and the Caribbean have been

omitted from the BIE’s website’s exposition timeline.14 Like that timeline, the scholarly

literature on world’s fairs has largely focused on expositions held in Europe and the

United States.

Scholarship on the mounting of world’s fairs and expositions can be categorized

into three time periods: the mid- to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in which

expositions promoted “internal nationalism” and sought public approval for colonialism;

the so-called “Century-of-Progress Expositions” in the 1930s during the Great

Depression; and post-WWII expositions which focused on technological advancements

and were greatly impacted by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet

Union.15 Peter Hoffenberg and Robert Rydell have understood these expositions in

Western Europe and North America as defining relationships between the nation and

citizens, empire and subjects. In addition, world’s fairs, which often suffered financial

losses, were used by many nations to invest in permanent infrastructure and increase

industrial export markets.16

Lebanon, Morocco, Monaco, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Sweden,
Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, U.S.S.R.

14
“Expo Timeline,” Bureau des Expositions International, http://www.bie-paris.org/site/en/expo-
timeline/expo-timeline-world-expo. In 2023, Buenos Aires, Argentina will hold a BIE sanctioned
Specialized Exposition on Science, Innovation, Art and Creativity for Human Development- Creative
industries in Digital Convergence.

15
Peter H. Hoffenberg, An Empire on Display: English, Indian, and Australian Exhibitions from the
Crystal Palace to the Great War (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), xiv. Robert Rydell, Fair
America: World's Fairs in the United States (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000), 11-13.

16
Erik Mattie, World's Fairs (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998), 8.
 9
Expositions mounted before the mid-nineteenth century in London and Paris were

national affairs with few international participants. However, Karen N. Salt explains that

this changed after the 1851 Great Exhibition at the Crystal Place in London. This was the

“first exposition to demonstrate a truly international and modern sensibility [and] by mid-

century…national gave way to international as expos brought together representatives

and visitors from across the globe to marvel at the grandeur of human progress

manifested by cosmopolitan cities pushing ever forward toward a more perfect society.”17

With the success of the London exhibition, other nations followed suit. In the context of

what Peter H. Hoffenberg terms the “New Imperialism” of the late nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries, France and the United States launched expositions that “represented

the idealized relationships between groups within the nation and empire.”18 Often, this

included displaying colonial subjects as “others,” in both static exhibits and what have

been called “human zoos.” In his work Human Zoos: Science and Spectacle in the Age of

Colonial Empires, Pascal Blanchard explains that exhibiting the “other” became “a

visible and simple sign of modernity and greatness.”19 In 1878, France became one of the

first sponsors of an international fair to exhibit so-called “negro villages,” which “would

subsequently become an essential and inevitable feature of all exhibitions, whether

colonial, international, universal or regional.”20 The 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle

17
Karen N. Salt, The Haitian Question, PhD dissertation, Purdue University, 2011, 19.

18
Hoffenberg, An Empire on Display, 2.

19
Pascal Blanchard, Human Zoos: Science and Spectacle in the Age of Colonial Empires (Liverpool:
Liverpool University Press, 2008), 8.

20
Ibid., 110.
 10
featured, as Salt notes, “a collection of actual working villages in which indigenous

peoples performed their daily rituals for public view…. Living villages provided

ethnological content—and entertainment—for which fairgoers were willing to pay a

premium.”21 The villages at these Paris expositions set a precedent for future expositions

in Europe and the United States since “no subsequent world’s fair lacked a variation on

this ethnological exhibit.”22 Thus, world’s fairs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth

centuries continued to display Blacks, Arabs, East and South Asians as well as other

groups within human zoos intended to demonstrate how colonized people had become

more “civilized” through contact with and rule by Europeans. Colonized “others” were

portrayed, in other words, as “moving towards progress” with the aid of their

colonizers.23 Despite this, Haitian governments purported that their participation in these

events would challenge, rather than reinforce, notions of racialized inferiority.

The success of the expositions in Great Britain and France increased U.S. interest

in hosting international expositions. After the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition and the

expositions in Paris, the late nineteenth century saw the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial

International Exhibition and the 1884-5 New Orleans World’s Industrial and Cotton

Centennial Exposition. According to Rydell, “fairs between 1876 and 1897 all shared a

number of commonalities. They were organized by the wealthy… and they emphasized

anthropological exhibits that attempted to persuade the white middle - and upper-class of

21
Salt, The Haitian Question, 20.

22
Ibid.

23
Ibid., 38.
 11
Anglo-Saxon heritage that they were indeed members of the superior race.”24 Most

prominently, it was the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition that “was supposed to signal

to Americans and to the rest of the world that the American nation had been rebuilt [after

the Civil War] and that American civilization now rivaled anything Europe had to

offer.”25 Rydell contends that the mounting of expositions and world’s fairs by the U.S.

was meant to extend U.S. “political and military influence to secure economic ends[,]…a

view of the world that held that progress toward civilization could be understood in terms

of allegedly innate racial characteristics.”26

In All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International

Expositions, 1876-1916, Rydell examines the reality behind the utopian visions embodied

in world’s fairs, which reached their peak activity during the late nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries, when millions attended expositions across the U.S. and Europe.27

Rydell states that “worlds’ fairs….between 1876-1916 reflected the efforts by America’s

intellectual, political, and business leaders to establish a consensus about their priorities

and their vision of progress as racial dominance and economic growth.”28 He argues that

the fairs were intended both to shape U.S. culture and to extend the authority of the

corporate, political, and scientific elite. In addition, world’s fairs became part of popular

24
Rydell, Fair America, 44.

25
Ibid., 8.

26
Ibid., 9.

27
Robert W. Rydell, All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions,
1876-1916 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), 2.

28
Ibid., 8.
 12
entertainment shaped by minstrel shows, zoological exhibits, human zoos, and the circus.

Rydell notes that, “world’s fairs existed as part of a broader universe of white

supremacist entertainments; what distinguished them were their scientific, artistic, and

political underpinnings.”29 These international events reinforced stereotypes about non-

white persons and were supported by national institutions of knowledge production. In

fact, the Smithsonian Institution, “played a central role in shaping ethnological features of

the fairs” and “augmented their collections with exhibit materials first organized for

world’s fairs and later sent to museums to save shipping costs on returning objects to

their home countries.”30 My dissertation examines how Haitian governments actively

sought to participate in world’s fairs sponsored by colonial and imperial powers in part to

challenge these ideologies, which, of course, also underwrote the negative international

images of Haiti.

Haiti was not the only formerly colonized nation to participate in and mount

world’s fairs. Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic did so as well

between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth century, however there is limited scholarly

literature concerning the involvement of these post-colonial nations, mention of which is

also omitted in BIE literatures.31 Through an analysis of Mexico’s involvement in

29
Ibid., 6.

30
Ibid., 7. Robert Rydell, “World’s Fairs and Museums,” in Sharon MacDonald, Companion to Museum
Studies (Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 136. Note: World’s fairs, expositions, and
exhibitions are all terms that have been used interchangeably in the historiography on these international
events.

31
Argentinean Expositions: Córdoba - Exposición Nacional in 1871, Buenos Aires - South American
Continental Exhibition in 1882, Buenos Aires - Centennial International Exposition in 1910, and Expo
2023 in Buenos Aires; Chile - Chilean International Exhibition of 1875; Lima, Peru - International
Exhibition 1872; Kingston, Jamaica - International Exhibition in 1891 (note that Jamaica was still a British
colony); Guatemala - Central American Expo in 1897; Brazilian Expositions: Rio de Janeiro - Exhibition
of the centenary of the opening of the Ports of Brazil 1908, Rio de Janeiro Independence Centenary
International Exposition of 1922, Porto Alegre - Farroupilha Revolution centennial fair in 1935; Dominican
 13
world’s fairs, Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo explores how the emergence of state nationalism

there was tied to a Western and North American conception of modernity. In particular,

he examines how the Porfirio Díaz regime (1877-1910) constructed an elite-endorsed

ideology of Mexican national identity and used its displays to stake their claim to modern

nationhood. However, Tenorio-Trillo notes that France represented the epitome of

progress to Mexican elites and that “Mexico’s presence in [the] Paris [Universal

Exhibition of] 1889 was the largest and most expensive display Mexico had ever put on

at a world’s fair.”32 In particular, as Tenorio-Trillo explains, the Porfirian elite sought to

attract foreign investment to Mexico through such exposition displays. He notes: “in the

great world’s fairs of the nineteenth century, Mexico aspired to participate in the

economic advantages and civilizing effects of commerce. The Porfirian elite created

commercial commissions to promote Mexico's traditional and yet-to-be-discovered raw

materials. They expected those products to give Mexico a place in the international

economy.”33 Haitian governments hoped for a similar outcome through their participation

in world’s fairs. My research suggests that beyond opening new markets for Haitian

agricultural products, late nineteenth century political elites also sought to attract foreign

Republic Fair of Peace and Fraternity of the Free World 1955-1956; South Africa: Cape Colony - South
African International Exhibition 1877, South African and International Exhibition in 1892, Empire
Exhibition in Johannesburg 1936-1937.

32
Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo, Mexico at the World’s Fair: Crafting a Modern Nation (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1996), xii. He notes that, “World Exhibitions were conscious universal representations of
what was thought to be progress and modernity.”

33
Ibid., 5.
 14
investment to Haiti — an aim complicated by the fact that foreign land ownership was

illegal in the nation until 1918.34

My dissertation seeks to advance existing scholarship on Haiti’s symbolic

importance in the African diaspora as a beacon of freedom, as well as on the international

networks of Haitian elites. As an independent black nation, Haiti’s image had

implications for blacks living elsewhere. In From Douglass to Duvalier: U.S. African

Americans, Haiti and Pan Americanism, 1870-1964, Millery Polyné examines the history

of Pan-American and Pan-African solidarity between African Americans and Haitians.

He notes that Walter White, the NAACP Executive Secretary, stated in 1947 that “what

happens in Haiti has repercussions which far transcend Haiti itself.”35 There was a strong

sense that the success or failure of one of the world’s only independent black nations had

a direct impact on diasporic blacks. The Haitian government and elites tried to change

Haiti’s negative image abroad through partnerships and cooperation with the U.S. and

other nations. In her monograph, Haiti and the Uses of America: Post-U.S. Occupation

Promises, Chantalle Verna argues that middle and upper class Haitians actively engaged

with individuals and institutions from the U.S., to pursue greater access to resources. My

dissertation builds upon Verna’s work, examining world’s fairs and expositions as venues

of engagement between Haitian and foreign officials. In addition, Haiti’s participation in

world’s fairs and expositions reveals the nation’s dilemma in courting foreign investment

while also protecting the nation’s sovereignty. Verna notes that early Haitian politicians

34
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 147.

35
Millery Polyné, From Douglass to Duvalier U.S. African Americans, Haiti, and Pan Americanism, 1870-
1964 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010), 131.
 15
grappled with “the challenge of whether foreign relations would impede or help Haitians

advance their own goals.”36 They used their participation to directly challenge negative

perceptions of Haiti through their exhibits and pavilion's architecture, even though the

nation's "image problem" was created by the very world powers from which they sought

investment.

Lindsay Twa analyzes Haiti’s image problem from another perspective in her

Visualizing Haiti in U.S. Culture, 1910-1950, exploring representations of the nation in

the work of U.S.-based artists and writers. Twa notes that,

The desire to create new representations of Haiti…was as much defensive

as it was celebratory. ‘Haiti has an image problem.’ This statement, or
some form of it, has been a nearly continuous refrain since 1804 when the
slaves [sic] of the French colony Saint-Domingue defeated the armies of
Europe to found the world’s first modern, black-ruled nation. The lament
‘Haiti has an image problem’ has been repeated as its subsequent leaders
struggled to establish and maintain a dignified place for Haiti in global
economics and diplomatic relations.37

My work examines how Haitian government officials, business elites, artists, and

intellectuals resisted and revised the negative narratives imposed on the nation by

promoting alternative visions of Haitian history and identity in the context of world’s

fairs.

My dissertation draws upon historical studies of mid-nineteenth and twentieth-

century Haiti that focus on Haiti’s participation in world’s fairs in varying ways. In All

the World is Here! The Black Presence at White City, Christopher Reed examines how

36
Chantalle F. Verna, Haiti and the Uses of America: Post-U.S. Occupation Promises (New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017), 21.

37
Lindsay J. Twa, Visualizing Haiti in U.S. Culture, 1910-1950 (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing,
2017), xix. Slavery in Saint-Domingue ended in 1793.
 16
Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells used the Haitian pavilion at the 1893 World’s

Columbian Exposition in Chicago to protest the lack of black representation at the fair.

Karen Salt takes this further in her dissertation, The Haitian Question, by exploring how

Douglass’s address at the 1893 Exposition inserted Haiti as an important member nation

in the Atlantic world. Both studies center on the actions of prominent African-Americans

at the Haitian pavilion, and neither places Haiti’s pavilion in Chicago in the context of the

country’s prior and subsequent participation in world’s fairs and the mounting of its own

in 1881. My work, on the other hand, explores the motives of Lysius Salomon Jeune

(1879-1888) and Florvil Hyppolite (1889-1896) in participating in such events during this

era in order to gain recognition and foreign investment.

This dissertation also engages with works that briefly discuss President Dumarsais

Estimé’s mounting of the 1949 International Exposition and highlight its impact in Haiti.

While Matthew Smith’s monograph Red and Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict and

Political Change, 1934-1957, does not explore the International Exposition celebrating

Port-au-Prince’s bicentennial in great depth, his work is highly valuable in understanding

the complexity of political changes in post-occupation Haiti, and the Estimé

government’s efforts to reframe Haiti as a tourist destination particularly for U.S. citizens.

In The Golden Age of Haitian Tourism, Brenda Gayle Plummer situates the rise of Haiti’s

tourist industry in the context of post-WWII U.S. American liberalism. She looks at how

the Haitian governments of Presidents Dumarsais Estimé (1946-1950) and Paul Magloire

(1950-1956) sought to attract American liberals to Haiti as tourists through targeted

advertising.38 My dissertation builds on Plummer’s work by examining how Haiti’s

Brenda Gayle Plummer, The Golden Age of Haitian Tourism (New York: Columbia University-New
38

York University Consortium, 1989), 16.

 17
participation in and mounting of expositions were in fact a long-term strategy by the

Haitian government to control its international image, even as by the late 1940s and

1950s it also arguably catered to foreign fascination rooted in stereotypes and

misconceptions about Haitian culture.39

Chapter Outline

The dissertation’s chapters are organized chronologically to show the different

motivations of Haitian governments from 1881-1967 in participating in and/or mounting

world’s fairs and expositions. Chapter one explores Haiti’s participation in world’s fairs

during the mid-nineteenth century presidencies of Lysius Salomon Jeune (1879-1888)

and Florvil Hyppolite (1889-1896). Salomon mounted the 1881 Agricultural Fair in Port-

au-Prince and participated in the 1884-1885 New Orleans Exhibition World’s Cotton

Centennial; later, Hyppolite's government organized the pavilion at the 1893 World's

Columbian Exposition. Salomon's and Hyppolite's involvement in these world's fairs

reveals an official ambivalence towards courting foreign investment to Haiti that

persisted long into the twentieth century. Both government's sought to emphasize Haiti's

world historical importance and its sovereignty as an independent black nation in their

exhibits and pavilions, however progress for these administrations meant the expansion

of large-scale agricultural production for export with the aid of foreign investment. These

cases spotlight the sometime tension between the aims, motivations, and messages of

Haitian world’s fair displays.

39
Kate Ramsey, “Vodou, Nationalism and Performance: The Staging of Folklore in Mid-Twentieth
Century Haiti,” in Jane Desmond, Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance (Durham: Duke
University Press, 1997).
 18
In Chapter two, I discuss Haiti’s involvement in world’s fairs under President

Sténio Vincent (1930-1941). Vincent’s government had the distinction of participating in

three of them during the 1930s, including the Exposition Coloniale Nationale (1931) in

Paris, the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)

also in Paris, and the New York World’s Fair (1939). With the U.S. occupation (1915-

1934) ongoing during the first Paris exposition and just past at the time of the latter two

fairs, Vincent used each event to declare Haiti's sovereignty and expose fairgoers to his

curated version of Haitian culture. While in Haiti this was a moment of intellectual and

artistic “reevaluation” of Haitian identity in terms of the nation’s African heritage,

Vincent’s constructions of official national culture omitted references to the Vodou

religion. He saw Haiti’s image problem as having been intensified by the U.S.

occupation, and as posing an impediment to foreign investment and the cultivation of

tourism to the island. His administration created a precedent for how future Haitian

governments represented the nation abroad in these contexts.

Chapter 3 is an account and analysis of the 1949-1950 Bicentennial International

Exposition held under Dumarsais Estimé’s presidency (1946-1950). The International

Exposition transformed a portion of the capital of Port-au-Prince into a visionary

“modern” city that celebrated the culture and production of the Haitian masses in order to

draw tourists. In mounting it, Estimé brought to fruition Sténio Vincent's long-held

ambition to host an international exposition in Haiti to attract foreign visitors and expand

tourism to the country. In examining the Estimé government’s motives for mounting the

Exposition, I situate it in the context of other modernizing projects the government

undertook, such as the re-construction of the town of Belladère and UNESCO’s project in
 19
the Marbial Valley. These efforts sought to improve Haiti’s image abroad and figure the

Haitian black middle class domestically and internationally as the beacon of progress in

the country. The Estimé government’s efforts to rebrand Haiti culminated in the

International Exposition, which was also shaped by the involvement of Pan American

Airways. The chapter examines the tensions and seeming contradictions of this project,

which celebrated Haitian “folk” culture even as thousands of working class Haitians were

displaced in the construction of Cité de l’Exposition. The chapter also examines the

internal critique from some observers that the International Exposition was a misuse of

public funds, although arguably it succeeded in garnering international and local attention

and increasing tourism to the island. The 1949 Exposition also created a model for the

exportation of Haitian national culture abroad thereafter.

Chapter 4 examines the participation of the government of François Duvalier

(1957-1971) in the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair and Expo ’67 in Montréal. It

considers what the stakes were for the Duvalier dictatorship in mounting exhibits and

pavilions at these expositions, as well as the kinds of contestation the government’s

participation generated in New York and Montréal, where growing Haitian exile

communities had formed. The Duvalier government participated in these world's fairs to

attract foreign investment and tourism, in decline because of the repressive and corrupt

nature of his government. The dictatorship blamed the government’s negative press on

the growing Haitian diasporic population residing in New York and Montréal, as some

exiles in these cities protested the Duvalier regime’s involvement in the expositions.
 20
Through its pavilions and exhibits, the Duvalier government sought to counter reports of

state violence, human rights violations, and corruption with images of a carefree, safe,

and exotic Haiti hearkening back to the late 1940s and 1950s.

The epilogue discusses and considers the importance of Haiti's experience at the

world's fairs. Since the mid-nineteenth century, Haitian governments used world’s fairs to

manage the nation’s international image, as well as to attract trade and investment.

Participation in world’s fairs were the predecessors to hiring public relations firms. In

fact, Haitian governments post-1967 have continued to participate in BIE specialized

expositions and world expositions despite the decreasing popularity of these events in

order to revitalize the nation’s tourist sector.

Latin American and Caribbean participation in and mounting of world’s fairs has

received little scholarly attention, and Haiti’s involvement has been particularly sidelined.

In this dissertation, I argue that Haiti’s participation in world’s fairs sheds new light on

the history of both expositions and Haitian international relations and politics in the

nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is striking that from 1853 to 1967 Haitian

governments participated actively in international expositions, and while their

motivations and aims in doing so differed, along with the exhibits they fashioned, my

dissertation tracks commonalities across these histories as well. In particular, each

chapter is a study of how these governments asserted Haitian national identity and

sovereignty through world’s fair pavilions, yet also sought investment and trading

relationships that to different degrees seemed to place the country’s national autonomy in

question. Ultimately, examining Haiti's involvement in expositions spotlights the

evolution of the country's neocolonial position internationally since the mid-nineteenth

 21
century and also illuminates a key and under-recognized way that Haitian governments

for over a century sought to assert Haiti’s importance to world history and envision the

nation’s future.
 Chapter 1: Breaking out of Isolation: Haitian Representation in
Late-19th Century Expositions

“…Il faut que, sous mon Gouvernment, Haïti affirme

sa place dans le concert des pays progressistes…”
- Président Hyppolite public speech 189340

By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Haiti was seen internationally

either as a beacon of black progress or as proof that people of African descent could not

be self-governing or “civilized,” reflecting its particular position as an independent black

nation during a period defined by European and U.S. imperialism. Haitian governments

wanted to challenge the notion that Haiti was “backwards” by demonstrating their

“progress.” Participation in world’s fairs and expositions became one of the key avenues

that Haitian heads-of-state used to convince European and U.S. audiences that Haiti was

a “civilized” black nation.

In mounting displays at these international events successive governments

emphasized pride in Haiti’s sovereign blackness and the world historical importance of

their Revolution. They also sought foreign markets for Haitian products and even

encouraged foreign immigration to further develop their agriculturally-based economy,

potentially threatening the very sovereignty they sought to protect. The Haitian

government thus tied its “progress” to expanding large-scale agricultural production for

export. This chapter will focus on several expositions held in Haiti and the United States

during the presidencies of Lysius Salomon Jeune (1879-1888) and Florvil Hyppolite

(1889-1896), including the 1881 Agricultural Fair in Port-au-Prince, the 1884-1885 New

40
Robert Gentil and Henri Chauvet, Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago (Port-au-Prince, Haiti:
Vve. J. Chenet), 1893, http://www.dloc.com/AA00007509/00001?search=exposition. My translation: “It is
necessary that, under my Government, Haiti takes its place among progressive nations.”

22
 23
Orleans Exhibition World’s Cotton Centennial, and the 1893 World's Columbian

Exposition in Chicago.

Many foreign writers who traveled to Haiti after formal diplomatic ties were

established wrote sensationalist accounts to support their racist contention that blacks

were incapable of self-rule. Prominent amongst them was Spenser St. John, a British

minister to Haiti, who arrived in the nation in 1863 and published his Hayti: or the Black

Republic in 1884. St. John wrote that Haitians were “totally unfitted for self-government,

and incapable as a people to make any progress whatever [sic].”41 He described Haitians

as non-Christian Vodou worshippers and cannibals, claiming that “in spite of all the

civilising elements around the Haytians, there is a distinct tendency [for them] to sink

into the state of an African tribe.”42 St. John presented himself as a trusted expert on Haiti

and insisted that his account was truthful and objective. He emphasized to his readers that

his memoir should be trusted above others, alleging that the Haitian government paid

writers to discount negative accounts of the country: “Ever since the reign of Soulouque,

professional authors have been paid by the Haytian Government to spread rose-tinted

accounts of the civilisation and progress of Hayti. But twenty-four hours in any town of

that republic would satisfy the most skeptical that these semi-official accounts are

unworthy of belief.”43 There was a propaganda campaign by foreign writers such as

Spencer St. John to slander Haiti because it had overthrown not only slavery, but also

41
Spenser St. John, Hayti or the Black Republic (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1884), 132.
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00076088.

42
Ibid., vii.

43
Ibid., xiv.
 24
colonialism to become a sovereign black nation. St. John’s particular stake was warning

the British government against abandoning its own Caribbean colonies. Haiti’s defense of

itself as civilized was also an effort to challenge notions that it should perhaps fall under

the tutelage of one of the major colonial powers. In his account, St. John notes that

foreigners were withdrawing their capital from Haiti due to political upheaval.44

According to David Nicholls, “It was against the background of this kind of writing that

Haitians…felt it necessary to vindicate the black race and to assert the fundamental

equality of the human races.”45 It was also in this climate that the Salomon and Hyppolite

governments decided to use world’s fairs and expositions to convince U.S. and European

audiences that Haiti was a “civilized” country worthy and stable enough for foreign

investment.46

It is striking that the first Haitian head-of-state to participate in a world’s fair was

Emperor Faustin Soulouque, a figure particularly maligned by the international press

during his years in office, 1847-1859. Soulouque, an illiterate black general, was thought

by milat elites to be a malleable candidate for president. They assumed he would be

easily manipulable under la politique de doublure, the “politics of the understudy,”

allowing as Colin Dayan notes, “the light-skinned elites to remain in power, but under

cover of blackness.”47 Soulouque soon crowned himself as Emperor in 1849 and began

44
Ibid., vii.

45
David Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier: Race, Colour, and National Independence in Haiti (New
Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1996), 128.

46
Although Haitian governments consistently remarked that they wanted foreign capital, it is unclear in
what form this would take considering it was illegal for foreigners to own land in Haiti until 1918.

47
Colin Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 15.
 25
eliminating his political opponents. He also created a black nobility consisting “of four

princes, fifty-nine dukes, two marquises, ninety counts, two hundred barons, and thirty

knights.”48 This made Soulouque the object of ridicule by international commentators,

who also noted the parallels to Napoleon III’s rule in France (1852-1870). The

Soulouque regime’s open association with Vodou was used as proof that blacks were

incapable of “civilization” and prone to “despotic” rule despite the nation’s emulation of

European traditions. Kate Ramsey notes that “it was during and after Soulouque’s regime

that specific references to le vaudoux (in English-language writings, simply vaudoux)

began to proliferate in accounts by foreigners continuing to announce the decline of

‘civilization’ in Haiti.”49

The New York Daily Times reported Soulouque’s crowning as a “piece of gaudy

display and extravagance.”50 Spencer St. John specifies that after his imperial crowning,

Emperor Soulouque led a propaganda campaign to better the image of Haiti and made

participation in world’s fairs part of this effort. It was Soulouque’s government that

began Haiti’s pattern of consistent attendance at and participation in world’s fairs and

expositions, starting with the New York Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations held in

Bryant Park from July 14, 1853- November 1, 1854.51 The New York Exhibition

48
Ibid., 10.

49
Kate Ramsey, The Spirits and the Law: V odou and Power in Haiti (Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 2015), 80.

50
“History of 1852: Political and General History of the Principal Nations of the World. Part IV.
European,” New Y ork Daily Times, January 3, 1853.

51
Mike Gregory, Expo Legacies: Names, Numbers, Facts & Figures (Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2009),
3-6.
 26
organizers, inspired after visiting the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London, intended

that this fair showcase industrial advancements around the world. New York businessmen

led by Horace Greeley and P.T. Barnum designed their own Crystal Palace for the

exhibition.52 The New York Exhibition has been regarded by scholars as an isolated event

that was not successful due to a “disastrous start, in the context of the mounting sectional

crisis that would result in civil war.”53 The fair, which has not been regarded as a success

due to its financial failure, eventually closed with $300,000 in debt.54 The other

participating countries included Great Britain and its colonies, Ireland, Germany,

Belgium, France, Liberia, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Norway,

Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Cuba, and Turkey.55

The Official Catalogue of the New York Exhibition features detailed inventories

and descriptions of the displays sent from other nations, but the entry on Haiti was

briefer: “Hayti: The contributions from this country are contributed by his Majesty

Faustin the First, Emperor of Hayti, through Henry Delafield, Esq., Consular Agent. They

consist of various specimens of the productions of Hayti.”56 The display featured coffee

52
Paul Greenhalgh, Fair W orld: A History of W orld's Fairs and Exposition from London to Shanghai 1851-
2010 (Windsor: Papadakis, 2011), 28. The Crystal Palace in New York burnt down in 1858.

53
Robert Rydell, The Books of the Fairs: Materials A bout W orld's Fairs, 1834-1916, in the Smithsonian
Institution Libraries (Chicago: American Library Association, 1992), 5. Greenhalgh, Fair W orld, 28-31.

54
Gregory, Expo Legacies, 3-6. Rydell, The Books of the Fairs, 5.

55
New York Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations (1853-1854), Official Catalogue of the New-Y ork
Exhibition of the Industry of A ll Nations (New York: G. P. Putnam & co., 1853), v,
https://archive.org/stream/officialcatalogu00newy#page/n9/mode/2up.

56
Ibid., 192, https://archive.org/details/cu31924031227105.
 27
samples, "chocolate nuts [sic]," castor beans, honey, starch, bark of silk wood lace [sic],

pepper wood and rosewood trees, hemp, yellow and white wax, specimens of paper, and

a block of mahogany with the bust of Emperor Soulouque affixed on top.57 Cuba

exhibited cigars, sugar, and quinine, while Canada displayed pharmaceutical products,

tobacco, wool, flax, and hemp. Medicines, clothing, food, agricultural goods, and artwork

were part of the showcase for many participants who used this event as an opportunity to

find markets for their products.58 Haiti’s exhibit had a dual purpose: to showcase their

agricultural products and to highlight and aggrandize Soulouque, a black emperor, during

a period of expanding European colonialism.59

Subsequent governments followed Soulouque’s lead in using world’s fairs and

expositions as vehicles for promoting positive propaganda about Haiti. Under Presidents

Nissage Saget (March - May 1867) and Sylvain Salnave (1867-1869) the Haitian

government participated in the 1867 International Exposition in Paris.60 However, it was

during the 1880s and 1890s when the Haitian government came to take a larger interest in

participating in international expositions and mounting its own.

57
Ibid., 223, https://archive.org/stream/officialcatalogu00newy#page/222/mode/2up.

58
Ibid., 11, https://archive.org/stream/officialcatalogu00newy#page/n15/mode/2up.

59
Ibid., 121, 147, 169, and 206, https://archive.org/stream/officialcatalogu00newy#page/n15/mode/2up.
Interestingly Great Britain exhibited a bust of Louis Napoleon, while Germany displayed a bust of Queen
Victoria. France displayed a marble bust of Napoleon III. Holland featured a bronze bust of William II.
Italy had a bust of Vincenzo Gioberti on display among many works of art.

60
L. Bouvet, Exposition Universelle de 1867. République d'Haïti. Notice statistique et catalogue (Paris:
Impr. de Mme Vve Bouchard-Huzard, 1867),
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57971243/f6.image.r=haiti%20exposition.
 28
Expositions During the Presidency of Lysius Salomon Jeune

Figure 1.1 Lysius Salomon, President of Haiti (1879-1888).

Courtesy of CIDIHCA.

The period between the coming to power of Soulouque and the overthrow of

Lysius Salomon Jeune was marked by near constant political upheaval. Laurent Dubois

notes that “between 1843 and 1889, there were twelve presidents and nearly as many

constitutions…”61 During this time of civil war and political strife, Haitian politics were

polarized between the Liberal and National Parties. The Liberal Party, composed mostly

of light skinned Haitian elites, believed they were the most competent to rule the nation.

The National Party, on the other hand, concluded that Haiti’s problems were “mostly

caused by mulatto politicians and by the weakness of black leaders who had allowed

61
Laurent Dubois, Haiti: The A ftershocks of History (New York: Picador, 2013), 107.
 29
mulattoes to manipulate and use them.”62 However as Dubois notes, neither party

“envisioned a real expansion of political participation to include the masses of rural

Haitians.”63 The struggle between these parties was over who had the right and was best

capable of governing Haiti, and often compromised Haiti’s sovereignty. Politicians from

both parties sought backing from foreign sources to take or maintain power. It was in the

context of these polarizing political conflicts and at a time of disorder within the Liberal

Party, that National Party presidential candidate Salomon claimed electoral victory in

1879.

Salomon, who remained in office until 1888, came from a black landowning elite

family in Les Cayes and served as the Minister of Finance under Soulouque’s

administration.64 A member of the National Party, Salomon is often credited with

launching modernization efforts in Haiti which included joining the Universal Postal

Union, establishing the Banque Nationale d’Haiti, and laying the first submarine

telegraph cable to Haiti.65 Nicholls notes that Salomon tried to heal the wounds of the

country’s longtime political strife without much success. Salomon insisted that “co-

operation between blacks and mulattoes was essential for the future of Haiti,” not least

because he sought to convince the international community that the nation was stable

62
Ibid., 181. Note that these political divisions were not strictly based on color. For example, Anténor
Firmin was a member of the Liberal Party.

63
Ibid., 182.

64
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 83.

65
F. Burton Sellers, Salomon of Haiti and His Philatelic Legacy (Port-au-Prince: Educa Vision, 1984), 106.
Jacques Nicolas Léger, Haiti, Her History and Her Detractors (New York: The Neale Pub. Co., 1907), 240-
241.
 30
enough for foreign investment.66 That his government mounted and participated in

several international expositions usually goes unmentioned, but should be included

among his other modernizing efforts. These events were also opportunities to counter

international publicity about political turbulence in Haiti. Salomon mounted Haiti’s first

world’s fair in 1881 and also established the precedent for how the nation would

represent itself abroad, in events such as the 1883 Boston Exhibition and the 1884-1885

New Orleans Exhibition World’s Cotton Centennial.

Figure 1.2 1881 Agricultural Fair Grounds. Image from Georges Corvington
Port-au-Prince au cours des ans Vol 2.67

66
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 111.

67
Georges Corvington, Port-au-Prince au cours des ans V ol 2, (Montréal: Les Éditions du Cidihca, 2003),
III-5.
 31
Due to his involvement in the Piquet Rebellion (1843-1844), which fought for the

rights of peasant laborers against large landowning elites, Salomon presented himself as a

black ruler concerned with the interest of black peasants.68 Black elites, such as Salomon,

used claims made by black peasants to position themselves in the government as

legitimate leaders of the masses. While he used black identity “as the basis for alliance”

to gain political power, Salomon “never sought the democratization for which ‘the Army

of Sufferers’ had fought.”69 His interests were to expand foreign markets in Haiti. In fact,

even while serving as Soulouque’s finance minister, Salomon “was rather popular with

foreign residents, particularly the members of the old commercial houses, who were

witnesses of his administrative capacity, and benefited largely from it.”70 While in power,

Salomon’s government offered certain concessions to gain foreign capital including

ceding Haitian land, such as the island of La Tortue and the Môle St. Nicolas on the

northwest peninsula, to the U.S. in exchange for diplomatic and military support.71 While

ultimately none of these concessions were achieved, it is interesting to note Salomon’s

seeming lack of concern about possible foreign intervention in his efforts to attract

overseas capital. His major achievements were, as Nicolls notes, “an agricultural law,

distributing some state land to the peasants and allowing foreign companies to own

property in Haiti, and the founding of the Banque Nationale with financial assistance

68
Mimi Sheller, “The Army of Sufferers: Peasant Democracy in the Early Republic of Haiti,” NW IG: New
W est Indian Guide / Nieuwe W est-Indische Gids 74, no. 1/2 (2000), 50.
http://www.jstor.org.access.library.miami.edu/stable/41850025. The Piquets were also known as the Army
of Sufferers.
69
Ibid.

70
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 83.

71
Ibid., 139.
 32
from France.”72 Under the 1883 Agrarian law, investors whose companies who grew

crops for export would “enjoy, as moral persons, the privileges of nationality.”73 This

modified Haiti’s longtime Constitutional provision forbidding “whites” from owning

land. Nicholls notes that this prohibition of land ownership was in continuous “contention

in Haiti throughout the nineteenth century,” across party lines.74 Haitian leaders debated

how to balance protecting national sovereignty while attempting to attract foreign capital.

While, unfortunately, no records have been located thus far detailing the foreign

businesses that took advantage of this arrangement under Salomon, the question of what

implications such investments had for Haiti’s elite and for the agriculturally-based

laboring masses needs greater attention.

Salomon, looking to expand export markets, launched the 1881 Agricultural Fair

to display products for potential foreign investors. For Salomon, increased foreign

investment would advance his modernization aims and in so doing reinforce the

legitimacy of black landowners and black middle class to rule the nation. His speech on

the occasion of the Agricultural Fair, published in Le Moniteur, demonstrates that he also

intended to use the fair as an occasion to demonstrate Haiti’s “civilization,” and credit

himself in its achievement. Salomon states,

I believe I have betrayed neither the [Liberal Party’s] thoughts nor

my mandate— To bring you closer and closer to that civilization
the bud of which our divisions almost made us lose: to prove by a
swift and intelligent assimilation that this civilization is not the
privilege of predestined races and countries; And, finally, to place

72
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 110. David Nicholls, Haiti in Caribbean Context: Ethnicity,
Economy, and Revolt (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985), 44-45.

73
Nicholls, Haiti in Caribbean Context, 45.

74
Ibid.
 33
our country in the rank of those peoples to whom our armies have
shown, that we are very much their equals in arms.”75

Salomon was not explicit in mentioning to which “civilization” he was referring, but it

appears that French civilization was the ideal standard. Just as other nations mounted

world’s fairs and expositions to showcase their progress and innovation, so Salomon

intended for the Agricultural Fair to do the same for Haiti. It is unclear exactly when in

the nineteenth century Latin America and Caribbean nations started to hold their own

expositions, but beginning in the 1870s and extending through the 1890s, Argentina,

Chile, Guatemala, and Peru all held these events to demonstrate their “progress” before

the 1900s.76 Jamaica, still a British colony, mounted an International Exhibition in

Kingston in 1891. Haiti joined Argentina, Chile, and Peru as one of the first nations to

mount an exposition in Latin America, and may have been the first to do so in the

Caribbean. All of these expositions held in Latin America and the Caribbean focused on

showcasing local commodities which ranged from agricultural goods, to industrial

products, and to minerals such as gold and silver.77

75
Le Moniteur, Bulletin de Lois No. 13, Année 1882. No. 1er. President Salomon, Président d’Haïti. My
translation of “Je crois n'avoir trahi ni leur pensée, ni Mon mandat.--Vous rapprocher de plus en plus de
cette civilisation dont nos dissensions avaient presque fait perdre le germe chez nous: prouver par une
assimilation prompte et intelligente que cette civilisation n'est pas le privilége de races et de contrées
prédestinées; enfin replacer notre pays au rang de ces peuples auxquels nos armées ont montré auirefois
que, sous le rapport des armes, nous sommes bien leurs égaux.”

76
Argentinean Expositions: Córdoba - Exposición Nacional in 1871, Buenos Aires - South American
Continental Exhibition in 1882: Lima, Peru - International Exhibition 1872; Chile - Chilean International
Exhibition of 1875; Kingston, Jamaica - International Exhibition in 1891; Guatemala - Central American
Expo in 1897.

77
“Espejo de la modernidad: La Exposición Internacional de 1875,” Biblioteca Nacional Digital de Chile,
http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-688.html. James Higgins, Lima: A Cultural History (New
York: Oxford University Press, 2005),158-159. Merrick Needham, “The Great Exhibition of 1891 and the
birth of Jamaica's hotel industry,” January 31, 2015, http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/The-Great-
Exhibition-of-1891-and-the-birth-of-Jamaica-s-hotel-industry_18302240. Jens Andermann, “The History
Show at the Continental Exhibition of 1882 and the National History Museum at Buenos Aires,” Birkbeck
College, http://www.bbk.ac.uk/ibamuseum/texts/Andermann03.htm. La Ilustración Guatemalteca, (Siguere,
Guirola & Cia. 1897, 5. https://archive.org/stream/ilustracionguate00guat#page/n3/mode/2up.
 34
Officially opening on September 4, 1881 in Port-au-Prince, the Agricultural Fair

was organized by General Denis Légitime, the Secretary of the Interior and Agriculture.78

Haitian historian Georges Covington notes,

Led by Jonathan de Tréville, the curator of the Exhibition, the

President and his suite traveled through the halls of the palace,
while maestro Louis Astrée and his 125 musicians performed the
triumphal march composed by him in honor of His Excellency. The
head of state stopped in front of the various stands and admired at
length the works of art exhibited in the industrial section: statuettes
of Edmond Laforestrie, waxworks by Bellegarde, hairstyles by
Grice, cork paintings by Ferrés, artificial flowers of Saint
Macary…79

The Agricultural Fair, which received about 20,000 visitors, highlights that the Salomon

government sought to bet Haiti’s economic success on future investment by foreigners.80

Salomon stated, “It is necessary… to attract him [the foreigner], his capital, by means of

incentives: so that Haiti, which contains so much riches, will cease to be a foreign soil for

the foreigner to exploit as quickly as possible.”81 Salomon sought long-term foreign

investment and his government had even changed the law to permit foreign companies to

own property in Haiti. For Salomon, modernization in Haiti meant finding new markets

for Haiti’s exports and even allowing some foreigners to gain citizenship if they invested

78
Corvington, Port-au-Prince au cours des ans V ol 2, 315. Corvington, Port-au-Prince A u Cours Des A ns.
2. Édition. ed. 1975, 256. The fair closed on December 1881.

79
Corvington, Port-au-Prince au cours des ans V ol 2, 316.

80
I am unable to determine of this number how many visitors were Haitian or foreign, however detailed
accounts of visitors (foreign and local) are not common details mentioned within documentation regarding
world’s fairs and expositions.

81
Le Moniteur, Bulletin de Lois No. 13, Année 1882. No. 1er. President Salomon, Président d’Haïti. My
translation: “Il faut donc l'attirer, lui et ses Capitaux, au moyen de primes d'encourgement: alors Haïti qui
renferme tant de richesses dans son sein, cessera d'ètre pour l'Etranger un sol à exploiter au plus vite et en
passant.”
 35
in further developing the country’s agriculture. World’s fairs and expositions became

important venues for Haitian government officials to show that the country was equal

amongst “civilized” nations, and to encourage foreign investment and exploitation of

Haiti’s natural resources, negotiated on their terms.

Figure 1.3 Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty welcoming a group of women labeled "Mexico,
Brazil, Cuba, Peru, La Plata, Chili, Hayti, and Ecuador” to the World's International and
Cotton Centennial Exposition. Image from Library of Congress.82

The Salomon government went on to mount a small exhibit at the 1883 Boston

Exhibition, and was featured more prominently at the 1884-1885 World’s International

82
Joseph Ferdinand Keppler, “The World's International and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans,
La., open from Dec. 1st 1884 to May 31st 1885” (N.Y.: Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, 1884).
Includes brief statements from the "Republican National Platform" and the "Democratic National Platform"
that warns against "entangling alliances" while promoting trade, particularly in the "Western Hemisphere.”
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012645153/.
 36
and Cotton Centennial in New Orleans, celebrating the centenary of the earliest recorded

export of cotton from the U.S. Of the thirty-seven buildings, one displayed foreign

exhibits sent from forty-two other nations.83 In particular, exposition organizers sought to

cultivate commercial relations with nations in the Caribbean and Central and South

America. However, the fair also continued a trend of exhibiting “others” with the aid of

the Smithsonian Institution, which had contributed “anthropological displays” to other

southern expositions. According to Rydell,

Southern fairs continued to feature the Smithsonian’s

anthropological displays. At the New Orleans fair, for example,
Smithsonian anthropologists continued to develop the theme of
Anglo-Saxon racial superiority, [this] time by suggesting a theory
that races went through a sort of life span not unlike that of
humans and that primitive races were in the earlier stage of their
lives and thus needed protection and nurturing from the more
advanced races. Comparisons were also made between so-called
primitive races and criminals by displays of the small skulls and
brains of each, alongside the larger skulls and brains of individuals
who were considered to be more highly developed.84

Such “scientific” racist displays became prevalent in post-reconstruction U.S.

expositions. African Americans were granted segregated spaces at the exhibition to

demonstrate the progress they had made since emancipation, with the expectation that

their displays would reflect “what good agricultural and industrial workers they were

rather than…suggest a movement toward equality and upward social mobility.”85

83
Rydell, The Books of the Fairs, 6. Like most exhibitions it closed with a loss of $470,000 in revenue, but
it attracted over one million visitors.

84
Rydell, Fair America: World's Fairs in the United States (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution
Press, 2000), 28-29.

85
Ibid., 29.
 37
While Rydell and other scholars have analyzed the ways in which racist ideology

permeated exhibits at the New Orleans Fair and other southern expositions of this period,

they have not considered what it meant for Haiti, “the Black Republic,” to participate in

such contexts. The Haitian government display in the building reserved for foreign

exhibits included coffee samples, clay pipes, powder boxes, wooden goblets, a mortar

and pestle, a cane made from cocomacaque wood, sisal hats and baskets, rope, wood

products, several rough sticks made of lacewood and milkwood, and a stick identified as

for the purpose of “beating robbers.”86 Other than coffee, sisal, and wood products, which

were export commodities, it is unclear exactly what the Haitian government wished to

represent with the other items selected for the exhibit.

86
Department of Anthropology, 1884 New Orleans Exhibition, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural
History.
 38

Figure 1.4 Images from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History,
Department of Anthropology.

Considered individually and together, these items raise difficult questions about how

Salomon’s government sought to figure the nation through the display. In particular, the

stick identified for beating robbers was not typical of other foreign exhibits. For example,

Mexico’s display featured agave plants, fruit, furniture, and a pyramid made out of silver,

while Jamaica exhibited coconuts, medicinal plants, photographs of buildings on the

island, and samples of rum.87 Was the stick meant to communicate a “law and order”

message, that the government had control over its population and corporally punished

robbers? Was this an attempt to respond to the frequent foreign charge that “civilization”

was declining and lawlessness prevailed in Haiti? The political strife of this period might

have been the government’s motivation to include this disciplinary instrument in its

display.

Understood in this way, perhaps there was more continuity than dissonance

between this object display and the painted portraits of Haiti’s heads of state and

87
“Mexican Silver, 5640 LBS., [. . .] Building.,” 1885 New Orleans Centennial Exposition Stereoscopic
Views, Louisiana State University Libraries, Special Collections,
http://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/lsu-noe%3A93. Daniel W. Perkins, Practical common
sense guide book through the W orld's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition at New Orleans
(Harrisburg, Pa: L. S. Hart, printer), 1885,
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b77456;view=1up;seq=1.
 39
revolutionary leaders also exhibited. Seventeen paintings of Haitian presidents and

generals by artist Louis Rigaud were displayed at the 1881 Agricultural fair and the 1884-

1885 New Orleans Exhibition. According to Erica M. James, “the suite of portraits

traveled to the 1884 World’s Fair in New Orleans, to be exhibited at the Colored People’s

Exposition, a segregated display whose theme was Haiti. In 1885, they were sent to the

Smithsonian.”88 The original seventeen portraits were of Haitian leaders 1804-1885

including: Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe, Alexander

Pétion, Jean Pierre Boyer, Charles Rivière Hérard, Philippe Guerrier, Jean-Louis Pierrot,

Jean-Baptiste Riché, Faustin Soulouque, Fabre Geffrard, Sylvain Salnave, Nissage Saget,

Michel Domingue, Boisrond Canal, Lysius Salomon, and Ph. Lorquet.89 Such portraits of

revolutionary leaders and heads-of-state became another medium through which the

Haitian government challenged notions about its alleged lack of “civilization.” Kate

Ramsey notes that Haitian intellectuals such as Anténor Firmin, a Haitian statesman and

anthropologist known for his 1885 work De l'égalité des races humaines which countered

theories of black inferiority, believed that “if those of African descent had the potential to

be exemplary rationalists…Haitians had not just the potential but the duty to be the

exemplary representatives of all African-descended people.”90 Within De l'égalité des

races humaines, he provided examples of accomplished Haitian intellectuals, artists,

medical doctors, magistrates, and politicians to prove that Haiti could serve as a model

88
Erica James, “Portrait of a revolutionary- Object lesson: The leader of history's most successful slave
revolt, rethought,” https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4244-portrait-of-a-revolutionary.

89
Smithsonian Institution, RU 192 Box 579.

90
Ramsey, The Spirits and the Law, 94.
 40
for the rehabilitation of Africa and that there was no race was superior to any another. By

featuring the “great men” of Haitian revolutionary and post-revolutionary history,

Salomon’s government made a direct critique of the notion that blacks were not capable

of self-rule. Firmin states, “Haiti must serve to the rehabilitation of Africa,” and

participation at world’s fairs and expositions served to figure the nation as the “beacon”

of black progress and “civilization.”91 In an age when black people in the U.S. south were

only a generation removed from slavery, and at a time when Jim Crow legislation was

going into effect across the region, to have the first independent black republic display

representations of its black sovereignty in the form of its political and military leaders

must have been quite powerful symbolically. These paintings are in direct contrast to how

cartoonist and caricaturist Joseph Ferdinand Keppler figured Latin American and

Caribbean countries visiting the exhibition as women waiting to be welcomed by their

U.S hosts.92 Following their exhibit at the Fair, the Haitian portraits were then given by

wife of J. J. Audain on behalf of the Haitian government to the Smithsonian Institution.93

The Smithsonian Institution relied on nations, like Haiti which perhaps wanted to cut

91
Joseph-Anténor Firmin, The Equality of the Human Races (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002),
lvi. Ramsey, The Spirits and the Law, 95.

92
Keppler, “The World's International and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, La., open from
Dec. 1st 1884 to May 31st 1885,” http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012645153/.

93
J.J. Audain was the editor of Haitian newspaper Le Peuple. Smithsonian Institution RU 192 Box 579,
Office Memorandum to Dr. T. Dale Stewart, Acting Head Curator, Department of Anthropology to
Remington Kellogg, Subject: Oil Portraits of 17 Presidents and Generals of Haiti, June 22, 1948. Erica
James, “Portrait of a revolutionary- Object lesson: The leader of history's most successful slave revolt,
rethought,” https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4244-portrait-of-a-revolutionary. About fifteen of the
paintings were sent to the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University by 1963 and are
currently at Yale University’s Art Gallery. In 1949 during Port-au-Prince’s Bicentennial Exposition, these
paintings were requested by the Haitian government for display, however the Smithsonian alleged that
“some of the canvases have holes that must be patched; others merely need cleaning and finishing” and
ultimately never sent them.
 41
shipping costs, in order to develop their collections. Ironically Haiti donated these

portraits of distinguished Haitians to an institution that had provided the New Orleans

Fair with the materials for an exhibit on racial evolution and hierarchy.

Although Salomon’s government intended to demonstrate that Haiti was

“civilized” and thus ready for and worthy of foreign investment, it placed the nation in a

precarious position. With the appeal for foreign investment, Haiti’s resources were

promoted as available for exploitation. These agricultural exhibits reinforced the notion

that the nation’s success was tied to foreign financial intervention. Enticing foreign

investors continued to be an aim of Haiti’s exhibits at subsequent expositions, however an

emphasis on the country’s equal standing amongst nations of the global north and

preserving the nation’s sovereignty became more pronounced.

Haiti at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago

Celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ landing in the

Americas, the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago was held between May 1 and

October 30, 1893. The exposition attracted 21 million visitors with about 65 foreign

nations represented. According to Christopher Reed, these visitors included “among their

ranks…thousands of African Americans, diasporans, from around the nation.”94 During a

time of racial conflict in the U.S., the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition “was

supposed to signal to Americans and to the rest of the world that the American nation had

been rebuilt and that American civilization now rivaled anything Europe had to offer.”95

94
Christopher Robert Reed, A ll the W orld Is Here!: The Black Presence at W hite City (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 2002), 3.

95
Rydell, Fair A merica, 8.
 42
Robert Rydell contends that the mounting of expositions and world’s fairs by the U.S.

was meant to extend the nation’s “political and military influence to secure economic

ends [and to promote] a view of the world that held that progress toward civilization

could be understood in terms of allegedly innate racial characteristics.”96 While the

anthropological exhibits in New Orleans Fair had been static, the World’s Columbian

Exposition in Chicago featured displays of indigenous people and Africans in “simulated

native villages.”97 What is more, in contrast to even the New Orleans Fair, the Columbian

Exposition featured no African American-focused exhibit whatsoever. It was in that

context that the Haitian government led by Florvil Hyppolite (1889-1896) participated in

the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago to demonstrate again that Haiti, a

black nation, has an important place in the history of the Americas.

While there has been some scholarship on the Haitian government’s participation

in the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, thus far attention to Haiti’s exhibit has

tended to be overshadowed by a focus on the involvement of figures such as Frederick

Douglass and Ida B. Wells, who spoke at the pavilion to protest the refusal of fair

managers to include an exhibition representing African Americans. According to Barbara

J. Ballard, “only three decades from slavery, many African Americans in the United

States hoped to illustrate at the Fair how far the race had progressed since

emancipation.”98 Haitian and African American interests merged at this exposition since

96
Ibid., 9.

97
Rydell, A ll the W orld's a Fair, 56.

98
Barbara J. Ballard, “African-American Protest and the Role of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago
World’s Fair,” in C. James Trotman, Multiculturalism Roots and Realities (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2002), 109.
 43
both groups intended to show fair visitors that blacks in the U.S. and the diaspora,

particularly in Haiti, were capable of “progress” and “civilization,” and thus deserved

equal treatment.

Figure 1.5 Florvil Hyppolite, President of Haiti (1889-1896). Courtesy of CIDIHCA.

Political conflict continued between the Liberal and National Parties after

Salomon. Florvil Hyppolite, a member of the Liberal Party, came to power after leading a

coup against François Légitime, who was part of the National Party and also briefly

Haiti’s president from 1888-1889. Hyppolite’s administration become known for

expanding the commerce sector, as well as infrastructural improvements, such as

 44
installing telegraph lines, building wharves, and digging canals.99 His government was

invited to participate in the 1893 Exposition as part of an initiative by exposition officials

to “recruit and coordinate hemispheric participation” from the Caribbean and Latin

America.100 Given that Columbus established the first European outpost in the Americas

on the island of Hispaniola, fair officials sought out Haiti’s participation. Hyppolite, in

turn, appointed Frederick Douglass to serve as Haiti’s commissioner to the 1893 fair.

Douglass, who served as minister to Haiti from 1889 to 1891, was favored by Hyppolite

to be a representative given his constant support of Haiti and effort to preserve its

sovereignty.101 Douglass shared the position with Charles A. Preston, the son of a Haitian

diplomat, “who spent large portions of his adult life in the U.S. It would be Preston, not

Douglass, who would be involved in most of the planning for the pavilion, including

interacting with the Fair’s official directors and the Director of the Latin American

Department, William Eleroy Curtis.”102 Hyppolite’s government made participation in

this exposition a high priority since internal political conflicts in Haiti had prevented the

country from mounting an exhibit or pavilion at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in

1889.103 As Robert Gentil and Henri Chauvet note in Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne

de Chicago, a publication focused on Haiti’s 1893 representation at the fair, expositions

99
Jacques Nicolas Léger, Haiti, Her History and Her Detractors, 248.

100
Rydell, Fair A merica: W orld's Fairs in the United States, 41.

101
Ballard, “African-American Protest and the Role of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s
Fair,” in Trotman, Multiculturalism Roots and Realities, 111.

102
Karen Salt, The Haitian Question (PhD Dissertation, Purdue University, 2011), 29-30.

103
Gentil and Chauvet, Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago, 8-9.
http://www.dloc.com/AA00007509/00001?search=exposition.
 45
were paths for the Haitian government to “become better known abroad and to expose to

the civilized world the undeniable progress [Haitians] had made in industry, as well as the

mineral and agricultural riches of their soil.”104 Hyppolite’s government had two

objectives in participating in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition: to demonstrate

Haiti’s rightful place in the concert of western “civilized” nations and to cultivate foreign

investment in the agricultural sector.

Although Hyppolite’s government had hoped to have a cordial relationship with

the United States…this goal had conflicted with the preservation of Haitian national

sovereignty.105 During Frederick Douglass’s term as the Minister to Haiti (1889-1891),

the U.S. and the Haitian government entered into negotiations for the lease of Môle St.

Nicolas, a harbor on the northwestern coast of Haiti that the U.S. wanted to use as a

potential naval base and fueling station.106 Anténor Firmin was the Haitian Secretary of

State for Foreign Affairs during Hyppolite’s administration and became known for his

commitment to preserving Haitian sovereignty by preventing the cession of land. David

Nicholls writes that, “…Hyppolite, together with his foreign minister Firmin, managed to

resist strong United States pressure for a cession of territory. In a speech made after his

election to the presidency, Hyppolite denied that he had promised to cede the Môle, and

104
Ibid. “Une occasion s'offrait aux Haïtiens de se faire mieux connaître à I'étranger et d'exposer aux yeux
du monde civilisé les progrès indéniables qu'ils ont faits dans I'industrie, ainsi que les richesses minérales et
végétales de leur sol: c'était l'Exposition Universelle de Paris, en 1889. Malheureusement, Ia République
était, a cette époque, engagée dans une guerre terrible qui ne devait prendre fin qu'au mois d'aout et qui
empêcha Haïti de prendre part à ce mémorable tournoi international.”

105
Ballard, “African-American Protest and the Role of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s
Fair,” in Trotman, Multiculturalism Roots and Realities, 117.

106
Millery Polyné, From Douglass to Duvalier: U.S. A frican A mericans, Haiti, and Pan A mericanism,
1870-1964 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010), 49.
 46
explicitly linked his defense of territorial integrity with his racial identity.”107 Increasing

U.S. expansionist goals in the Caribbean and Latin America concerned the Haitian

government, and U.S. attempts to take over the Môle did not encourage mutual respect

and cooperation between the two nations. Even Frederick Douglass, appointed by

Benjamin Harrison as the first black minister to Haiti, noted that during negotiations over

the harbor “the presence of the Yantic [a U.S. Naval warship] and our naval officers at the

Môle justified Haitian suspicions and threats.”108 Washington saw Douglass as ultimately

undermining U.S. interests in Haiti and he faced “vilification in U.S. diplomatic circles as

well as in the New York press as an obstructionist.”109 On the other hand, Douglass’s

disapproval of U.S. handling of these negotiations fostered a sense of mutual esteem and

black diasporic partnership between him and Haitian government officials, which became

important as the pavilion was being planned.

With further negative press in the U.S, after the Môle St. Nicolas incident,

Hyppolite sought to affirm and demonstrate that Haiti was equal to other western nations

and that respect for its national sovereignty was the condition of their cooperation. The

Haitian government used participation in the Columbian Exposition to communicate this

message and also to continue countering narratives circulated by foreign writers. Gentil

and Chauvet wrote in Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago that “the poor

107
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 141.

108
Frederick Douglass, “Negotiations for the Mole St. Nicholas,” Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library
of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/mfd.25012/ Polyné, From Douglass to Duvalier, 49-50.

109
Reed, A ll the W orld Is Here!: The Black Presence at W hite City, 175. Frederick Douglass, "The
Negotiations for the Mole St. Nicholas. Manuscript/Mixed Material, Retrieved from the Library of
Congress,
https://www.loc.gov/item/mfd.25012/. Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Harford,
Conn: Park Publishing, 1882), 600-619.
 47
reputation of the Haitian republic today is the work of foreign writers, eager for fame and

fortune, who, having received the most generous welcome and the greatest hospitality in

the country, then returned in order to reward their guests with the lowest calumnies and

the grossest insults, with the aim of creating an easy success among naive readers who

still to this day confuse Haiti with the famous island of Tahiti.”110 Like past Haitian

presidents, Hyppolite believed that participating in and mounting expositions would have

a positive impact on Haiti’s image and ability to attract foreign investors. Visitors to the

World’s Columbian Exposition would be able to see the Haitian government’s view of the

nation and its history within the pavilion. In fact, Gentil and Chauvet state that “in recent

years, due to the efforts made by Haitian industrialists who, as we have seen, had great

success at the National Exhibition in Port-au-Prince (1881), and thanks as well to the

slow but steady immigration of foreigners, and especially Cubans, driven from their

country by political disturbances, national industry has been revived.”111 The ongoing

wars for Cuban Independence (Ten Years War in 1868-1878 and the Guerra Chiquita in

1879-1880) resulted in an exodus of Cubans looking for opportunities elsewhere in the

Caribbean. The Haitian government clearly favored certain immigrants to grow industry

110
Gentil and Chauvet, Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago, 8,
http://www.dloc.com/AA00007509/00001?search=exposition. “Le mauvais renom dont souffre aujourd'hui
la République Haïtienne est l'oeuvre d'une succession d'écrivains exotiques, avides de renommée et d'argent
qui, aprés avoir reçu dans le pays l'accueil le plus franc, l'hospitalite Ia plus large, sont retournés chez eux
pour récompenser leurs hôtes par les plus basses calomnies, par les injures les plus grossières, et cela dans
le but de se créer un succès facile auprès de naïfs lecteurs qui en sont encore aujourd'hui à confondre Haïti
avec la fameuse île océanienne de Tahiti.”

111
Ibid. “Toutefois, depuis quelques années, grâce aux efforts que font les industriels haïtiens qui, ainsi que
nous l'avons vu, ont remporté un légitime succès lors de l'Exposition nationale de Port-au-Prince (1881),
grâce aussi à l'immigration lente mais continuelle d'étrangers et notamment de Cubains chassés de leur pays
pars les troubles politiques, l'industrie nationale commence à se réveiller, à tel point que beaucoup d'objets
de première nécessité qu'on était jadis obligé d'importer se fabriquent aujourd'hui dans le pays même.”
 48
in Haiti.112 Overall, the Haitian government intended to show “the Republic in a new

light,” favorable to immigrants wanting enjoy the benefits of Haitian citizenship as per

the 1883 Agrarian law and establish businesses focused on developing agriculture in the

country.113 However, Haiti’s alliance with Douglass, Wells, and other African Americans

at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition meant that its blackness would stand out in

contrast to the other nations represented in the so-called “White City,” the name given to

the fairgrounds based on the color of their hallmark beaux arts buildings.

In the post-Reconstruction era, African Americans sought to show their progress

and contributions to U.S. society in all sectors. While many African Americans wanted to

distance themselves from only agriculturally-based production, the Haitian government

embraced any potential interest in that important sector of the country’s economy.

Despite this difference, the Haitian government welcomed Ida B. Wells and Frederick

Douglass to use the Haitian pavilion to vent their concerns about being denied a pavilion

and exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition. Haitians did not see cooperation with

African American groups as an obstacle to attracting potential foreign investors.

112
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation: The Origins and Legacy of Duvalierism (New
York: Monthly Review Press, 1990), 234n. “Candler, during his visit of 1838-40 noted that “a large
number among the class of mulâtre citizens residing in the capital were immigrants from the United States”
(Candler 1842, 165). Later, white and light-skinned newcomers had different points of origin: Cuba, the
Dominican Republic, France, the British West Indies, Austria, Corsica, Sicily, Lebanon, Germany, and
especially Martinique and Guadeloupe. Many adapted quickly and formed prominent ‘Haitian’ families.”
Trouillot notes as well that “…the migratory flow was not in one direction. The long regimes of Soulouque
(1847-59) and of Salomon (1879-88), for instance, which were dominated by noirs, forced numerous
mulâtres to leave the country.”

113
Gentil and Chauvet, Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago, 12,
http://www.dloc.com/AA00007509/00001?search=exposition.
 49

Figure 1.6 Aerial View of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Image from Wolfsonian-FIU Museum.114

In her article “African-American Protest and the Role of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893

Chicago’s World’s Fair,” Ballard writes that the Haitian pavilion in the World’s

Columbian Exposition served “as the locus of protest and racial and cultural identity at

the Fair” for African Americans.115 Wells and Douglass used the Haitian pavilion to

distribute their pamphlet entitled The Reason Why the Colored American is not in the

World’s Columbian Exposition. Wells was a journalist, one of the founders of the National

114
The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, “Aerial view of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition,” The
Wolfsonian - Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida,
https://digital.wolfsonian.org/WOLF074482/00001.

115
Ballard, “African-American Protest and the Role of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s
Fair,” in Trotman, Multiculturalism Roots and Realities, 117.
 50
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and widely known for

her work documenting lynchings in the U.S. According to Ballard, the Haitian “pavilion

was a space where African-American visitors to the Fair could feel at home. It also

became a site from which Wells, Douglass, and their associates could protest black

Americans’ exclusion from the Exposition and identify them with the march of

civilization in the western world.”116 Wells, Douglass, and the Haitian government had

similar interests within the exposition and united to show black diasporic progress. Wells

reported that being “situated strategically at a table in the Haiti Pavilion… she was able

to distribute ten thousand pamphlets to visitors.”117 Wells, Douglass, and associates had

to look to a foreign nation to support them in their cause for recognition at the exposition.

Both groups also collaborated on distancing themselves from other people of African

descent represented at the fair.

In Building the South Side: Urban Space and Civic Culture in Chicago, 1890-

1919, Robin Bachin writes that the World’s Columbian Exposition “showcased

educational exhibits of ‘primitive’ cultures in their ‘natural’ habitats, showing the

progress toward civilization… in addition to housing the displays of ‘less civilized’

races.”118 During an age of high imperialism, racial hierarchies were reinforced at the

116
Ibid. Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, Irvine Garland Penn, Ferdinand L. Barnett, and Robert W.
Rydell. The Reason W hy the Colored A merican Is Not in the W orld's Columbian Exposition: The A fro-
A merican's Contribution to Columbian Literature (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999).

117
Ballard, “African-American Protest and the Role of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s
Fair,” in Trotman, Multiculturalism Roots and Realities, 110.

118
Robin Bachin, Building the South Side: Urban Space and Civic Culture in Chicago, 1890-1919
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 4-5. Pascal Blanchard, Gilles Boetsch, and Lilian Thuram.
Human Zoos: The Invention of the Sauvage (Arles: Actes Sud, 2011), 190. This work was published to
coincide with the show "Exhibitions: The Invention of the Savage," held at the Musée Du Quai Branly from
November 29, 2011 to June 3, 2012. The 1893 Exposition also featured an “Algerian village” and
“Eskimo” people as performers.
 51
exposition. Dahomeans of West Africa, who were colonized by France, were featured in

the Exposition within a hut display. For African Americans, “the Dahomey Village was

the only building representing people of West Africa, the ancestral home of most black

Americans.”119 This is why, in particular, the Haitian pavilion became important site at

the exposition for creating and advancing an image of progress for blacks across the

diaspora. Instead of critiquing imperialism on behalf of the Dahomeans and denouncing

their display, Wells, Douglass, Ferdinand L. Barnett, Irvine Garland and the Haitian

government worked to distinguish themselves from continental Africans. The Haitian

government cast itself as the vanguard of black progress and was willing to stand with

African Americans to protest their lack of representation. However diasporic

collaboration and racial solidarity did not include public support for the West Africans

and denunciation of their display at the fair. According to Reed, “An elitist, Francophone

Hayti and its Afro-Saxon spokesman, Frederick Douglass, wished to project a new reality

and image to the Western world, so they ignored the Fon at their pavilion on the

fairgrounds. Since the Fon and all other continental Africans served as an embarrassment

to Afro-Saxon claims to being the embodiment of the best of the western European and

West African worlds, they and their interest were rendered invisible…”120 Frederick

Douglass used his oratorical skills to inform the public that Dahomeans were featured in

the Exposition to “exhibit the Negro as a repulsive savage.” 121 At the same time, he

119
Ballard, “African-American Protest and the Role of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s
Fair,” in Trotman, Multiculturalism Roots and Realities, 113.

120
Reed, A ll the W orld Is Here!: The Black Presence at W hite City, 142.

121
Wells, Douglass, Penn, Barnett, and Rydell. The Reason W hy the Colored A merican Is Not in the
W orld's Columbian Exposition, 13. Frederick Douglass, “Lecture on Haiti,” Manuscript/Mixed Material,
Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mfd.25020/. Charles Forsdick,
 52
defended Haiti from the notions of “savagery” that were spreading within traveler

accounts and newspapers. This was a missed opportunity for Wells, Douglass, Barnett,

Penn, and the Haitian elites to criticize colonialism and its impact on all peoples of

African descent. However, their need for acceptance from these imperial nations led them

to internalize concepts of “civilization” and “progress.” Proximity to whiteness was still

valued by both groups and linked to successful futures. Wells, Douglass, Barnett, and

Penn were attempting to assimilate as equals in U.S. society, which sought to disown

them, while Haiti was attempting to avoid neocolonial relationships while integrating into

a global economy dominated by Western powers.

On January 2, 1893 during the Haitian pavilion’s dedication ceremony, Douglass

gave a speech about Haiti and its promising future, emphasizing its status as the “only

self-made Black Republic in the world.”122 His speech informed the audience at the 1893

World’s Columbian Exposition of Haiti’s “character, her history, her importance and her

struggle from slavery to freedom and to statehood.”123 He continued, “I am to speak to

you of her progress in the line of civilization; of her relation with the United States; of

her past and present; of her probable destiny; and of the bearing of her example as a free

and independent Republic, upon what may be the destiny of the African race in our own

country and elsewhere.”124 His words in this address signal the high stakes for Haiti’s

“Exhibiting Haiti: Questioning Race at the World’s Columbian Exposition 1893,” in Nicolas Bancel,
Thomas David, and Dominic Thomas, eds. The Invention of Race: Scientific and Popular Representations
(London: Taylor and Francis, 2014), 458.

122
Frederick Douglass, “Lecture on Haiti,” https://www.loc.gov/item/mfd.25020/.

123
Ibid.

124
Ibid.
 53
participation in the Columbian Exposition not only as far as the Haitian government was

concerned, but also across the African diaspora, despite the distinctions Douglass marked

between Haitians, African Americans, and those from continental Africa.125 By stressing

that Haiti was the “only self-made Black Republic,” Douglass attempted to remind the

audience of Haiti’s historical importance and capacity to create a nation on their own

despite adversity and threats from other western powers. Reed notes that this speech,

given at the Haitian pavilion on January 2, 1893, symbolized the “extension of Haitian

sovereignty…as the Caribbean nation celebrated the eighty-ninth anniversary of its self-

liberation from foreign domination. Frederick Douglass, as its commissioner to the

World’s Columbian Exposition, spoke militantly of its past glory and promising

future.”126 Douglass charged that racism in the U.S. led to the tense relationship with the

Haitian government. In fact, Douglass noted,

We charge her [Haiti] with being more friendly to France and to

other European countries than to ourselves. This charge, if true,
has a natural explanation, and the fault is more with us than with
Haiti. No man can point to any act of ours to win the respect and
friendship of this black republic. If, as is alleged, Haiti is more
cordial to France than to the United States, it is partly because
Haiti is herself French. Her language is French; her literature is
French, her manners and fashions are French; her ambitions and
aspirations are French; her laws and methods of government are
French; her priesthood and her education are French; her children
are sent to school in France and their minds are filled with French
ideas and French glory. But a deeper reason for coolness between
the countries is this: Haiti is black, and we have not yet forgiven
Haiti for being black [applause] or forgiven the Almighty for
making her black.127

125
Wells, Douglass, Penn, Barnett, and Rydell. The Reason W hy the Colored A merican Is Not in the
W orld's Columbian Exposition, 13.

126
Reed, A ll the W orld Is Here!: The Black Presence at W hite City, 175.

127
Frederick Douglass, “Lecture on Haiti,” https://www.loc.gov/item/mfd.25020/.
 54

Although Haiti had fought France to win independence, Haitian elites and even Douglass

asserted Haiti’s French heritage as a proof of its civilization. However, Douglass ties

Haiti’s mistreatment by U.S. to the nation’s indelible blackness. The U.S. did not treat its

own citizens of color with respect and the black republic was not exempt from this

prejudice. Douglass further defended Haitian sovereignty by stating that “whatever the

future may have in store for her, Haiti is the black man's country, now forever.

[Applause.]”128 As Douglass notes “Success there [in Haiti] means success here [in the

U.S.] and success everywhere,” signaling that Haiti’s accomplishments, as well as those

of African Americans, had wide implications for the wider African diaspora.129

The Haitian government sought to present the nation as on the path to progress

and the pavilion’s architecture linked it closely to western Europe and the U.S., rather

than to Dahomey. The Haitian pavilion was, in fact, the first foreign pavilion completed

for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Located in the “White City” near the

pavilions of Germany and Spain, it was constructed in a Greco-Roman style reminiscent

of colonial buildings and was topped with a dome. While Karen Salt argues that Haiti’s

position in the “White City” amongst mostly white majority nations “enabled Haiti to

temporarily pass as white in the late-nineteenth-century Atlantic world of the Fair.”130

128
Ibid.

129
Frederick Douglass, “Negotiations for the Mole St. Nicholas,” Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library
of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mfd.25012/.

130
Salt, The Haitian Question, 105.
 55

Figure 1.7 Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Image from Rand McNally and Company, Columbian Album.131

The Haitian government constantly referenced its blackness and isolation with respect to

other nations and insisted on linking Haitian history, including the 1804 Revolution, to

the march of “civilization” itself. Civilization for the Haitian government meant invoking

their European heritage through the exterior architecture and the items displayed in the

interior exhibit. The center hall of the building featured the “coat-of-arms of the Republic

of Haiti in a medallion surrounded by a scroll bearing the following inscription:

‘Republique Haïtienne,’ and the dates 1492 (the discovery), 1804 (the date of Haitian

131
Rand McNally and Company, Columbian A lbum: Containing Photographic V iews of Buildings and
Points of Interest A bout the Grounds of the W orld's Columbian Exposition (Chicago: Rand McNally,
1893), n.p.
 56
national independence) and 1893 (the present anniversary).”132 “The discovery,”

referencing Christopher Columbus’ arrival in Hispaniola and the pavilion’s architecture

were part of the Haitian government’s mission to link Haitian history to “civilization,”

and to counter narratives focusing on the violence of the Haitian Revolution. Within the

exhibit, Haitian officials emphasized Haitian independence as part of the history of

western progress. Reed notes that “comments made in the opening days described it as

‘fine headquarters’ and ‘one of the prettiest structures in the foreign section. While

destined to be one of the three smallest pavilions built, its distinction of being completed

and dedicated early added to its luster.’”133 Frederick Douglass praised the pavilion’s

modest size and sensibility during his speech on January 2, 1893, stating that the Haitian

government had “wisely chosen to put no strain upon her resources and has been

perfectly satisfied to erect an edifice, admirably adapted to its uses and entirely

respectable in its appearance. In this she has shown her good taste not less than her good

sense. [Applause.]”134 Douglass presented the pavilion’s scale as noble in its modesty and

economy. Although constantly referenced as the smallest pavilion even within exposition

official guides, the Haitian government’s pavilion attested to the nation’s capabilities and

desire to be accepted by other nations as an equal.

132
Ballard, “African-American Protest and the Role of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s
Fair,” in Trotman, Multiculturalism Roots and Realities, 118-119.

133
Reed, A ll the W orld Is Here!: The Black Presence at W hite City, 173.

134
Frederick Douglass, “Lecture on Haiti,” https://www.loc.gov/item/mfd.25020/.
 57
The interior of the pavilion reinforced and extended the narrative of Haiti’s world

historical significance. The interior exhibit featured the anchor from Christopher

Columbus’ ship, the Santa Maria. This was the first time the anchor was sent abroad for

an exposition, but it became a centerpiece of Haiti’s world’s fair displays thereafter. Pre-

Columbian Taíno artifacts and Toussaint Louverture's sword were also featured in the

exhibit. According to The Dream City, published by exposition officials, the Haitian

pavilion’s main room included “a small marble statue called ‘La Rêverie,’ by Laforestrie,

a native sculptor,” which was a bust of Toussaint Louverture.135 Other artwork included a

portrait of Alexandre Pétion (President of the Republic of Haiti 1807-1818) by Colbert

Lochard and a portrait of Hyppolite.136 To showcase the nation’s production, the Haitian

government featured works such as pots, pans, gold frames, cabinetry, and glass tables to

highlight the potential areas of investment for foreigners. Mahogany, lace, embroidery,

and agricultural products such as coffee, cacao, and cotton were also displayed. The

pavilion was in fact well known for distributing coffee and liquor samples to visitors.

Rhum Barbancourt and Haitian coffee were “prepared and sold by “native hands” in a

restaurant at the southern end of the building.”137 This restaurant, which was operated by

Haitians served all visitors, black and white, at the exposition despite segregation laws.138

135
World's Columbian Exposition, The Dream City (St. Louis, Mo: N.D. Thompson, 1893). Gentil and
Chauvet, Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago, 69,
http://www.dloc.com/AA00007509/00001?search=exposition.

136
Gentil and Chauvet, Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago, 69,
http://www.dloc.com/AA00007509/00001?search=exposition. World's Columbian Exposition. The Dream
City, 541.

137
Ballard, “African-American Protest and the Role of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s
Fair,” in Trotman, Multiculturalism Roots and Realities, 118-119.

138
World's Columbian Exposition, The Dream City, 541.
 58
As a foreign pavilion, the Haitian pavilion was used by African Americans not only as a

protest site but also to circumvent Jim Crow laws.139

Panoramic displays of locations such as Port-au-Prince, Cap Haïtien, Gonaïves,

Jacmel, Cayes, Jérémie, Milot, and Môle St. Nicolas were included in the exhibit.140

Other panoramas included views of the National Palace, the Sans Souci Palace, the

Citadel, the Banque Nationale d’Haïti, the central market, churches, and elite schools

such as St. Louis de Gonzague, and Le Petit Séminaire Collège Saint Martial. Salt

mentions that the display featured “text by Haitian writers,” as well. The pamphlet Haïti

à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago, published with the aid of Dulciné Jean-Louis,

the Vice President of the Commission at the 1893 Exposition, suggests that these texts

may have included the work of Moreau de St. Méry, Beaubrun Ardouin, Pamphile de

Lacroix, Hannibal Price, Anténor Firmin and Louis Joseph Janvier, as well as a list of

Haitian journals and newspapers.141 In line with the elite nationalism of the period, the

Haitian government possibly included some of these texts, particularly those that

countered notions of black inferiority, not only to demonstrate their literary tradition, but

also to show the nation as equal participants at the fair. According to Reed, on Haitian

Day on August 16, 1893, “two omissions appear to be noteworthy. No mention of the

139
Forsdick, “Exhibiting Haiti: Questioning Race at the World’s Columbian Exposition 1893,” in Nicolas
Bancel, Thomas David, and Dominic Thomas, eds. The Invention of Race: Scientific and Popular
Representations, 453- 455. Fair officials designated August 25, 1893 as “Colored Peoples Day,” a separate
event to celebrate the achievements of African Americns. Ballard “African-American Protest and the Role
of the Haitian Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair” in Trotman, Multiculturalism Roots and
Realities, 110.

140
Gentil and Chauvet, Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago, 96-97,
http://www.dloc.com/AA00007509/00001?search=exposition.

141
Salt, The Haitian Question, 28. Gentil and Chauvet Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago, 69,
http://www.dloc.com/AA00007509/00001?search=exposition.
 59
pulsating, spirit-penetrating drumming associated with the Haitian peasants and an

integral part of their Fon heritage was reported, indicating that its absence was through

deliberate planning.”142 In fact, though, it was only in the mid-twentieth century that such

“national performances” became a staple of world’s fairs. Reed also notes that “Chicago’s

founding by Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, a Haitian, was not mentioned and appears to

have been completely overlooked despite its relevance.”143 The omission of Du Sable was

a missed opportunity given the government’s aim to use the fair to establish Haiti’s

interconnected history with the U.S., and to reinforce the capabilities of the black race.

If world’s fairs signified “a better tomorrow,” in Haiti’s case, progress was not

limited to the nation, but had broader implications for people of African descent.144 The

Haitian government used the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition to affirm its existence

as an independent black nation that was capable and on the path towards “progress.” The

Haitian government participated in this exposition celebrating Europe’s encounter with

the Americas in order assert Haiti’s “place in the Fraternity of peoples.”145 Haiti’s

presence and role at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition revealed the Haitian

government’s conflicting interests in desiring foreign investment, while preserving its

sovereignty and affirming its blackness. The United States’ increasing encroachment in

142
Reed, A ll the W orld Is Here!: The Black Presence at W hite City, 178.

143
Ibid.

144
Rydell, W orld of Fairs, 7.

145
Gentil and Chauvet, Haïti à l’Exposition Colombienne de Chicago, 47.
http://www.dloc.com/AA00007509/00001?search=exposition.
 60
the Caribbean was a threat, however not enough to deter the Haitian government from

seeking avenues for cooperation between the nations.

The Haitian government mounted and participated in world’s fairs during the late

nineteenth century to convince the international community of its political stability in

order to entice foreign investment and trade. They sought as well to counter negative

narratives about the nation and to be treated as equals in an age of Social Darwinism and

rising imperialism. The Haitian government attempted to expand foreign markets for its

products as well as to attract foreign immigrant investors to develop agri-businesses,

revealing that the Haitian political and economic elite saw large-scale agricultural

production as a primary path to national prosperity. Twentieth century Haitian

governments would continue to try to use world’s fairs in these ways, but by the 1930s,

Haitian officials focused less on the promotion of agricultural development and more on

building a tourist industry through its participation in and mounting of expositions.

 Chapter 2: Expressions of Sovereignty: Sténio Vincent,
Expositions, and Haitian Nationalism

“Une seul fois on a tenté, dans le monde romain,

une aventure aussi follement héroïque que la nôtre;
mais Spartacus a été vaincu et n’a laissé qu’on nom…”146
Bulletin de la Commune de Port-au Prince, 1932

In 1910, Sténio Vincent served as a delegate from Haiti to the International

Exposition at Brussels and published La République d'Haïti telle qu'elle est with a

Belgian press.147 The book provides a general history of Haiti, its resources, climate,

agriculture, “morals,” ethnography, religion, and the then-current state of its political

affairs. Vincent intended the book to inform the Belgian public about Haiti, in response to

the questions he was asked during his six month stay in Brussels. These ranged from

where Haiti was geographically located; to whether the French or the U.S. government

had organized the Haitian justice system; to if Haiti was still a French colony; to whether

Haitian officials would speak French or “Haitian” during their pavilion inauguration

speeches.148 For Vincent, these questions confirmed that Belgium and many other nations

knew little about Haiti.

146
Bulletin de la commune de Port-au-Prince (Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie du Service national de
l'enseignement professionnel, 1932), preface. My translation “Only once in the Roman world has an
adventure as wildly heroic as ours been attempted; but Spartacus was defeated and left only in memory.”
147
Sténio Vincent, La République d'Haïti telle qu'elle est. A perçus (Bruxelles: Soc. anonyme belge de impr,
1910), n.p. The Universal and International Exposition of Brussels was held from April 23, 1910-
November 7, 1910 and attracted 13 million visitors.
148
Ibid., 5-6. My translation from “Haïti? ... c'est une colonie française, n'est-ce pas? me dit un grand
industriel bruxellois …; Haïti? Ah! ah!... mais, où a se trouve? …, Çà doit être si loin, si loin ..., fit une
délicieuse jeune fille; Dans quelle langue allez-vous prononcer vos discours, en français ou en haïtien? …;
Un professeur de l'Universite me demanda un jour si c'était la France ou le Gouvernement américain qui
avait assumé la tâche d' organiser la justice dans le pays, et en quelle langues jugements etaient rendus.”

61
 62
In his La République d'Haïti telle qu'elle est, Vincent critiqued past Haitian

governments for not actively promoting the nation internationally, stating “we do not

know [how to use] publicity. The virtues of propaganda escape us.”149 Vincent advocated

developing a strategy to support Haiti’s economic interests through participation in

expositions. He pointed to the Brazilian government’s launching of the Brazilian

Economic Expansion Mission initiative, the “functions of which are absolutely distinct

from the diplomatic and consular services. This delegation is making every effort to make

the country's resources known and to [gain] the attention of the business community.”

This initiative used propaganda, publications, artwork, conferences, newspaper

advertisements, and other resources to “solicit the interest of the crowds.”150 He later

noted, “that this Brazilian mission of economic expansion is certainly a costly

undertaking. But these expenses are more than offset by the inestimable results. Brazil

has, today, everything it wants: capital, tools, immigration.”151 Vincent recommended

that the Haitian government adopt this model to encourage Haiti’s economic

development. Elected president of Haiti two decades later, Vincent made Brazil’s

example a blueprint for his objectives, leading to Haiti’s active participation in

international expositions between 1931 and 1939.

This chapter examines the investment of the Haitian government under the

presidency of Sténio Vincent (1930-1941) in participating in international expositions.

149
Ibid., 6. See Daryle Williams, Culture Wars in Brazil: The First Vargas Regime, 1930-1945 (Durham:
Duke University Press, 2001), 193-251, for more information on Brazil’s participation in world’s fairs and
the mounting of their own national expositions.
150
Ibid., 6-7.
151
Ibid.
 63
Vincent sent more delegations to world’s fairs than any Haitian head-out-state since

Lysius Salomon Jeune (1879-1888), including to the 1931 Paris Exposition Coloniale

Internationale, the 1937 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la

Vie Moderne, and the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair. I examine how Vincent used the

Haitian government’s participation in these international expositions as an attempt to

shape the nation’s image abroad in order to promote foreign investment in and tourism to

Haiti. When he first became president in 1930, Haiti was in its fifteenth year of

occupation by the United States. For Vincent, the country’s participation in the 1931 Paris

Colonial Exposition was a chance to assert that Haiti was a sovereign nation with its own

economic interests. The emergence of Haitian intellectual currents such as indigénisme,

led to questions about what aspects of Haitian culture would be represented within the

pavilions. Prior to the 1930s, Haitian government exhibits in international expositions

had featured a predominantly agricultural and historical focus. Such displays shifted

under Vincent to incorporate and emphasize Haitian art, culture, dance, and history, while

still omitting references to the Vodou religion. During his administration and thereafter,

Haitian pavilion exhibits were part of the official project to encourage foreigners to re-

imagine Haiti as a safe paradise. The first part of this chapter will examine the impact of

the 1915-1934 U.S. occupation on Sténio Vincent’s politics and his presidency, which

began four years before Marine withdrawal. Then, I will explore the factors that led

Vincent’s government to participate in these expositions and examine how he and other

officials formulated their objectives in doing so. His administration laid the template for

future government participation in expositions, in which Haitian culture and history

increasingly were used to attract foreign investment and tourism to the country.
 64
Sténio Vincent and Haiti’s International Image

Sténio Vincent, known for his opposition to the U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915-

1934), was born in 1874 to Benjamin Vincent and Iramène Bréa in Gonaïves, Haiti. He

obtained his law degree in 1892 and in 1896 was named Secretary of the Legation of

Haiti in Paris under Florvil Hyppolite (1889-1896). According to Anthony Georges-

Pierre, Vincent “took advantage of his visit to the French capital to attend lectures at the

Faculty of Law and the School of Politics in Paris.”152 This residency in Paris and his

later trip in 1910 as the Haitian Commissioner of the Exposition Universelle et

Internationale in Brussels were formative for Vincent, revealing to him how Haiti was

perceived internationally. Particularly concerning as he notes in the introduction of Haïti

t’elle qu’elle est, were the comments and questions of foreigners who thought that Haiti

was under the tutelage of another nation or, if not, that it should be.153 This served as a

reminder about the misinformation being spread about Haiti, which through that work he

sought to correct and counteract.

On July 27, 1915, then-president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam ordered the execution of

167 political prisoners. According to Hans Schmidt, “after the massacre of prisoners,

many of whom were members of prominent elite families, Sam took refuge in the French

legation, and chief executioner General Oscar Etienne in the Dominican legation.

Enraged mobs violated the legations and killed both Sam and Etienne. Sam was dragged

from the French legation and publicly dismembered.” This event provided the pretext for

152
Anthony Georges-Pierre, Sténio V incent: à la découverte d'un pan de l'histoire d'Haïti (Miami, FL:
Educa Vision, 2013), 31.
153
Vincent. La République d'Haïti telle qu'elle est., 5-6. Vincent became mayor of Port-au-Prince in 1907.
 65
the U.S. government to invade Haiti and begin an occupation that continued for the next

nineteen years. On July 28, 1915, approximately 300 U.S. Marines arrived in Port-au-

Prince. The U.S. government justified the occupation on the basis of Haiti’s political

instability, as seven Haitian presidents had occupied the national palace in the course of

five years.

In fact, the U.S. had multiple motivations in invading and occupying Haiti. In the

context of WWI, the United States was particularly concerned about controlling Haiti’s

strategic location in the Caribbean and reducing German interference in the Haitian

economy. The U.S. and its marines tried to justify the occupation by characterizing the

nation as politically chaotic, uncivilized, disease-ridden, and unsafe, as well as by

charging that “Voudauxism was rampant.”154 General Eli Cole during the U.S. Senate

hearings in November 1921, believed that the U.S. “had a moral duty to clean that place

up and establish decency down there, because it did not exist.”155 The occupation forces

maintained that theirs was a “moral mission,” to “save Haiti,” in order, paradoxically, to

preserve its independence.156 However, Hans Schmidt notes that, “within several weeks

of the landings United States forces were in control of all governmental agencies and

revenues in the coastal towns of Haiti” clearly violating Haiti’s autonomy.157

154
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Haiti and Santo Domingo, Hearings before a select
committee on Haiti and Santo Domingo, V olume 1, (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1922), 692.
Ramsey, The Spirits and the Law, 130.
155
Ibid.
156
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Haiti and Santo Domingo, Hearings before a select
committee on Haiti and Santo Domingo, Volume 1, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1922, 692.
157
Hans Schmidt, The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers
University Press, 1995), 70.
 66
Immediately after the marines landed, Haitian resistance against the occupation

began, and by 1917 a large armed insurgency was sweeping central and northern Haiti,

led by Haitian nationalists such as Charlemagne Péralte and other members of a

Revolutionary Committee.158 Péralte mobilized a peasant army known as the cacos, “who

for several years maintained an armed resistance in the countryside.”159 The

Revolutionary Committee also used literature as a means to combat the U.S. occupation,

demonstrating the various tactics Haitians employed to resist this violation of their

sovereignty.160 Yveline Alexis states, “Haitians battled US forces with varying weapons:

arms, words, art, and song.”161 U.S. Marines imposed a system of coerced labor from

1916-1919, called the corveé, which propelled many Haitians from varying social classes

to join resistance movements.162 According to Mary Renda, “by official U.S. estimates,

more than 3,000 Haitians were killed during this period; a more thorough accounting

reveals that the death toll may have reached 11,500.”163

Sténio Vincent took part in the resistance and like many other elites and

intellectuals joined L’Union Patriotique. Alexis notes that “Haitians such as Georges

158
Yveline Alexis, “Nationalism & the Politics of Historical Memory: Charlemagne Péralte’s Rebellion
against US Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1986” (PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts–Amherst,
2011), 43.
159
Mary A. Renda, Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of US Imperialism, 1915-1940
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 10.
160
Alexis, “Nationalism & the Politics of Historical Memory,” 44-46.
161
Alexis, “Mwen Pas Connait as Resistance: Haitians’ Silence against a Violent State,” Journal of Haitian
Studies, 21 no. 2 (2016): 270.
162
Alexis, “Nationalism & the Politics of Historical Memory,” 52-53.
163
Renda, Taking Haiti, 10.
 67
Sylvain, Jean Price Mars, and Sténio Vincent, etc. formed L’Union Patriotique. Members

of L’Union Patriotique invoked images of Jean Jacques Dessalines and Toussaint

L’Ouverture to press for Haiti’s liberty and travelled to Washington D.C. to express their

concerns.”164 In addition to traveling abroad to garner support against the occupation,

Vincent and L’Union Patriotique firmly “demanded the immediate end of martial law,

the abrogation of the 1915 convention which legalized the occupation, the calling of a

constituent assembly and the ‘withdrawal, within a short period, of the United States

Military Occupation.’”165 Through the work of the L’Union Patriotique and that of allies

in the U.S., the abuses under the occupation were exposed within Haitian newspapers and

also in the U.S., particularly in African-American newspapers.

Vincent’s nationalism and prominent opposition to the occupation led to his

election to the presidency by the restored legislature in 1930. By 1931, Vincent and the

U.S. government reached an agreement to gradually end the occupation. However,

Vincent had limited control over Haiti’s finances. According to Schmidt, “the Haitian

government was forbidden to increase its indebtedness, change tariffs and taxes, or

dispose of investments without [U.S] consent. This financial supervision was to continue

until all the outstanding bonds, scheduled to expire in 1952, were liquidated. The United

States, in turn, agreed to withdraw American troops by October, 1934”166 This agreement

was opposed by other Haitian nationalists since it did not restore Haiti’s complete

sovereignty, but rather prioritized protecting U.S. interests and in particular, preventing

164
Alexis, “Nationalism & the Politics of Historical Memory,” 106.
165
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 149.
166
Ibid., 226. The Marines withdrew before the 1936 date stipulated in the 1915 treaty.
 68
other international powers from gaining influence in Haiti. Despite the opposition,

Vincent was able to portray himself as the leader of Haiti’s “Second Independence.”167

To cultivate this image as Haiti’s liberator, Vincent held a public funeral for

Charlemagne Péralte in 1934. Alexis notes that “For Vincent, Péralte was an integral part

of his national project to unify Haiti during this moment of désoccupation (withdrawal).

Perhaps this was a strategic move to curry favor amongst the general population,

especially since rumors of a plot to poison the President were discovered a month

before.”168 Vincent’s nationalist project extended to the international arena. He intended

for Haiti to capitalize on the gradual amelioration of the nation’s image abroad that had

taken place over the course of the occupation and that, he hoped, could encourage foreign

investment and tourism. This alternative image of Haiti was emerging, in part, as the

result of foreign post-occupation literature that described Haiti as a safe space for travel,

adventure, and leisure. 169 According to Mary Renda;

By 1926 the Herald Tribune could describe Haiti as a picturesque

place of leisure, and indeed, other newspapers and magazines
joined in praising Haiti’s virtues as a vacation spot for Americans.
Characterizing the Caribbean island nation as a haven for the
weary, adventurous, or simply curious traveler, American
newspapers and magazines in the 1920s featured Haiti as a
tranquil, safe, and rewarding destination, while holding out its
mysterious and exotic allure. Not until the thirties would steamship
companies really focus on promoting vacations in Haiti, but by
1929 would-be travelers felt the pull of the island nation, having
been exposed to the possibilities: an exhilarating hike up to the
Citadel of King Henri Christophe; a picturesque stroll through the

167
Chantalle F. Verna, Haiti and the Uses of America: Post-U.S. Occupation Promises (New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017), 62.
168
Alexis, “Nationalism & the Politics of Historical Memory,” 113.
169
A few of these books include Black Haiti: A Biography of A frica’s Eldest Daughter by Blair Niles, The
Magic Island by William Seabrook, A Puritan in Voodoo-Land by Edna Taft.
 69
market; a venturesome evening of Haitian rum, dances, and song
in a Port-au-Prince nightclub.170

Foreign authors and U.S. officials had often portrayed Haiti as a nation that needed

“civilizing.” However, in the context of the burgeoning Caribbean tourism industry this

same characterization was flipped to promote the country as offering an adventurous but

safe experience for foreigners due to Haiti’s “taming” during through the U.S.

occupation. The Vincent administration sought to reinforce this new image while

attributing Haiti’s appeal and readiness for foreign investment and tourism to the efforts

of the Haitian people rather than external intervention.

As Haiti’s image was gradually changing abroad there emerged among some

Haitian intellectuals and artists in the late 1920s and 1930s a new interest in defining

national culture to embrace the cultural traditions of the “folk.” The intellectual

movement against the occupation shaped and informed a literary current that came to be

known as indigénisme in the late 1920s. While the U.S. occupation was underwritten by

ideas “that Haitians were inherently inferior” and needed to be “civilized,” Jean Price-

Mars’ 1928 Ainsi parla l’oncle (“So Spoke the Uncle”) revalorized the African elements

of Haiti’s culture and the long-denigrated practices of the predominantly black peasant

majority.171 In this work, Price-Mars accused the Haitian elites of “collective bovaryism,

meaning the faculty of a society of seeing itself as other than it is,” which was dangerous

not only with regard to the creation of a national literature, but also in Price-Mars’s view

threatened Haitian independent nationhood.172 He believed that if the elites continued to

170
Renda, Taking Haiti, 237.
171
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 10-13.
172
Jean Price-Mars, So Spoke the Uncle (Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1983), 8.
 70
see themselves as “colored Frenchmen,” the outside world would regard their literature

and ultimately their culture as imitative. In addition, Price-Mars “charged that the

persistence of this bovarysme collectif precluded the possibility of national unity and had

so weakened Haitian society that the country was left vulnerable to takeover by the

United States in July 1915.”173 According to Price-Mars, in other words, the “collective

bovaryism” of the elites had larger political implications and endangered Haitian

sovereignty. In his vision, the creation of a national literature and culture would lead to

national unity across color and class divisions. In addition, this unity could be used to

defend Haiti against foreign occupation and intervention.

Vincent was a nationalist but not an indigéniste and in fact, his government was

opposed by many of the leading proponents of that movement.174 Vincent was “a strong

defender of the French cultural tradition and Roman Catholicism in Haiti,” which meant

that in curating world’s fairs displays his government excluded references to Vodou. In

his 1910 La République d'Haïti telle qu'elle est, he identifies Vodou as a traditional

African based “dance" to honor spirits and a “popular entertainment, but one [that]

should not be judged or used to indicate a people’s degree of civilization.”175 Vincent

maintained that Catholicism is the religion of Haiti, while Vodou is an African tradition

that the rural population practices.176 In other words, for Vincent, Vodou was not a

173
Ramsey, The Spirits and the Law, 178.
174
Ibid., 182.
175
Vincent, La République d'Haïti telle qu'elle est. A perçus, 283. My translation: “Il ne faut point vouloir
unifier les amusement populaires, ni juger d'après leur nature du degré de civilisation ou de barbarie des
peuples. Il faut aux peuples des amusements.”
176
Ibid., 284-303.
 71
religion, whereas Price-Mars and other indigénistes would come to identify it as such in

the 1920s. Vincent sought to go beyond Haiti’s representation in nineteenth century

exposition displays by promoting not only agricultural investment and trade, but also

Haitian culture; yet the Vodou religion was omitted from his government’s representation

of Haitianness abroad.

Vincent’s populism and his experiences at the 1910 Brussels International

Exposition and during the U.S. occupation all shaped and informed how he sought to

market Haiti through world’s fairs. Plummer states, “Sténio Vincent had advocated using

peasant culture, of which many urbanites were ashamed, as a lure to tourist development

well before the beginning of World War II.”177 Vincent sought to represent Haitian

peasant culture in exposition displays without featuring references to Vodou as a religion

practiced in Haiti. Participation in world’s fairs and expositions became one of the paths

to market Haiti using a carefully curated national culture for foreign consumption. These

events provided an opportunity to integrate Haiti into the tourist industry despite the

United States’ attempt to control Haiti’s economy.

1931 Paris International Colonial Exposition

France’s 1931 International Colonial Exposition was held at Bois de Vincennes

located just outside of Paris. From May 6- November 15, 1931, millions of visitors came

to see a celebration of France’s colonial empire. According to Robert Rydell, the 1931

Colonial Exposition “attracted one of largest attendance of any world’s fair in the

177
Brenda Gayle Plummer, Haiti and the United States: The Psychological Moment, (Athens, Ga:
University of Georgia Press, 1992), 129.
 72
period.”178 The French mounted exhibits on their colonies in Africa, Asia, and the

Caribbean to demonstrate the benefits of the “civilizing” mission. Maréchal Hubert

Lyautey, the lead organizer of the exposition, “understood this exposition as a didactic

demonstration of the colonial world order, based on cooperation among the colonizing

powers and the West’s responsibility to continue colonization and its good works.”179

Through pavilion architecture, which recreated building structures from colonized areas,

this exposition attempted to show racial distinctions between people from the metropole

compared to those from the colonies. In addition, people from the French colonies were

brought to the exposition to be part of these pavilion displays, in an effort to portray

colonized peoples as less advanced and thus in continued need of colonial governance.

The exposition was aimed at a French and international audience to affirm French

national pride in their colonial holdings, while showing that colonization offered

reciprocal benefits for both colonizer and colonized. It was also an attempt to silence

reports of atrocities committed under French colonial rule. In fact, Lyautey was known

for his “pacification” of Morocco, as France’s first Resident-general there, and his

appointment as the commissioner of the 1931 Colonial Exposition was part of a French

propaganda campaign to garner public support for colonialism.180 Patricia A. Morton

states, “the organizers’ aim of making their empire better known to the French people

was accompanied by the desire to stimulate their involvement with colonial development

178
Robert W. Rydell, W orld of Fairs: The Century-of-Progress Expositions (Chicago, Ill: University,
1993), 61. Estimates have ranged from 7 to 30 million visitors/tickets sold.
179
Patricia A. Morton, Hybrid Modernities: A rchitecture and Representation at the 1931 Colonial
Exposition, Paris (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2003), 3.
180
Rydell, W orld of Fairs: The Century-of-Progress Expositions (Chicago, Ill: University, 1993), 69.
 73
and government.”181 Encouraging the French people to join this colonial enterprise

became an additional priority of the exposition.

The French invited Argentina, Belgium, Haiti, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal,

South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States to participate in the colonial

exposition. Some of the participating nations had colonial empires, and the French

included others as “colonial countries,” either formerly colonized themselves, or

exporting products that were “specifically colonial in nature.”182 Here, I am interested in

analyzing what Sténio Vincent government’s motives were for participating in an

exposition that celebrated colonialism, while Haiti was still under occupation by the

United States. How did Haiti position and represent itself within the colonial order of

such an exposition? Why and how did Sténio Vincent’s government seek to use Haiti’s

participation at the colonial exposition to re-assert Haiti’s sovereignty?

The scholarly literature on this fair has often omitted the fact of Haiti’s

participation, however the official 1931 publications A Travers l'Exposition Coloniale,

1931 la memoire du siecle: l'Exposition Coloniale, and Haiti’s own 1932 publication

Bulletin de la Commune de Port-au Prince all mention Haiti’s exhibit.183 The fleeting

references to Haiti’s representation at the 1931 Colonial Exposition belie how important

181
Morton, Hybrid Modernities, 74-75.
182
Catherine Hodeir and Michel Pierre, 1931 la memoire du siecle: l'Exposition Coloniale (Brussels:
Editions Complexe, 1991), 69. My translation from “Le stand devenu ainsi plus conforme à l’esprit de
Vincennes a pour voisins l’Union Sud-Africaine, l’Argentine et Haïti. Participants mineurs mais considérés
comme des pays coloniaux, soit qu’ils aient été colonisés autrefois, soit que les produits qu’ils exportent
soient spécifiquement coloniaux.” Canada was not a participant.
183
Edna L. Nicoll, Suzanne Flour, and Hubert Lyautey, A travers l'Exposition Coloniale (Paris: Nicoll,
1931). Catherine Hodeir and Michel Pierre, 1931 la memoire du siecle: l'Exposition Coloniale (Brussels:
Editions Complexe, 1991). Bulletin de la commune de Port-au-Prince, 31.
 74
the Vincent administration considered Haiti’s participation. In fact, Sténio Vincent

intended to use his government’s display at the 1931 Paris Exposition Coloniale

Internationale to re-assert Haitian sovereignty, demonstrate the country’s potential

investment opportunities, and proclaim its unequivocal independence. Haiti’s exhibit was

located in a section of the Exposition complex called Cité des Informations, an area was

set up for protectorates, territories under foreign control, and nations without colonies.

Figure 2.1 Cité Internationale des Informations. Courtesy of Gallica.184

184
Sartony Laffitte, “Exposition Coloniale de Paris, 1931: Projet pour la Cité internationale des
Informations,” (Paris, 1931), http://bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/ark:/73873/pf0001617690.
 75
The Haitian government strategically used this location to assert that it was not a colony

of the U.S. or any other nation. Le Nouvelliste and Haïti-Journal quite frequently noted

that other independent nations such as Greece, Denmark, and Brazil were located in the

Cité des Informations area as well.185

Vincent placed the Haitian Chamber of Commerce in charge of organizing Haiti’s

participation. In turn, the Haitian Chamber of Commerce appointed Léon Liautaud and

Ernest Chauvet as commissioners. Léon Liautaud was a distinguished lawyer in Port-au-

Prince while Ernest Chauvet was the editor of Le Nouvelliste, Haiti’s oldest newspaper.

Other representatives from Haiti included Maurice Simonetti, who produced and

exported Haitian coffee, the nation’s largest agricultural export.186 The commissioners

and other representatives wanted to further develop commercial relations between France

and Haiti. It is possible that Maurice Simonetti became a representative at the exposition

to further his business interests, but the Haitian Chamber of Commerce also saw Haiti’s

participation as necessary to expand trade to Europe and promote other types of

investment such as tourism. Insisting upon the nation’s sovereignty, despite the U.S.

occupation, was essential to expanding Haiti’s trade interests.

The Vincent government thus stipulated that Haiti be represented as a sovereign

nation and not as a colony, making this a condition their participation in the 1931

Colonial Exposition. Secretary of Exterior Relations Sansaricq wrote a letter to the

Haitian legation in Paris stating, “I would like to urge the Government to take the

185
“Haïti à l’Exposition Internationale de Paris,” Le Nouvelliste, March 9, 1931. “Haiti Ne Sera Pas
Seule…,” Haïti-Journal, March 31, 1931.
186
858 Départment des Affaires Étrangeres, Legation d’Haïti à Paris, Archives Nationales d’Haïti. Haitian
coffee was sold to nations such as the U.S., France, and Belgium.
 76
necessary measures, as soon as possible, to ensure this participation on the condition that

it respects the independence and dignity of Haiti.187 Haitian historian, diplomat, and then-

Haitian Minister to the U.S. Dantès Bellegarde, also took up the cause to make sure that

Haiti participated on its own terms.188 A major concern for the Haitian government and

its representatives was how the U.S. would participate in the exposition. Ultimately, the

Hoover administration planned an exhibit that featured a recreation of George

Washington’s Mt. Vernon home, displaying items from the United States’ “overseas

possessions.”189 The U.S. pavilion featured pieces from the Philippines, Cuba (itself an

independent nation in a neocolonial relationship with the U.S.), Puerto Rico, the Virgin

Islands, Hawaii, Alaska, as well as from Native American nations. After hearing reports

that the U.S. had wanted to include items from Haiti as well, on April 12, 1930 Dantès

Bellegarde fervently stated to the Haitian Secretary of State that,

Such a statement calls for a firm protest from the Haitian

government. It is not possible that Haiti appears at the exhibition of
1931 as a possession of the United States, next to Puerto Rico and
the Philippines. Our country was officially invited, as an
independent and sovereign state, to participate in the great event …
under the glorious patronage of Maréchal Liautey. Its participation
must be independent, it must, according to the terms of the
invitation, only show what Haitians have achieved in the course of
their national existence, from an economic point of view as well as
from an intellectual point of view. It would be truly extraordinary
for the Americans to attribute to themselves the progress we have
made through our own efforts, at the expense of greater sacrifices
and in the midst of the worst difficulties.190

187
Sansaricq, 858 Départment des Affaires Étrangeres, Legation d’Haïti à Paris, March 7, 1930, Archives
Nationales d’Haïti.
188
765 Legation d’Haiti à Paris – Dantès Bellegarde, August 12, 1930, Archives Nationales d’Haïti.
189
Rydell, W orld of Fairs, 72-75.
190
765 Legation d’Haiti à Paris – Dantès Bellegarde, August 12, 1930, Archives Nationales d’Haïti. My
translation from “Une telle déclaration appelle une firme protestation du gouvernement Haïtien. Il n'est pas
possible que Haiti figure à l'exposition de 1931 comme une possession des Etats-Unis, à cote de Porto-Rico
 77

While the French intended to emphasize that the colonies benefitted from colonialism,

the Haitian government wanted credit for the country’s progress despite fifteen years of

occupation by the U.S. Haïti-Journal, a newspaper founded by Vincent, featured an

interview with the President in early January 1931, in which he stated that he did not

want this position to be confused with anti-U.S. rhetoric; rather it was against the ongoing

occupation. Vincent asserted that “neither the government nor the Haitian people are anti-

white or anti-American.”191 Haitian officials desired investment and trade, and saw

Haitian participation in the exposition as an opportunity to pursue political, economic,

and commercial relationships with nations besides the U.S. Haiti sought to avoid the

post-occupation economic and political domination that defined Cuba’s relationship to

the U.S. The 1932 Bulletin de la Commune de Port-au-Prince noted that, “It is from the

United States that we mainly import, because of the pressure exerted on our trading

autonomy since the 1915 Convention, which resulted in the termination of the various

commercial treaties which bind us to the countries of Europe: to France, Germany, and

England particularly.”192 Resentful of the occupation and the economic constraints it had

et des Philippines. Notre pays a été officielement invité, comme état independant et souverain, à participer
à la grande manifestation placer sous la glorieux patrongage du Maréchal Liautey. Sa participation doit étre
indipendante [sic], elle doit [user] [sic] uniquement, selon les termes de l'invitation, à montrer ce que les
Haïtiens ont réalisé au cours de leur existence nationale tant au point de vue économique, qu'au point de
vue intellectuel, il serait vraiment extraordinaire que les Americains s'attribuassent le progres que nous
avons realises par nos propres efforts, au pret de plus grands sacrifices et au milieu des pires difficulties.”
191
“La Presse Américaine et Haiti. Pas Anti-Americain,” Haiti-Journal, January 5, 1931, Bibliothèque
Haïtienne des Frères de l’Instruction Chrétienne. My translation: “J’ai appris qu’aux Etats-Unis et dans
d’autres pays, l’idée prévaut, dans une certaine mesure, que le Gouvernement actuel d’Haïti est hostile aux
étrangers et au capital étranger—en d’autres termes, que nous sommes anti-blancs, particulièrement anti-
américains. Une telle opinion est fausse et je crois de mon devoir, comme Président de la République
d’Haïti, de la corriger. Ni le gouvernement ni le peuple haïtien ne sont anti-blanc ou anti-américains.”
192
Bulletin de la commune de Port-au-Prince, 31. My translation: C’est des Etat-Unis que nous importons
surtout, du fait de la pression exercée sur notre autonomie commerçante depuis la convention de 1915, et
qui a abouti à la dénonciation des divers traités commerciaux, qui nous lient aux pays d’Europe: à la
France, l’Allemagne et l’Angleterre tour particulièrement.
 78
imposed, Vincent’s government aimed through participation in the Exposition to promote

Haiti’s exports to other trading partners as well as its potential for tourism. They were

ultimately successful in insisting that Haiti not be represented as a colony or territory of

the U.S. Within the official program book A travers l'Exposition Coloniale, Haiti was

listed in the section entitled “Les Puissances Étrangeres à L’Exposition Coloniale” with

Belgium, Denmark, the U.S., the Netherlands, Italy, and Portugal.193

The Haitian Chamber of Commerce, the Haitian legation in Paris, and the Office

of the President had a stake in Haiti’s representation in the 1931 Colonial Exposition,

insisting that such participation would promote the nation’s interests. In the business

community, Edouard Estève, a merchant and the president of the Haitian Chamber of

Commerce, saw participation as a patriotic mission.194 The preparation for and

participation in the Colonial Exposition was chronicled in the daily newspapers Le

Nouvelliste and Haïti-Journal, and covered as well in the government-authored Bulletin

de la Commune de Port-au-Prince, a 1932 publication quite similar to Sténio Vincent’s

book La République d'Haïti telle qu'elle est.

In January 1931, the Haitian Chamber of Commerce placed several

advertisements in Le Nouvelliste calling on all artisans and industry owners to participate

in the exposition and send samples of their products.195 The Haitian Chamber of

193
Nicoll, Flour, and Lyautey. A travers l'Exposition Coloniale, 215-216.
194
“En deux mois…,” Le Nouvelliste, Monday, January 19, 1931. “Participation d’Haiti à l’Exposition
Colonial International,” Haïti-Journal, Monday, January 12, 1931.
195
“En deux mois…,” Le Nouvelliste, Monday, January 19, 1931. “L’Exposition Internationale de Paris cet
été,” Le Nouvelliste Saturday, February 28, 1931. “Haiti à l’Exposition Internationale de Paris,” Le
Nouvelliste, Monday, March 9, 1931. Although Vincent, was the founder of Haïti-Journal, I found no
advertisements encouraging local businesses to participate in the exposition, however they did chronicle the
journey of Leon Liautaud and the role of Edouard Estève in planning Haiti’s participation. No vetting
process is noted concerning the samples and products sent to the exposition.
 79
Commerce then aided local businesses by sending their products via steamer to France

for display at the exhibit in the Cité des Informations. Although the Haitian Chamber of

Commerce was responsible for organizing Haiti’s participation, the President was

involved as well. Vincent inspected and approved the items displayed and approved

before they were sent to France, noting that he was satisfied with them and that “when I

represented Haiti at the Brussels Exhibition, I did not have so much to exhibit.”196 The

exhibited products included Haitian cotton, mahogany, cigars, rum, cocoa, bananas, and

sugar, all featured to encourage potential trading partners to visit the nation. Samples of

Haitian coffee and rum were given out to exposition visitors during the Exposition. The

1932, Bulletin de la Commune de Port-au-Prince stated, “Europe is the most important

and the most faithful outlet for our export products: leather, cotton and logwood, cocoa,

and coffee,” despite the fact that for decades this had not been the case.197 Chantalle

Verna notes that beginning in the late nineteenth century, the U.S. displaced “France

from being Haiti’s leading trade partner.”198 The Vincent administration saw the U.S.

occupation as not only a violation of Haitian sovereignty, but also as a great hindrance to

the country’s industry and trade. Thus, Haiti’s participation in the 1931 Colonial

Exposition became part of the government’s effort to reclaim Haitian sovereignty as well

as expand trading relationships with European countries.

196
“Le President Vincent inspecte les objects à exposer à Paris,” Le Nouvelliste, Tuesday, April 7, 1931.
My translation: “Le President Vincent est sorti satisfait, et eut à faire cette remarque: ‘Quand j avais [sic]
représenté Haiti à l’Exposition de Bruxelles, je n’avais pas eu tant de choses à exposer.’”
197
Bulletin de la commune de Port-au-Prince, 31. My translation: Cette situation nouvelle, qui avantage les
usines et les manufactures américaines, ne laisse pas d’etre dangereuse quand on se rappelle que l’Europe
est le plus important et le plus fidèle débouché que rencontrent nos denrées d’exportation: le cuir, le coton
et le campèche, le cacao et le café.
198
Verna, Haiti and the Uses of A merica, 20.
 80
While the Vincent government sought to assert its political sovereignty through

the Colonial Exposition, parts of the Haitian exhibit ironically positioned the nation as

one of Europe’s oldest colonies. The historical part of the display emphasized that Haiti

was the earliest European outpost in the Americas. In fact, the main attraction to Haiti’s

pavilion was the anchor from Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria ship. According to Le

Nouvelliste, this was only the second time the anchor had traveled outside of Haiti, the

first time having been during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.199

Figure 2.2 Haiti’s Exhibit in Cité des Informations at the 1931 Colonial Exposition.
Image from Bulletin de la commune de Port-au-Prince.200

199
Louis Forest, “Propos d’un Parisien,” Le Nouvelliste, July 22, 1931.
200
Bulletin de la commune de Port-au-Prince, n.p. The anchor from Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria
ship is located in the center of the exhibit.
 81

Figure 2.3 Haiti’s Exhibit in Cité des Informations at the 1931 Colonial Exposition.
Image from A travers l'Exposition Coloniale.201

However, the colonial parts of the exhibit were counterbalanced by portraits and busts of

Haitian Revolutionary heroes and presidents such as Toussaint L’Ouverture, Bernard

Chauzy, Léonie Legros, Colonel Morinet, Thimonthée Dupont, General Belair, Jacques

Chauzy, and Jean-Pierre Boyer. The walls also included photographs of revolutionary-era

forts such as Petit Goâve, Fort Picolet, and Fort Dauphin (now Fort-Liberté). Also

displayed were letters from Charles Leclerc, Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother-in-law and

French army general sent to Saint-Domingue to restore slavery in the colony. In placing

201
Nicoll, Flour, and Lyautey. A travers l'Exposition Coloniale, 216.
 82
emphasis on the significance of the Haitian Revolution as a world historical event, the

exhibit signaled the potentially disruptive presence of Haiti in an exposition celebrating

colonialism. The display also emphasized its connections to world history by highlighting

Haiti’s support for the anticolonial independence struggles of the U.S. and South

American countries.202 This is a continuity from the Haitian government’s participation in

the nineteenth century expositions, which emphasized Haiti’s contribution to

“civilization” and world history. The anchor of the Santa Maria and Leclerc’s letters tied

Haiti to its colonial past, but at the same time the government wanted to show that the

nation had charted its own history after overthrowing slavery and colonialism.

One of the official French publications of the 1931 Colonial Exposition, A travers

l'Exposition Coloniale, noted that, “the footprint and culture of the French are still

powerful in Haiti, which rightly considers itself the flag bearer of this civilization in the

New World.”203 It continued, “since the revolt of 1804 during which the inhabitants of

Santo Domingo regained their independence after heroic struggles, what bonds of

sympathy and friendship between France and Haiti! These ties are solid, and this

friendship remains powerful and alive. That is why the participation of Haiti in the

exhibition of the Vincennes takes a symbolic character here to the honor of the two

countries.”204 The authors rewrite history to celebrate the “sympathy and friendship”

202
“La République d’Haïti à l’Exposition Coloniale,” Le Nouvelliste, Thursday, October 8, 1931.
203
Nicoll, Flour, and Lyautey. A travers l'Exposition Coloniale. My translation from “L’empreinte et la
culture française sont toujours puissantes à Haïti, qui se considère à juste titre comme le porte-drapeau de
cette civilisation dans le Nouveau-Monde.”
204
Ibid. My translation from, “Il ya plus, depuis la révolte de 1804 au cours de laquelle les habitants de
Saint-Domingue recouvrérent leur indépendance après de luttes héroïques, que de liens de sympathie et
d’amitié entre la France et Haïti! Ces liens sont solides, et cette amitié reste puissante et vivace. C’est
pourquoi la participation d’Haïti à l’exposition des Vincennes prend ici un caractère symbolique tout à
l’honneur des deux pays.”
 83
between France and Haiti after the Haitian Revolution to encourage investment and

tourism, while emphasizing Haiti’s sovereignty. This relationship that France attempted

to cultivate with Haiti remained colonial in nature. A travers l'Exposition Coloniale states

that in Haiti, “there are great and numerous possibilities for large and small cultivation of

all the tropical products; the land is fertile, the climate is healthy, labor is very cheap, and

water is plentiful.”205 Although the Haitian government sought to emphasize its

autonomy from the U.S., the nation continued to be cast as a potential site of exploitation

by other colonial powers.

The anchor proved to be a popular attraction and Le Nouvelliste reported that

French president Paul Doumer himself made a visit in August 1931.206 Léon Liautaud and

Ernest Chauvet called the Haitian exhibit a success, which led the Vincent government to

explore mounting their own exposition. Reports from Le Nouvelliste and Haïti-Journal

mentioned the possibility of Haiti organizing an international exposition in Port-au-Prince

in 1932.207 Haïti-Journal reported that the exposition would have been situated in the

Bois-St-Martin area of the capital since “there would be nothing to demolish and it

presents one of the best opportunities for the state to enlarge the capital.”208 Expositions

were convenient ways to advance infrastructural projects and Vincent’s administration

clearly saw the potential benefits. Haitian architect Maurice Doret, who would later work

205
Ibid. My translation from “Il existe de grandes et nombreuses possibilités pour la grande et la petite
culture de tous le produits tropicaux; la terre est fertile, le climat est sain, la main-d’œuvre à très bon
marché et l’eau à profusion.”
206
“Le Président Doumer visite le Stand d’Haïti,” Le Nouvelliste, August 21, 1931.
207
“Exposition d’Haiti en 1932,” Le Nouvelliste, March 10, 1931. “L’Exposition que prépare par le
Gouvernement,” Haïti-Journal, March 11, 1931.
208
“L’Exposition que prépare par le Gouvernement,” Haïti-Journal, March 11, 1931.
 84
on Haiti’s pavilion for the 1937 Paris exposition, was identified as heading this potential

project, which ultimately never occurred.

The Vincent government saw the 1931 Colonial Exposition as an opportunity to re-

integrate Haiti into the global economy instead of being remaining largely confined to

trade with the U.S. Haiti’s participation brought to fruition Vincent’s dream of taking an

active role in spreading positive propaganda about the country at international

expositions. At the next opportunity, Vincent had a grander vision for how the Haitian

government would represent itself abroad and this time brought Haitian culture to the

forefront to further encourage the cultivation of a tourist economy.

Post-Occupation Expositions: The 1937 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et

Techniques dans la Vie Moderne and the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair

Sténio Vincent’s government participated in two expositions during the post-

occupation period, the 1937 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans

la Vie Moderne and the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair. In both cases, the influence of

Haitian culture was more prominently reflected within exhibits and through performances

than had been the case in 1931. Cultivating trade relations with other nations still

remained a major objective for the Haitian government, however pavilion exhibits

centered more on representations of Haitian culture, albeit ones that omitted references to

the Vodou religion.

The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne opened

in Paris on May 1937. For six months, the exposition occupied the area between the

Trocadéro Hill and the Eiffel Tower. As with other expositions during this era, planners

used the occasion to update structures in the city, make infrastructural improvements, and
 85
create new institutions. For example, the Musée de l’Homme became a permanent

anthropology museum in France. Forty-two nations mounted pavilions during this tense

interwar period, with Nazi Germany’s pavilion located directly across from that of the

Soviet Union.209 According to Ihor Junyk, “With the Italian invasion of Ethiopia,

Franco’s assaults of the Spanish Republic, and German rearmament, Europe seemed on

the brink of war. The promotion of peace, therefore, became a subsidiary cause of the

exposition.”210 While exposition officials proclaimed that the exposition would promote

international peace and trade, the message of each country’s pavilion was more

nationalistic. Junyk notes “the expositions had shifted from displays of commercial wares

to the display and propagandizing of separate nations as collective entities. The

Exposition Internationale had become the ideal forum for the projection of a

representation of the nation to the rest of the world.”211 The Haitian government,

particularly under Sténio Vincent, had understood expositions as a means of national

propaganda prior to this period, but it was in the context of the 1937 Paris International

Exposition that Haitian culture featured more prominently in the national pavilion.

Intending to show Haiti’s progress since the U.S. ended its occupation in 1934,

Vincent agreed to participate in the 1937 Paris International Exposition almost

immediately after invitations were sent in 1935, making Haiti one of the earliest nations

to agree to construct a pavilion. Léon Laleau, a diplomat and well-known writer

209
James D. Herbert, "The View of the Trocadéro: The Real Subject of the Exposition Internationale, Paris,
1937." A ssemblage, no. 26 (1995): 107.
210
Ihor Junyk, "The Face of the Nation: State Fetishism and ‘Métissage’ at the Exposition Internationale,
Paris 1937,” Grey Room, no. 23 (2006): 100.
211
Ibid., 101.
 86
associated with literary indigénisme, was appointed Haitian general commissioner for the

1937 Paris Exposition.

Figure 2.4 Haitian Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exposition. Image from
the BIE Archives 1937 Exposition Section Étrangères.212

The Haitian government’s pavilion emphasized Haitian agriculture, labor, art,

culture, and history. It was located near the Champs de Mars near the Eiffel Tower and its

architecture and displays marked a greater shift into exploiting Haiti’s tourist

possibilities. Designed by Haitian architects Jeanton and Maurice Doret with a “tropical

character,” the pavilion included a bar and restaurant, which was uncommon in other

212
Jacques Greber, and Henri Martin, 1937 Exposition Internationale: Sections étrangères (Paris: Editions
Art et architecture, 1937), 31, Bureau International des Expositions Archives.
 87
foreign displays.213 The woodwork on the balcony was reminiscent of Haiti’s gingerbread

style homes scattered throughout Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien. The interior exhibit

featured wooden sculptures in addition to Haitian products such as rum, coffee, fruits and

furcraea hexapetala, a crop grown during WWII for the U.S. to make rope. The interior

also featured dioramas of Port-au-Prince and the Sans Souci palace in the northern city of

Milot. This exhibit reflected Vincent’s intention for international audiences to learn about

Haiti’s geography, history, and historical sites in order to encourage tourism. Léon

Laleau, the Haitian general commissioner, wrote that Sténio Vincent wanted “to

showcase our small nation. This exhibit is a tribute to the progress of the nation.”214

Models of the Citadel and Sans Souci palace became ways to inform international

audiences of Haiti’s capabilities and history beyond French colonialism. The pavilion

also featured a bust of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the first Haitian head-of-state. Paintings

of Haiti’s founders decorated the first floor of the pavilion. The Haitian exhibit became a

museum of sorts since maps, photographs, and artistic work were displayed throughout

the pavilion alongside crafted furniture.

The 1937 Paris International Exposition general report produced by French

exposition officials claimed that “Haitian participation revealed a great concern for taste;

It gave visitors a nostalgia for those happy countries and the desire to sail towards these

213
Exposition Internationale, Paris 1937, Arts et techniques dans la vie moderne: le guide officiel (Paris:
Editions de la Societé pour le développement du tourisme, 1937), 64, Bureau International des Expositions
Archives. “Petit guide du public pour l’Exposition,” Le Figaro, July 2, 1937. The Haitian pavilion was
inaugurated on July 2, 1937.
214
Letter from Léon Laleau to Luc Borno, 12 Commissariat Generale d’Haiti d’Haiti a l’Exposition
Internationale de Paris de 1937, 14 Avril 1937, Archives Nationales d’Haïti.
 88
islands of gilded tales.”215 It seems that the exhibit and restaurant worked to create an

exotic and picturesque image of Haiti at the exposition. The Haitian government was

appealing to a colonial nostalgia among exposition visitors, while attempting to assert its

sovereignty. The Vincent government wanted foreigners to envision the nation as a place

of leisure, but this positioned Haitians in a subservient role in relation to visiting

foreigners.

Figure 2.5 Interior of Haiti’s Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exposition.
Image from BIE Rapport General.216

215
Labbé, Ministère du commerce et de l'industrie, 210, Bureau International des Expositions Archives. My
translation from “La participation haïtienne révélait un grand souci de goût; elle donnait aux visiteurs la
nostalgie de ces pays heureux et le désir de cingler vers ces îles de contes dorés.”
216
Edmond Labbé, Ministère du commerce et de l'industrie. Exposition internationale des arts et techniques
dans la vie moderne (1937). Rapport général Tome 9 (Paris, 1938), 204-210, Bureau International des
Expositions Archive.
 89
The interior exhibit featured a mural that was inscribed: “Jeux, Haïti, Travail -

Games, Haiti, Work.” The picture of a so-called “Madame Sara,” an agricultural market

woman, located in the center of the mural marks an early instance in which Haitian

women were figured and centralized in official representations of the nation for tourism

promotion. Women with baskets on their heads would become ubiquitous in travel

advertisements for Haiti in the 1940s and 1950s. The “Jeux” section of the mural featured

a cock fight, while agricultural labor was represented in the “Travail” section picturing

women harvesting sugarcane. The mural directly appealed to potential international

investors by reinforcing that they could find cheap labor in Haiti for cash-crop plantation

production. Changing the international narrative about Haiti involved emphasizing that it

was a safe place to “play,” travel, and invest. Representations of cockfighting, cash crops,

and of Haitian women in peasant or French colonial clothing during the 1937 Paris

Exposition were all precursors of how Haiti came to be marketed to the international

public within newspapers and magazines over the next two decades.

The official guide book for the 1937 Paris Exposition stated “Haiti is a country

where tourism has been developing as evidenced by some documents presented. There is

a bar featuring culinary specialties of the island, dances and songs.”217 In addition to

promoting Haiti’s culinary arts, the restaurant emerged as a popular venue for exposition-

goers seeking cultural performances. Gabrielle Viard-Montrosier, who performed Haitian

folkloric songs at the pavilion, and dance performances by Jean Caroïfa drew large

foreign audiences.218 A series of meetings were held by representatives of the Haitian

Exposition Internationale, Paris 1937, Arts et techniques dans la vie moderne: le guide officiel, 64,
217

Bureau International des Expositions Archives.

218
Expo 1937, cote F/12/12552, Archives Nationales Pierrefitte sur Seine.
 90
government at the pavilion to entertain foreign delegates.219 The French newspaper Le

Figaro, drew attention to the fact that on the day the Haitian pavilion was inaugurated

“the Minister and the Haitian Commissioner-General delivered high-level speeches and

testified that our language [French] is still alive in Haiti and has certain privileges.”220

Despite the effort to emphasize Haitian culture, Haiti’s link to France and ultimately

“civilization” lay in its connection to the French language, signaling how important

French culture still was to Haitian elites. Toward the end of the 1937 Paris Exposition,

Sténio Vincent was given the “grand-croix de la Légion d’honneur” on the

recommendation of Henry Bérenger, the senator of Guadeloupe and Ambassador of the

French Government in the Antilles to celebrate the “tricentenary” of Haiti’s relationship

to France.221 In late October and November, the last months of the exposition, reports in

Le Figaro centered on the tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and the

October 1937 massacre of Haitians and dark-skinned Dominicans living in the border

219
“Aujourd’hui,” Le Figaro, July 24, 1937, 2. “M. Thibaud, Mlle Morosier, M. Salvane ont charmé
l’auditoire distingué par les chansons, musique et compositions, un ensemble parfait de folklore haïtien.”
12 Commissariat Generale d’Haiti d’Haiti à l’Exposition Internationale de Paris de 1937, July 18, 1937,
Archives Nationales d’Haïti. The Haitian government sent letters to the general commissioners of
Argentina, Austria, Peru, Poland, Romania UK, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Norway, Monaco, and Denmark in hopes
of making contacts for future trade relationships.
220
“Cérémonies à l’Exposition,” Le Figaro, July 3, 1937, 4. My translation from: “Le ministre et le
commissaire générale haïtien ont prononcé des discours d’une haute tenue et témoignant que l’influence
française est encore vivante dans ce pays où notre langue maintient ses droits.”
221
“Aujourd’hui,” Le Figaro, October 5, 1937, 2. Sur la proposition de S. Exe. Henry Bérenger, sénateur de
la Guâdeloupe, ambassadeur extraordinaire du gouvernement français aux Antilles, à l’occasion de la
célébration du tricentenaire de leur rattachement à la France, le gouvernement vient d’élever à la dignité de
grand-croix de la Légion d’honneur M. Steniau [sic] Vincent, président de la République d’Haiti, et à celle
grand officier de la Légion d’honneur M. Laleau, ancien ministre des affaires étrangères, commissaire
général de Haïti à l’Exposition internationale de 1937. My translation: On the proposal of H. Exe. Henry
Bérenger, Senator of Guadeloupe, Ambassador Extraordinary of the French Government in the West
Indies, on the occasion of the celebration of the tricentenary of their attachment to France, the government
has just elevated to the dignity of Grand Cross of the Legion d ' Honorary President Steniau [sic] Vincent,
President of the Republic of Haiti, and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor Mr. Laleau, former Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Commissioner General of Haiti at the 1937 International Exhibition.
 91
region. Despite some negative press due to Vincent’s lack of action in response to the

massacre, Haiti’s participation in the exposition resulted in increased newspaper

advertisements for steamships headed to Haiti for vacations.222

Promoting tourism from Europe and the U.S. became a primary goal of Haiti’s

participation in subsequent expositions, including, most immediately during the New

York World’s Fair in 1939. Held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, this exposition

celebrated the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration.223 According to

Robert Rydell, the site in Queens was “a marshy place where the city dumped

refuse…Some 1,126 acres of Flushing Meadows were set aside for the fair, making it

second only to St. Louis as the largest site in the history of fairs and expositions.”224 The

New York World’s Fair had two seasons; April 30, 1939 to October 31, 1939, and May

11, 1940 to October 27, 1940, with different countries participating in each case because

of financial difficulties due to the reallocation of resources for WWII.225 The fair ended

with a deficit of “$18.7 million” and as a result “no funds were left to complete Robert

Moses’s planned improvements to Flushing Meadows Park, and the fair’s structures,

including the Trylon and Perisphere, were torn down and their scrap steel was donated to

the war effort.”226

222
“Départ de Navires,” Le Figaro, December 31, 1937, 5, Le Figaro, January 2-5, 1938 and the month of
February 1938 feature these travel advertisements.
223
Robert Rydell, John E. Findling, and Kimberly D. Pelle, Fair A merica: W orld's Fairs in the United
States (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000), 91.
224
Ibid., 92.
225
Ibid., 93.
226
Ibid., 96. Moses received another opportunity to complete the development of the area during the New
York World’s Fair in 1964-65.
 92
As the Haitian government prepared to participate in the 1939 New York World’s

Fair, it also established a National Tourist Bureau the same year. According to the 1939

Pan American Union Bulletin:

The increase of tourist traffic to Haiti led the Government to

establish a National Tourist Bureau in Port-au-Prince.
Administered by a committee of ten members, the Bureau
functions under the control of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce.
Its duties are to study the organization of similar institutions in
other countries; conduct a publicity campaign abroad, especially in
Canada, the United States and Latin America, with regard to the
attractions that the country offers; submit to the proper
governmental authorities projects designed to attract a larger
number of tourists to Haiti; organize a service to guide, give
information to, and protect visitors; and work closely with
steamship companies, hotels, clubs, etc., to provide as pleasant a
stay for tourists as possible.227

The establishment of the National Tourist Bureau materialized Vincent’s longtime

objective to draw foreign visitors to Haiti, dating back to the country’s participation in the

1910 Brussel’s Exposition. He saw international expositions as a vehicle for national

propaganda to educate an international audience about Haiti and its potential investment

opportunities in the realm of tourism and agriculture.

At the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, the Haitian government reserved a small

exhibit space in the Pan American Union’s display. Abel Lacroix, a French citizen, who

would later serve as Haiti’s finance minister during Élie Lescot’s 1941-1946 presidency,

was named the general commissioner from Haiti to the Fair.228 Originally, a full-scale

pavilion exhibit had been planned featuring “agricultural exhibits, particularly coffee,

227
Pan American Union, Bulletin of the Pan A merican Union, 1939, Vol. 73, 547.
228
1939/40 Worlds’ Fair New York, Box 1159 Folder 23- 516A, March 20, 1939, NYPL Manuscripts and
Archives Division.
 93
sisal, cotton and rum” while also displaying “native arts and crafts and tourist

attractions.”229 However, Élie Lescot, who was the Minister of the Republic of Haiti at

the Legation in Washington, D.C., declined the invitation to mount a pavilion due to the

excessive costs.230 He likely used his connections as part of Haiti’s governing board in

the Pan American Union to secure the exhibit space.

Figure 2.6 Pan American Union Building. Courtesy of the

Museum of the City of New York.231

229
“5 More Countries Take Fair Space,” The New Y ork Times, May 23, 1938.
230
1939/40 World’s Fair New York, Box 313 Folder 4, NYPL Manuscripts and Archives Division.
231
“Museum of the City of New York - [Pan American Union],” William A. Dobak Collection, 2017.
http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=24UAYWEAXNGBQ&SMLS=1&RW=10
61&RH=627.
 94
According to the New York Times, “the Pan American Union maintained a pavilion that

originally was intended to represent ten countries- Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica,

Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay- but actually

only Haiti participated actively, while Colombia cooperated in a small degree.”232 Haiti

was the only one of these countries with an exhibit ready in time for the opening of the

Pan American Union building.233 Even without a pavilion of its own, the Haitian

government insisted on having its presence known at the fair. To accomplish this, Élie

Lescot attended the opening ceremony for the exposition and Dumarsais Estimé, the

secretary of agriculture under Vincent, was the guest of honor at World’s Fair luncheon

in August 1939.234 These government representatives were sent to the Fair to encourage

investment in and tourism to Haiti.

The Pan American Union, now known as the Organization of American States,

was established in 1890 to promote cooperation between the U.S. and Latin American

nations. At the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair, in keeping with the U.S.’s Good

Neighbor policy, the Pan American Union used their exhibit to promote reciprocity

among nations, foreign trade, and the United States’ policy of non-intervention. The

countries represented within the Pan American Union exhibit did not have many

232
“Fair’s Latin Envoy Brings New Hopes: E.F. Roosevelt, Back from Air Tour, Declares Colombia and
Paraguay Are Prospects Feels Sure of 1939,” The New Y ork Times, December 24, 1939. NYPL
Manuscripts and Archives Division Box 1500 Folder 7- Pan American Union, 1937-1940 1 of 2. Haiti
joined Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and
Uruguay in mounting small-scale exhibits in the Pan American Union building.
http://search.proquest.com.access.library.miami.edu/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/103005143/AB81FB75D6
344E24PQ/5?accountid=14585.
233
“Fair Envoy to Fly to South America: E.F. Roosevelt and John S. Young Off Tomorrow to ‘Sell’
Nations on 1940,” The New Y ork Times, November 19, 1939.
234
“15 Hours of Gayety to Touch Off Fair,” The New Y ork Times, April 10, 1939. “Official of Haiti Is
Guest,” The New Y ork Times, August 16, 1939.
 95
descriptions of their displays within fair literature, but used the Good Neighbor Policy’s

rhetoric in stating that they hoped that the exhibit would help visitors “know and

understand their American neighbors better and that the bond connecting all these

republics will grow even stronger than it is today.”235 However, based on Haiti’s previous

participation in expositions, it is likely that the exhibit featured agricultural goods, maps

of Haiti, photographs of historical monuments, artifacts from the Haitian Revolution, and

coffee samples. The Book of Nations: New York World’s Fair notes that the Haitian

government emphasized that Haiti had its own history after Columbus, pirates, and

slavery.236 The display highlighted the history of the Haitian Revolution and its leaders

Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. This was part of the government’s

plan to embrace Haiti’s history as a black republic, while also emphasizing the country’s

safety for tourist travel. As was the case in the Vincent government’s earlier exhibition

displays, this small exhibit and fair propaganda seemed designed to “sanitize” Haiti’s

image for foreigners and counter the ones that circulated during the U.S. occupation.

While “voodoo” remained a fixation for U.S. Americans, the Vincent administration

actively attempted to steer visitors away from such associations. However foreign

fascination for the religion remained a point of contention for Haitian officials at the

exposition. Meyer Berger, New York Times reporter and a visitor at Haiti’s exhibit wrote,

“in the Hall of the Pan American Union we had a long talk with Antoine Bervin, who

represents the Government of Haiti. We kept worrying him about voodoo when he

235
Bernbach, William, Book of nations: New York World’s Fair (New York: Winkler & Kelmans, 1939),
183, New York Historical Society Archive.
236
Ibid., 80-82
 96
seemed to want to talk about Haitian rum. ‘Very excellent rum,’ he said, eagerly.”237

Although Vincent and other Haitian government representatives codified some aspects of

Haitian culture within their displays such as market women, agricultural producers,

cockfights, and folk performances, but this did not mean Vodou religious practices were

likewise acknowledged. This is a striking omission signaling the Vincent government’s

discomfort with fully embracing representations of Vodou in their attempts to recast

Haiti’s image. As previously mentioned, Vincent maintained that Haiti was a Catholic

country, and that Vodou was an African tradition in decline in the countryside.238

Vincent’s administration intended to attract tourists by focusing on Haiti’s

geographic, historical, and cultural uniqueness. During the 1939 New York World’s Fair

the Haitian government emphasized the agreeable climate of Haiti’s mountain ranges in

the exposition, with its commissioners to the 1939 New York World’s Fair noting that,

“Haitian towns and cities are almost all dominated by high hills forming a sort of green

background, where people find in the midst of luxuriant vegetation a pure air, rich in

ozone, and of mild temperature.”239 In addition to the pleasant weather and beautiful

landscape of Haitian hills, the commissioners highlighted the healthiness of the Haitian

environment, working against the occupation-era image of Haiti as disease-ridden and

unsanitary. Vincent sought to alleviate concerns by relating an image of “safety” for

international travelers in all respects. According to the Book of Nations: New York

World’s Fair, “Haiti has almost been free of great epidemics which have caused fearful

237
Meyer Berger, “At the Fair,” The New Y ork Times, August 17, 1939.
238
Vincent, La République d'Haïti telle qu'elle est, 284- 303.
239
Bernbach, William, Book of Nations: New Y ork W orld’s Fair, 80-82, New York Historical Society
Archive.
 97
ravages elsewhere, such as cholera, bubonic plague, sleeping fever, etc. Yellow fever and

smallpox have made serious but rare appearances. Malaria prevails at times, but the

methodic use of quinine stops its pernicious effects and protects immigrants against its

attacks. It is being eradicated by the fight undertaken by the Service of Hygiene.”240

World’s fairs and expositions provided an opportunity to revise particular narratives about

the nation created during the U.S. occupation, and over the course of several expositions

in which the government participated, Vincent’s administration developed strict protocols

on how to display Haiti. Beyond stressing the country’s natural beauty, the government

intended to communicate that Haiti had a significant history, including that it was the first

black republic founded after a revolution. Vincent’s Haiti was also sovereign, “civilized,”

Catholic, and interested in foreign investment and tourism in order to continue making

“progress.”

The government’s participation in these expositions sheds light on how Vincent

sought to represent Haiti at international events emerging from and following the U.S.

occupation. Haiti’s mounting of national exhibits in expositions during the 1930s

involved a great push to promote tourism. In order for this effort to succeed, historic

memorabilia, art, and cultural performances became a standard part of Haitian

representation at world’s fairs, which differed from the agricultural production focus of

earlier exhibits. The Vincent administration also emphasized the importance of Haitian

history to Western civilization and wanted to strongly tie the nation’s progress to its own

efforts rather than to colonialism or occupation. Through active engagement in these

international events, Vincent aimed to set a precedent for how Haitian governments

240
Ibid.
 98
should manage Haiti’s image abroad. While the image of Haiti that he sought to promote

emerged from nineteenth and early twentieth century elite nationalism, Vincent’s

successors revised this image in the context of expositions in response to increasing

foreign fascination, and subsequent Haitian governments did not shy away from using

Vodou to attract tourists within exposition displays. The governments of Élie Lescot and

Dumarsais Estimé relied upon Haitian art, culture, history and staged Vodou

performances to launch Haiti into what has been called the “Golden Age” of Haitian

tourism.
 Chapter 3: A Greater Destiny: The Bicentennial International Exposition of
Port-au-Prince 1949-1950

“The soul of the Haitian people is marching toward the discovery of a greater destiny.
The desire for perfection and for total renewal which pervades our people announces that
a spring-time of new life and flowering lies surely ahead.”241 --- Excerpt from Dumarsais
Estimé’s speech delivered upon the inauguration of the International Exposition,
8 December 1949.

In August 1946, Léon Dumarsais Estimé, a politician known for his noiriste

sympathies, was elected president of Haiti. Estimé, a moderate, had support from the

black middle class, and came to power after the so-called “Revolution of 1946,” which

resulted in the ousting of then-president Élie Lescot (1941-1946) and meant the end of

milat presidencies in Haiti after the U.S. occupation (1915-1934). This spirit of change

extended beyond government policy to pervade civil society and the business sector, and

Estimé channeled that mandate into modernization efforts throughout the country.242 As

the Secretary of Agriculture under Sténio Vincent, Estimé had been the guest of honor at

the New York World’s Fair luncheon organized in August 1939.243 Following the

example of previous Haitian governments, his administration saw expositions as an

241
Excerpted from a speech by Dumarsais Estimé on December 9, 1949 in Cité de l’Exposition. Dumarsais
Estimé, Harry S. Truman, and William E. De Courcy, Haiti and the U.S.A . (Port-au-Prince, Haiti: Henry
Deschamps, 1949), 16. Translation from the French version is by Edith Efron.

242
Matthew J. Smith, Red & Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934-1957
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 97, 104, and 109. Matthew Smith, “The
Revolution of 1946,” Island Luminous, (Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), 2014). I use the Kreyól
term “milat” instead of “mulatto” or “mulâtre” in reference to the predominetely light-skinned Haitian elite
and others that compose this social class.

243
“15 Hours of Gayety to Touch off Fair,” The New Y ork Times, April 10, 1939. “Official of Haiti Is
Guest,” The New Y ork Times, August 16, 1939. The luncheon was organized by Edward F. Roosevelt who
was the director of foreign participation for the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

99
 100
opportunity to remake Haiti’s image abroad, and beyond this, to fulfill Vincent’s dream

of holding an international exposition in Haiti.

Celebrating Port-au-Prince’s founding, the Bicentennial International Exposition

of Port-au-Prince, held from December 8, 1949 to June 8, 1950, continued Haitian

government efforts to make Haiti better known to the international community as a nation

that was proud of its independence and its contributions to world history. In itself, this

was not a departure from previous administrations that had used participation in world’s

fairs to demonstrate Haiti’s progress and modernity. What had shifted was the extent to

which the Estimé government used the occasion of the Exposition to undertake

infrastructural changes and commodify Haiti’s cultural traditions to attract international

tourism. Launching what has been called the “Golden Age of Haitian tourism,” the

International Exposition codified new ways for the Haitian government to respond to and

challenge the many decades of negative representations rooted in notions of savagery and

the alleged inability of blacks to govern themselves.

This chapter explores the Haitian government’s rationale for mounting the only

Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) recognized international world’s fair in the

Caribbean, as well as the investment of other interested parties in this event. I contend

that through the International Exposition, foreign capital, the milat elite, and the black

middle class all sought to benefit from the rebranding of Haiti as a Caribbean tourist

haven. Although the Exposition lasted only six months, it represented a major effort by

the Haitian government to recreate Haiti’s image through urban beautification,

international partnerships, promotion of travel to Haitian historical sites, and the

construction and valorization of Haitian national culture. Now tourist holidays were the
 101
primary product that the Haitian government sought to promote internationally, beyond

agricultural commodities. The chapter begins by examining how modernization and

urbanization projects by UNESCO and the Haitian government paved the way for the

launch of the International Exposition and, I would argue, the bid for increased

international tourism to Haiti. Next, I explore how the government in conjunction with

corporate partners like Pan American Airways rebranded Haiti as a Caribbean tourist

destination. I argue that through the Exposition, Estimé’s government figured the black

middle class as the vanguard of progress and modernization in Haiti and valorized the

culture and production of the Haitian masses to secure tourist dollars. However, as the

chapter also documents, the event displaced many residents of a working-class

neighborhood in the construction of its physical space, and excluded those not of middle

class or elite means from full participation. Later, I delve into how the Haitian

government framed tourism to the island as a unique cosmopolitan experience that

offered musical performances from throughout the Caribbean and other foreign nations. I

also examine how the Exposition familiarized international audiences with a

commodified version of Haitian folk culture that embraced elements from the Vodou

religion through theater and nightclub performances, as well as in the naming of hotels.

Finally, I examine the International Exposition’s impact on Haiti’s tourist industry. Thus,

this chapter examines both historical continuities and innovations in the Estimé

government’s staging of the 1949-1950 International Exposition in Port-au-Prince, and

pays particularly close attention to the tensions of its modernizing and tourism-focused

aims.
 102
Estimé’s Nationalism

Estimé’s burial site memorial bears the following inscription: “President

Dumarsais ESTIME (August 1946 to 1950), a leader who fought for the emancipation of

the real people,” referring to the black peasant masses who Estimé saw himself as

championing.244 Estimé (1900-1953) was born in Verrettes to a peasant family, but

through the support of an uncle was able to acquire an education in Port-au-Prince. He

was trained as a lawyer and teacher, before entering politics during the Vincent

government. Although he married into the milat elite, Estimé developed a nationalist

vision of himself as politically representing the interests of the black majority. However,

while Estimé used grievances expressed by black peasants to position himself as a

legitimate leader of the masses, it was primarily the support of the black middle class that

brought him to power and their interests that shaped his policies. Matthew Smith explains

that “members of the black intelligentsia ran all major areas of governance and state

affairs…The cabinet, once the hub of elite political control, was in 1947 devoid of milat

membership.”245 Estimé’s national popularity soared after his government opened new

schools in the provinces, distributed scholarships for young non-elite Haitians to travel

abroad for secondary studies, “instituted the L’École Supérieure for the training of

secondary school teachers, and used state funds to develop the National Archives,” as

well as expanded social services.246

244
“Memorial ou reposent les restes du president Dumarsais Estimé,” (Port-au-Prince: Archives Nationale
d’Haiti, 1957), http://www.dloc.com/CA00500127/00001.

245
Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 108.

246
Ibid., 112.
 103
Estimé’s nationalism had a strong economic dimension, and upon taking office he

asserted that Haiti was fully capable of its own fiscal oversight. The United States had

controlled Haiti’s finances since the U.S. Occupation (1915-1934) and all international

loans had to gain Washington’s approval. When Estimé became president, he sought the

aid of the United States for a new $20 million loan and forgiveness of a previous loan

taken out in 1938 in order to pay the nation’s outstanding debt.247 When the Export-

Import bank of the United States denied the Haitian government this loan, “Estimé…

appealed to the country’s nationalistic sentiment, arguing that it was everyone’s

responsibility to ensure full repayment” of the 1938 loan.248 The slogan “Payons cinq

millions” stated “Haïtiens, tous unis, Haïtiens, tous unis, pour payer, pour payer la dette.

Souscrivons tous, Souscrivons tous, Payons les cinq millions,” became a popular cry of

schoolchildren and workers. Smith notes that “the effort…elevated Estimé’s prestige

higher than any other president before him.”249 This nationalist rally cry was successful

and according to Brenda Gayle Plummer, Estimé “raised an internal bond issue worth up

to $10 million. From this, Haiti realized $7.26 million, of which $5 million serviced the

debt. The remainder went toward the commemoration of the Port-au-Prince bicentennial

and other projects for which Estimé is remembered.”250 In a later speech, excerpted in the

epigraph to this chapter, Estimé expressed his confidence that the Haitian people were

247
Ibid., 113.

248
Ibid., 114.

249
Ibid. The song Payons cinq millions was recited to me by Dr. Pierre Michel Fontaine on May 2, 2012 at
the University of Miami. He remembers singing this song as a young student in Cap Haïtien, Haiti.

250
Plummer, Haiti and the United States, 163. Plummer and Smith state different years, (1922 and 1938
respectively), for the loan repayment.
 104
“marching toward the discovery of a greater destiny.”251 Clearly, he saw Haiti’s fiscal

independence, released from any foreign oversight and meddling to be a prerequisite for

that future. This effort by Estimé to repay the debt to the U.S. also successfully aimed to

mobilize the population behind black middle class political leadership. Dimmy Herard

argues that Estimé’s nationalism was not necessarily as inclusive as it might appear, but

rather sought first and foremost “to empower and enrich the black elite and middle

classes.”252 Modernization projects in the Marbial Valley, the town of Belladère, as well

as during the Bicentennial International Exposition reflected these aims and positioned

representatives of the black middle class as the most qualified and legitimate stewards of

the nation’s progress.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

projects in the Marbial Valley and the Haitian government’s re-construction of the town

of Belladère, in the Centre department of Haiti, were modernization efforts that sought, in

part, to change Haiti’s image abroad. In this way, these projects had more in common

with the International Exposition than has been often recognized. In 1947, Estimé asked

UNESCO to conduct a pilot project in the Marbial Valley. Located in southern Haiti, this

area represented “the most crucial problems of Haiti within the compass of one small

watershed.”253 Poverty, disease, overcrowding, illiteracy, famine, and poor agriculture

251
Excerpted from a speech by Dumarsais Estimé on December 9, 1949. Dumarsais Estimé, Harry S.
Truman, and William E. De Courcy, Haiti and the U.S.A ., 16.

252
Dimmy Herard, "The Politics of Democratization: Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the Lavalas Movement in
Haiti" (FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016), 75, http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3037.

253
UNESCO, The Haiti Pilot Project: Phase One (1947-1949), (UNESCO Paris, 1951), 11. UNESCO failed
to provide a system of follow-up for the region. UNESCO was created after WWII, so the pilot project in
Haiti was one of the first it undertook.
 105
were problems throughout the country, but the Marbial Valley was known as the most

extreme example. UNESCO gathered a collaborative team of international professionals

in education, health, and agriculture. The World Health Organization (WHO) was

recruited to improve the health conditions and “in its anti-malaria drive, used planes to

rid [Haiti] of disease-carrying mosquitoes.”254 Along with the WHO, UNESCO

collaborated with the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), which provided

peasants technical aid to improve agricultural production. Even though the project

ultimately failed to provide lasting and sustainable development in the region, the work in

Marbial gave foreign organizations an opening to explore other ways to collaborate with

the Haitian government on various projects, concerning health, agriculture, and

infrastructure.255 These missions from UNESCO, WHO, FAO, and other international

organizations to eliminate malaria and yaws, improve agriculture, and end extreme

poverty also served another purpose. They provided the Estimé government an

opportunity to craft an alternative image of Haiti and to demonstrate that the nation was

changing and becoming a healthier destination for foreigners to visit and enjoy.256

254
UNESCO, “$85,000,000 Proposed by UN for Technical Development Plan,” Courier, June 1949, 2. The
WHO launched a worldwide campaign to end yaws. Yaws is a tropical disease that is transmitted by human
contact. If it is not treated, painful eruptions and ulcers eat through the flesh incapacitating victims.
Disfiguring and crippling, yaws was primarily a rural disease that was present in Haiti prior to the 1950s.
Penicillin is used as treatment for the disease, which clears up the infection in approximately one to two
weeks.

255
Verna, Haiti and the Uses of A merica, 123.

256
Milton M. Levenson, “Huge Benefit Seen from War on Yaws: Economic Gain to World Will Total
Hundreds of Millions, U.N. Delegate Declares Other Ills to be Fought Program of Giving Penicillin on a
Vast Scale Will Begin This Month in Haiti Malaria Also to be Fought Penicillin Is Shipped Expert Issues
Statement,” The New Y ork Times, April 14, 1950.
 106
Extending his government’s modernization efforts to national infrastructure,

Estimé rebuilt Belladère as a model Haitian city. Located on the border of Haiti and the

Dominican Republic, Belladère was the site of one of the first public works projects

undertaken by the Estimé administration, and may have served as a template for the

beautification and modernization of Port-au-Prince in advance of the International

Exposition.257 In 1948, Estimé spent “$600,000, paving streets, erecting houses and a

hotel, and installing electricity and plumbing” in Belladère, which seems to have been

chosen for development over other provincial towns due to the commercial traffic it

received from the city of Elías Piña in the Dominican Republic.258 Infrastructural projects

in commercial towns and cities were a central part of Estimé’s nationalist vision.

However, the high costs associated with the Belladère project led to public criticism, ones

which Port-au-Prince historian Georges Corvington echoes in critiquing Estimé’s

“grandiose visions for the future of the country.”259 Only a year after work in Belladère

was completed the city suffered from economic isolation due to the Estimé government’s

increasingly tense relationship with the dictatorship of Rafael Léonidas Trujillo across the

border. In 1949, Trujillo redirected all the commercial traffic coming from Elías Piña to

Jimaní, located farther south and away from major border towns in Haiti, seemingly in

order to destabilize the newly renovated town.260 Belladère should be understood as an

257
Corvington, Port-au-Prince au cours des ans: la ville contemporaine (1934-1950) (Montréal: Les
Éditions du Cidihca, 2003), 143.

258
Plummer, Haiti and the United States, 160. There are conflicting figures regarding the cost of rebuilding
Belladère. Matthew Smith reports a cost of $2 million.

259
Corvington, Port-au-Prince au cours des ans: la ville contemporaine (1934-1950), 143. My translation
from “Incontestablement, Estimé a [sic] des visions grandioses pour l'avenir du pays.”

260
Plummer, Haiti and the United States, 160.
 107
effort by the Estimé administration to reimagine the nation locally, a prototype for an

urban plan that could be replicated elsewhere across Haiti. However, the success or

failure of his presidency came to be judged not by development projects in rural Haiti or

the rebuilding of provincial towns, but rather by the transformation of part of Port-au-

Prince. The partnership with UNESCO and the development of Belladère were part of

Estimé's greater plan for changing the image of Haiti at home and abroad.

The International Exposition, commemorating the bicentennial of the founding of

the capital, embodied Estimé’s vision for what he described as Haiti's “perfection and

total renewal."261 This world’s fair created an opportunity for the Haitian government to

transform a portion of Port-au-Prince into a visionary “modern” city, one with better

infrastructure and that catered to foreign travelers by spotlighting traditional Haitian

culture. The Estimé government and the black middle class did not fundamentally rectify

the historical marginalization of the Haitian masses, but I would argue instead sought to

use Haitian rural culture, derived from the peasantry, to solve Haiti’s “image problem.”

Although distortions of Vodou had long been part of Haiti’s “image problem,” the

government turned to Haitian popular culture to renovate the nation’s image as racial

pride deepened, the country’s African heritage was valorized, and “notions of Haitian

identity” were redefined during this period.262

261
Excerpted from a speech by Dumarsais Estimé on December 9, 1949 in Cité de l’Exposition. Estimé,
Truman, and De Courcy, Haiti and the U.S.A ., 16.

262
Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 59.
 108
Rebranding Haiti

Estimé launched the Exposition to promote a progressive narrative about Haiti’s

potential in the tourist sector. Foreign investors and the domestic elite would be able to

capitalize on a rebranding of Haiti as a tourist destination. In turn, the Exposition

spotlighted the ascendance of black middle class politicians to the highest offices of

government. Their political legitimacy was reinforced through the negotiations with

domestic elites and foreign investors involved in planning the Exposition. In fact, though,

the official goal of attracting large-scale tourism to Haiti was longstanding. When Pan

American Airways landed its first flight in Port-au-Prince on January 29, 1929, the

Haitian government under Vincent “foresaw the creation of a resort and travel industry

which would attract American visitors of ‘the better class,’ and was willing to facilitate

the legalization of casino gambling.”263 Although Vincent and Elie Lescot made attempts

to enter the tourist market, it was during Estimé’s administration that Haiti would enjoy a

post-WWII tourism boom.264 The increasing popularity of Haitian art, a trend for

acquiring “‘Haitian’ resort clothes [which] erupted on the New York fashion scene,” the

international fascination with Haiti that the U.S. occupation further amplified through the

publication of the many Haiti-focused articles, travelogues, novels, memoirs, theater

productions, films, the popularity of Haitian art, and the expansion of the Caribbean

tourist industry more broadly at this time all converged to make Haiti into a tourist

destination.265

263
Brenda Gayle Plummer, The Golden A ge of Haitian Tourism (New York: Columbia University-New
York University Consortium, 1989), 2.

264
Ibid., 6-7.

265
Plummer, Haiti and the United States, 129 and 135.
 109
An important step in the process of advancing an alternative narrative about Haiti

was the creation in 1947 of a Department of Tourism, responsible for “initiating a broad

public relations campaign in the United States and across Latin America.”266 The Haitian

government commissioned books and pamphlets to appeal to a U.S. audience to highlight

the development of the nation as a democracy.267 As Chantalle Verna notes, “despite

Noiriste efforts to distinguish themselves as establishing a new era in Haitian politics and

foreign relations, the agenda set forth by Estimé did not necessarily reduce American

involvement in Haitian affairs.”268 While Vincent’s earlier attempt at creating a tourism

industry in Haiti tried to lure travelers from Europe, the priority of the Estimé

government was to appeal to potential tourists in the Americas, and especially from the

U.S.

Walter White, Executive Secretary for the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), described the challenge of this project in

1947, stating that “most of what has been published in the United States pictures Haiti as

a poverty-stricken, illiterate, hopelessly backward country whose people are little

removed from the jungle and practically all of whom practice voodoo. Ninety-nine out of

every one hundred Americans who know of Haiti at all think of it in such terms.”269

266
Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 107. J. Michael Dash, Literature and Ideology in Haiti, 1915-1961
(Totowa, N.J.: Barnes & Noble Books, 1981), 45.

267
Haiti and the U.S.A , a booklet published by Haiti’s Department of Tourism in 1949, highlighted Haiti’s
advances in infrastructure and beautification, while reflecting that nature of “modernity” in Haiti meant
dependency on the U.S. Estimé, Truman, and De Courcy, Haiti and the U.S.A ., 14.

268
Verna, Haiti and the Uses of A merica, 126.

269
Letter from Walter White to Joseph D. Charles, Ambassador of Haiti to the U.S. based in Washington
D.C., NAACP Papers, September 20, 1947, Box II A295, Folder 6- Haiti General 1943-49, Library of
Congress.
 110
Descriptions of Haiti in occupation-era literature tended to emphasize unhealthiness,

backwardness, and poverty, and also negatively framed the practice of Vodou. Thus, the

Marbial Valley project and the reconstruction of Belladère can be understood, in part, as

efforts by the Estimé administration to change international narratives about Haiti. The

construction of the “Cité de l’Exposition” (also called “Cité Dumarsais Estimé”) was the

centerpiece of the government’s campaign to physically modernize Haiti and revise its

image locally and internationally.

As a modernization project closely tied in to tourist development, the Exposition

provided an opportunity to construct and repair roads, increase air travel, and build new

hotels. The extensive infrastructural development aided the flow of North American

tourists to Haiti, and the Exposition took center stage in Haiti’s bid to attempt to become

a leading tourist destination in the Caribbean. The Caribbean tourist industry in the 1940s

and early 1950s was dominated by Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.270 In addition, the

Bahamas, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, and other islands sought, along with Haiti,

to compete for American tourist travelers. As Rosalie Schwartz notes, all of these

vacation destinations featured comparable attraction “tropical climate, sandy beaches,

and warm, blue sea.”271 With so many competitors, the Haitian government had to create

a unique image through its tourist campaigns.

270
Reinhold P. Wolff and Robert J. Voyles, Tourist Trends in the Caribbean, 1951 to 1955 (Coral Gables,
Fla: Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of Miami, 1956), 4-6. John Andrew
Gustavsen, Tension under the Sun: Tourism and Identity in Cuba, 1945-2007 (Open Access Dissertations,
2009, Paper 298), 23.

271
Rosalie Schwartz, Pleasure Island: Tourism and Temptation in Cuba (Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press, 1997), 109.
 111
Paradoxically, in doing so, Haiti drew upon narratives once used to malign the nation.

Lindsay Twa states,

For Haiti, primitivist discourses already dominated [foreign]

preconceptions. Haiti’s nascent tourism industry had to engage
these long-standing tropes, which presented Haiti as exotic,
extreme, dangerously mysterious, by turning Haiti’s ‘image
problems’ into positives. Haiti’s tourism marketing strategy needed
to create a place-image of Haiti as typical as any other Caribbean
destination, and also remake primitivist Haiti as excitingly (but
safely) exceptional.272

With the help of foreign journalists, scholars, and artists, travel to Haiti was already

becoming “en vogue” in the mid-1930s onwards. As Twa discusses, the promotion of

Haitian visual art became part of the movement to make Haiti an exceptional tourist

location during the 1940s. DeWitt Peters, a U.S. visual artist, Selden Rodman, a writer,

and several Haitian intellectuals co-founded the Centre d’Art in 1944 to promote local

Haitian artists.273 According to Matthew Smith, “Most of the paintings produced during

this period [the mid to late 1940s] were stirring visual records of peasant life, Vodou

iconography, and traumatic episodes in the history of the country’s long

independence…Haitian artists were acclaimed for their work overseas and the

appreciation of indigenous art locally was strengthened.”274

272
Lindsay J. Twa, V isualizing Haiti in U.S. Culture, 1910-1950 (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing,
2014), 207.

273
“History and Archives,” Centre d’A rt, The Haitian intellectuals are unnamed on the Centre d’Art
website. https://www.lecentredart.org/le-centre-dart/history-and-archives/?lang=en.

274
Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 59.
 112
Pan American Airways, which became the major airline to Haiti, used Haitian art

and the country’s new healthier image in a bid to attract first-time U.S. tourists to the

country.275 Starting in the late 1940s, Pan Am spent $50,000 on sales, promotion, and

advertising campaigns for travel to Haiti. These advertisements appeared in 93 U.S.

newspapers and in thirteen national magazines to promote the “Switzerland of the

Caribbean,” a moniker that is now associated with the Cayman Islands instead of Haiti.276

The slogan promoted the idea that Haiti was safe, peaceful, and a potential tax haven. Pan

Am anticipated that more tourism would come to the island especially when the

exposition was being planned, since their public relations department took credit for “this

lucrative new ‘industry.’”277 Pan Am aided and cooperated with the Haitian government

in planning for and promoting the Exposition.

Through tourist advertisements, Pan Am promoted Haitian cities including Port-

au-Prince, Kenscoff, Cap Haïtien, and Jacmel. They highlighted the nation’s history,

boutique hotels, beaches, picturesque landscapes, and local products. Shopping was a

particular emphasis of these promotions, which featured images of straw hats, sisal

woven shoes, mahogany products, and inexpensive French perfumes.

275
“Yaws Stamped Out Haitian Agency Says,” The New Y ork Times, April 23, 1950. Dolph Green,
“Americans Just Beginning, to Learn about Beauty and Worth of ‘Republic of Haiti,’” New Y ork
A msterdam News, May 6, 1950. Milton M. Levenson, “All Haitians to Get Penicillin in Battle to Eradicate
VD,” New Y ork Times, April 13, 1950.

276
Series 1: Corporate and General, 1920-1994, Box 357, Folder 6, Pan American World Airways, Inc
records, 1902-2005, University of Miami Special Collections. The advertisements were featured in Time,
Life, Harper’s Bazaar, The New Y ork Times, Cosmopolitan, Holiday, and Glamour.

277
Ibid. Letter dated April 1952 from Public Relations-Latin American Division.
 113

Figure 3.1 Tourists shopping for mahogany goods in Haiti. Courtesy of

Pan American World Airways Records, University of Miami’s Special Collections.

Such advertisements publicized the merchandise of several Port-au-Prince tourist

shops, mostly Haitian owned, specializing in handicrafts that drew inspiration from the

material cultures of Vodou.278 Pan Am had a particular financial incentive to promote

travel to Haiti given their assessment of the country’s potential to become an “all-year

resort.”279 In addition, Pan Am invested in the tourist travel to Haiti by modernizing

Bowen Field, which served as the international airport until 1965.

278
Interview by author with Bernard Diederich, May 11, 2016 Miami, FL. Carlos Mevs owned one of the
biggest gift shops in the exposition area.

279
Ibid. Pan Am spent about $35,000 on a modernization program at Bowen Field.
 114
Rather than representing Haiti through generic images of tropical beaches, Pan

Am’s advertising campaigns highlighted Haiti’s uniqueness, featuring the many distinct

attractions and diversions available across the country. Focal points of such

advertisements and within Haitian newspapers included “voodoo” dances at hotels,

cockfights, and local architecture and scenery.280 These attractions including La Citadelle

in Cap Haïtien, the mountain views of Kenscoff and Pétionville, and the newly renovated

harbor. Pan Am’s touristic images of Haiti also focused on historical figures such as King

Henri Christophe.281

Figure 3.2 Top of the Citadel. Courtesy of the Pan American World Airways Records,
University of Miami’s Special Collections.

280
Series 16: Photographs, 1918-1990, Box 77, Folder 7, Pan American World Airways, Inc records, 1902-
2005, University of Miami Special Collections.

281
Ibid.
 115

Figure 3.2 shows the view from the top of La Citadelle with low-hanging clouds to

demonstrate how imposing the fortress was to visitors. In line with the striking settings

Pan Am had advertised, tourists needed to travel by horseback due to the unpaved roads

on the way to the fortress, which added emphasis to the rare, untouched, and serene

backgrounds.282 The Haitian government and Pan Am consistently employed key words

such as “tropical” and “unique” in tourist-oriented advertisements, emphasizing Haiti’s

claim to “civilization” through its history, valorizing Vodou-inspired folklore

performances, and promoting “naïve” art. Haiti was reimagined “into spaces of touristic

desire.”283 As Krista Thompson notes about the marketing of the Caribbean, “pictures

were instrumental in imagining the islands as tropical and picturesque tourism

destinations.”284 Newspaper and travel advertisements featured hotels with mountain

views and outdoor terraces. The high altitude of these hotels provided a cooler location

for travelers trying to escape the tropical climate. These Haitian-owned hotels brought

tourists into contact mostly with middle class and elite Haitians, since they socialized at

the bars and watched performances at those locations. However, this does not mean

tourists were strictly in contact with those groups, especially at the public beaches.

282
Ibid.

283
Krista A. Thompson, A n Eye for the Tropics: Tourism, Photography, and Framing the Caribbean
Picturesque (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006), 4.

284
Ibid., 5.
 116

Figure 3.3 Presidential Palace of Haiti. Courtesy of Pan American World Airways
Records, University of Miami’s Special Collections.

Figure 3.3 features a market woman walking by Haiti’s Presidential Palace,

calling attention to both Haiti’s modern architecture and its rural culture.285 Images like

these played upon a “modern native” narrative to attract foreigners. The New York Times

characterized peasant women in Haiti by noting how “graceful,” “picturesque,” and

“happy” they were “walking up and down the mountains with heavy bundles of produce

and market goods on their heads.”286 Such representations aided the Haitian government

285
Series 16: Photographs, 1918-1990, Box 326, Folder 1, Pan American World Airways, Inc records,
1902-2005, University of Miami Special Collections.

286
Paul J.C. Friedlander, “Haiti's Exposition,” New Y ork Times, December 25, 1949.
 117
in redefining Haiti’s image as “safe” and “friendly” for tourist travel. Although these

touristic images did depart from and counter the earlier negative portrayals of Haiti, they

still perpetuated stereotypes about the majority class of Haitians.287 The paternalistic view

of such promotional photographs possibly meant to convey that the black middle class

had a certain degree of control over the populace. These images also were constructed

and reinforced by Haitian government tourist brochures, U.S.-published travelogues,

foreign newspaper accounts, and cultural attractions in Haiti. Estimé’s government drew

upon and sought to advance the increasingly positive narratives about Haiti in launching

the International Exposition.

Haiti’s Greater Destiny

Figure 3.4 Sketch of the International Exposition of Port-au-Prince.

Courtesy of Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC).288
287
Series 16: Photographs, 1918-1990, Box 77, Folder 7, Pan American World Airways, Inc records, 1902-
2005, University of Miami Special Collections. Haiti Tourist Information Bureau, Travel Guide to Haiti
(New York: Haiti Tourist Information Bureau, 1950), 17.

288
“Exposition internationale, 1949-1950 Bi-centenaire de Port-au-Prince, 1749-1949,” (Port-au-Prince:
s.n.1948). http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00010663/00001.
 118
The International Exposition of Port-au-Prince, held from December 8, 1949 to

June 8, 1950, was the first world's fair held after World War II. Many nations were still

recovering from the war and the next officially recognized world exposition was not held

until 1958 in Brussels (known as Expo ’58). Prior to Haiti’s Exposition, very few

expositions had been held in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the majority of

internationally recognized world’s fairs were still mounted in France, the U.S., and the

United Kingdom.289 The 1949 International Exposition was and remains the only world

exposition held in Latin America and the Caribbean that was officially sanctioned by the

Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), of which Haiti had been a member since its

creation in 1928.290 Haiti was ahead of its time by holding its own exposition in the mid-

twentieth century and is the only predominantly black nation to have mounted an

officially sanctioned world exposition.291

289
Expositions held in the Caribbean and Latin America included: the 1891 Jamaica International
Exhibition, the 1897 Central American Expo in Guatemala, the 1908 Exhibition of the centenary of the
opening of the Ports of Brazil, the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, the 1922 Independence Centenary
International Exposition of Brazil, and the 1955-1956 Fair of Peace and Fraternity of the Free World (Feria
de la Paz y Confraternidad del Mundo Libre) in the Dominican Republic. There were attempts to mount
expositions in Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador but they were ultimately not held. Note that none of these
events were recognized by the BIE even though the organization retroactively lists earlier expositions held
in Europe and the U.S. on the BIE’s exposition timeline http://www.bie-paris.org/site/en/expo-timeline.

290
Augustin Mathurin, Bi-centenaire de la fondation de Port-au-Prince, 1749-1949, 1-25. Paul Greenhalgh,
Fair W orld: A History of W orld's Fairs and Exposition from London to Shanghai 1851-2010 (Windsor:
Papadakis, 2011), 28-29. Stephen P. Ladas, Patents, Trademarks, and Related Rights (Cambridge, Mass:
Harvard Univ. Press, 1975), 548. The first thirty member nations were Austria, Belgium, Byelorussia,
Bulgaria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Haiti,
Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Monaco, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Rumania, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, and the U.S.S.R. The U.S. was not one of the original
member nations. See World Exposition Timeline on the BIE website, http://www.bie-
paris.org/site/en/expo-timeline.

291
Augustin Mathurin, Bi-centenaire de la fondation de Port-au-Prince, 1749-1949, 1-25. Paul Greenhalgh,
Fair W orld, 28-29. The BIE stipulated that the duration of international expositions could not exceed six
months and guaranteed the participation of its member nations during such events.
 119
The 1949 Exposition was both an international and a local event, one that sought

to change external perceptions of Haiti and further consolidate black middle class

political leadership in the country. World’s fairs historically sought to present images of a

better future to attendees. In this case, the Estimé government’s intent was to spotlight the

black middle class as a symbol and beacon of progress, by modernizing parts of the

capital, expanding international tourism, and attracting investment from other nations.292

Expositions usually require several years of planning, however the Haitian government

began to make preparations only in March 1948, leaving little over a year to change the

landscape of Port-au-Prince.293 Given the significant funds already expended to rebuild

Belladère, there was some public criticism against the plan to mount an exposition.

Corvington notes, “President Estimé who himself had conceived the idea of the

Exposition and considered this as an occasion to provide Port-au-Prince a waterfront

worthy of a capital city, resolutely turned his back on critics and decided to begin

work.”294 The Exposition was Estimé’s personal project, one that he hoped would be the

highlight of his political career, as well as indicate what was possible under black middle

class governance. His term as president was due to expire in 1951, which possibly

indicates his reason to rush plans to hold the Exposition. The 150th anniversary of the

Haitian Revolution was coming up in 1954, but Estimé — unsure whether he would be

elected by the legislature for another term — decided to launch the Exposition in

292
Rydell, W orld of Fairs, 7. See Chapter 3 of Matthew Smith’s, Red and Black in Haiti for more
information on the 1946 Revolution.

293
Corvington, Port-au-Prince au cours des ans: la ville contemporaine (1934-1950), 459.

294
Ibid., 458. My translation of “…le president Estimé qui avait lui-même conçu l'idée de cette Exposition
et envisagé à cette occasion de doter Port-au-Prince d'un front de mer digne d'une capitale, tourna
résolument le dos aux critiques et décida d'entamer les travaux.”
 120
commemoration of the bicentennial of Port-au-Prince’s founding. Smith notes that the

International Exposition was “the greatest symbol of the government’s commitment to

the promotion of black consciousness on a social level, and one of Estime’s lasting

legacies.”295

Because the Exposition was designed to attract foreign tourists, the infrastructural

modernization of the capital was largely confined to areas frequented by international

visitors, especially the Cité de l’Exposition along the waterfront. According to Smith,

these parts of the capital “received a new urban look.”296 The exposition area featured the

work of foreign and Haitian architects; however, the head architect was August F.

Schmiedigen from New York, who had experience “with fairs in the United States,

France, Spain, and Rumania [sic] behind him.”297 Schmiedigen later reported that Haitian

workers were “congenitally incapable of building in a straight line.”298 Despite his lack of

confidence in the ability of Haitian workers, Schmiedigen worked with Cornell-trained

Haitian architect Albert Mangonès to design and construct the Haitian pavilions and

Théâtre de Verdure, a new national theater. Schmiedigen and Mangonès transformed the

295
Smith, Red & Black in Haiti, 107.

296
Ibid.

297
George S. Schuyler, “Haiti looks Ahead,” A mericas 1, no. 10, (December 1949): 7.

298
“Caribbean Carnival: ‘Little World’s Fair is Haiti’s big bid for Tourists,’” Life Magazine (March 13,
1950): 105. Albert Mangonès is also known for sculpting the “Marron Inconnu” (the unknown maroon)
statue during the Duvalier dictatorship.
 121
area into “a shimmering fairy city with a distinctive Haitian flavor” through the labor of

1,500 Haitian workers.299

The Haitian government took over about thirty acres along the capital’s shoreline

to construct the Cité de l’Exposition. To rebuild this waterfront on the Bay of la Gonâve,

a swamp was drained and the people living in what Brenda Gayle Plummer describes as a

nearby “slum” were displaced.300 The 1939 New York World’s Fair had been the occasion

for a similar renovation in Queens, where the “uninviting Corona Dumps on the edge of

the city…[became] Flushing Meadows Park.”301 Estimé presented himself as a leader

representing the peasant masses, the black middle class, and urban workers, yet he

displaced approximately 15,000 people to create Cité de l’Exposition.302 According to

Selden Rodman, most of the residents were sent to the island of La Gonâve “where they

were stranded with a pick and shovel.”303 However, Walter White, Executive Secretary of

the NAACP, provided an alternative account, insisting that “unlike some American cities,

the Haitian government has provided homes elsewhere for those who had to be

moved.”304 The Cité de l’Exposition became a space where people were not allowed to

enter without proper attire. A law during Estimé’s government was enacted requiring

Haitian peasants to wear shoes when they visited the capital city in order to contribute to

299
Schuyler, “Haiti looks Ahead,” 7.

300
Plummer, The Golden A ge of Haitian Tourism, 7. Smith, Red & Black in Haiti, 107.

301
Greenhalgh, Fair W orld, 64.

302
Schuyler, “Haiti looks Ahead,” 7. Matthew Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 103.

303
Selden Rodman, Haiti: the Black Republic; The Complete Story and Guide (New York: Devin-Adair
Co., 1954), 27.

304
Walter White, “Says Haitian Exposition Should be a Must for All,” Chicago Defender, July 23, 1949.
 122
the hygiene, orderliness, and beautification of the city’s landscape.305 Estimé justified

these measures as part of a larger sanitation campaign. Smith notes that “street cleaning

and sanitation projects were initiated and scores of beggars and vagrants were rounded up

and sent to the remote La Gonâve.”306 Estimé’s vision of “modern” nationhood was not

so much about the social uplift of the black masses. Rather he sought to create a

“picturesque” image of Haiti through refurbishing tourist areas of the capital and

allowing the selective participation of the Haitian people.

Figure 3.5 Views of the Cité de l’Exposition. Courtesy of CIDIHCA.

305
Rodman, Haiti: The Black Republic, 27.

306
Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 107. Letter from Harold Tittman to Secretary of State, January 16, 1948,
Port-au-Prince, U.S. National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, RG 59,838.504/1-1648.
 123

Figure 3.6 Sixtine Chapel donated by Vatican City. Guatemala’s pavilion

was situated in front of the chapel. Courtesy of CIDIHCA.

Figures 3.5 & 3.6 show two views of the Cité de l’Exposition site upon the

completion of construction, featuring modern buildings, paved roads and sidewalks,

tropical trees, landscapes, and murals (figure 3.5). Eighteen participating countries and

territories constructed their own buildings and statuary. They included the U.S, France,

Italy, Belgium, Spain, San Marino, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Canada, Venezuela,

Mexico, Argentina, Guatemala, Chile, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica. The U.N., the

Organization of American States (OAS), and Vatican City participated as well. Venezuela

was given $200,000 from the Haitian government to construct their pavilion and erect a

statue of Simón Bolívar for the exposition.307 To honor the historic ties between these two

307
Mathurin, Bi-centenaire de la fondation de Port-au-Prince, 1749-1949, 169. See also Victor Nevers
Constant, Souvenir d'une campagne (Port-au-Prince, Haïti: Impr. de l'Etat, 1958).
 124
nations, streets were named after Francisco de Miranda and Bolívar at the Cité de

l’Exposition.308 This was part of Estimé’s efforts to remind the international community

about Haiti’s contributions to world history — in this case, its support of Latin American

independence struggles — and at the same time, to highlight its capacity to finance this

enterprise.309 In inaugurating the Exposition on December 8th, 1949, Estimé reinforced

the world historical importance of Haiti in struggling for freedom and for peace, a

message that had particular resonance in the wake of the Second World War.

But, if countless times in history, we have carried arms in the cause

of liberty, and if King Christophe, in his heroic wisdom, was called
to raise the dizzying spires of the Citadel on the summit of a
Northern peak, we still must not believe, and others must not think,
that this people has a war-like mission. Our wars have all been
struggles for peace, struggles to create the most favorable climate
for the realization of those ends toward which all valid leadership
strives: the full flourishing of the human personality, the
completest satisfaction of the spiritual and physical needs of the
greatest possible number of men.310

Estimé attempted to reframe how Haiti’s history had been told by foreigners. Rather than

spotlighting the violence of revolutionary forces, he emphasized that the nation’s fight for

liberty and freedom were part of western history and that Haitians should not be seen as

“war-like” in their quest to achieve and maintain their sovereignty. Such references to the

history and legacy of the Haitian Revolution pervaded the Exposition, which repeatedly

highlighted Haitian historical landmarks such as the Citadelle. These sites became

308
Ibid. Simón Bolívar received support from Alexandre Pétion, president of Haiti 1807-1818, for his
independence struggles.

309
Laurent Dubois, Haiti: The A ftershocks of History (New York: Picador, 2013), 60.

310
Excerpted from a speech by Dumarsais Estimé on December 9, 1949 in Cité de l’Exposition. Estimé,
Truman, and De Courcy, Haiti and the U.S.A., 8.
 125
markers of Haiti’s particularity in the region, which in turn was used to attract tourists.

This image of Haiti’s historical significance was reinforced in tourist publications, which

featured captions such as “Haiti has its own History.”311

While the exposition area did cater to locals as well as foreigners, evidence

suggests that they were middle class and elite Haitians.312 Haitian citizens from these

social classes were encouraged to participate not just as workers and performers, but also

as visitors to spectacles designed for tourists. About 10,000 predominately Haitian

spectators attended the above-mentioned first inauguration, which celebrated the opening

of the Haitian pavilions. In addition to listening to Estimé’s inaugural speech, they heard

a message from Pope Pius XII, delivered by Cardinal Arteaga, Archbishop of Havana

who was joined by eight Bishops, and viewed U.S. marines and sailors from the USS

Salem marching down Harry S. Truman Blvd.313 A second inauguration, this time for the

international pavilions, was held on February 12, 1950, featuring another U.S. military

display: in this case an Air Force F-80 jet fighter flew over the city for the celebration.314

The records noted that 97 percent of the visitors to the U.S. pavilion were Haitians,

including school children, teachers, and well-to-do residents of the capital.315 Although

311
Haiti Tourist Information Bureau, Travel Guide to Haiti, 6.

312
Office of the U.S. Commissioner to the International Exposition for Founding of Port-au-Prince, RG 43
Box 3 F12 and Box 3 F9, National Archives and Records Administration.

313
Dantès Bellegarde, Histoire du peuple haïtien, 1492-1952 (Port-au-Prince, 1953), 325. General Records
of the Department of State, RG 59 Box 5618 F4- 838.607 Port-au-Prince/12-149, National Archives and
Records Administration.

314
General Records of the Department of State RG 59 Box 5618 F2- 838.191PO/1-350, National Archives
and Records Administration.

315
Office of the U.S. Commissioner to the International Exposition for Founding of Port-au-Prince, RG 43
Box 3 F12 and Box 3 F9, National Archives and Records Administration.
 126
the fair was a bid to attract tourists, it contributed to Estimé’s larger mission to bring

Haitians into a “greater destiny” symbolized by a modern capital.316

From December 26th to the second inauguration on February 12th, Estimé granted

free entry to the exposition on weekdays with an entrance fee imposed on the

weekends.317 This points to a distinctive feature of the International Exposition: the

government’s aim was not primarily to generate revenue from admission as with other

world’s fairs, but rather to strengthen Haiti’s tourist industry and potentially find new

trading partners for the country’s products.318 While Estimé wanted to demonstrate his

commitment to the masses by enabling them to enjoy the newly created Cité de

l’Exposition in the early weeks of the fair, it seems notable that the February 12th cut-off

date coincided with the opening of the international pavilions. Haitian residents who

attended the exposition during the earlier time period only had access to the local Haitian

pavilion displays. With the international inauguration, general entrance fees of $1 for

adults and 50 cents for children were charged throughout the week.319 These fees made

most of the attractions unavailable to the Haitian masses. Undoubtedly, from that point

on, the Haitian middle class and elite frequented the Exposition more than the masses

simply because they could afford to attend the two inaugurations, nightclub

performances, and other forms of entertainment.

316
Estimé, Truman, and De Courcy, Haiti and the U.S.A ., 16.

317
“L’entrée libre à L’Exposition du Lundi au Vendredi,” Le Nouvelliste, December 26-27, 1949.

318
Rydell, Fair A merica, 85- 96.

319
“Les Prix à L’Exposition,” Le Nouvelliste, December 21, 1949.
 127
Local performers and imported shows from the U.S. catered to tourists and

wealthier locals. The Ross Manning Circus featured burlesque dancers, motorcycle races,

ferris wheels, carousels, and other carnivalesque attractions. According to a Life

Magazine reporter, these shows featured “wiggling cuties [who] can learn much from

Haitians themselves.”320 The reporter’s apparent eroticization of Haitian culture and

dance, points to the ambivalence of the performances staged as Haitian national culture at

the Exposition. At times, the Estimé government was in a position to profit from foreign

fascination with Haitian culture as “uncivilized,” and “primitive,” due to its African roots.

In an attempt to compete with the Cuban tourist industry, the Haitian government seemed

to follow the Cuban model in which “tourism promoters exalted sensual and mystical

qualities of Afro-Cubans for purposes of profit, and foreigners saw Cuba as an erotic,

exotic island devoted to their pleasure and entertainment.”321 In particular, Estimé sought

to capitalize on foreign interest in the Vodou religion.322 Kate Ramsey notes that during

and after the U.S. Occupation, “Vodou was the object of intense fascination,” and that

during the 1930s and 1940s, “Haiti was also becoming the site of intensive foreign

anthropological interest…, and Vodou was the primary ethnographic object of North

American and Western European researchers who traveled there.”323 The work of foreign

scholars, such as Melville Herskovits and Alfred Métraux; writers and artists such as Zora

320
“Caribbean Carnival: ‘Little World’s Fair is Haiti’s big bid for Tourists,’” Life Magazine (March 13,
1950): 108.

321
Schwartz, Pleasure Island, 87.
322
Ramsey, The Spirits and the Law, 250. Ritual practices involving animal sacrifice were still prohibited
during Estimé’s administration.

323
Ibid., 248-249.
 128
Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, DeWitt Peters, Selden Rodman, and Jason Seley;

choreographers such as Katherine Dunham; and journalists such as Edith Efron

heightened interest in Haitian art, culture, and society. Haitian ethnological work and the

emergence of indigénisme in the late occupation period paved the way for the staging of

folklore as “national culture” at the Exposition.324

Figure 3.7 Bicentennial International Exposition of Port-au-Prince featuring

Jean Léon Destiné. Courtesy of Pan American World Airways.325
324
Ibid., 217. Zora Neale Hurston, Katherine Dunham, and Melville Herskovits traveled to Haiti as
ethnographers.

325
Destiné, featured in the advertisement in figure 3.7, later went on to headline “Haiti Week” with the
Troupe Folklorique Nationale at New York’s Ziegfeld theatre. The Haitian government sponsored “Haiti
Week” and continued to support folkloric performances to increase tourism even after Estimé left office.
 129
A particularly important vehicle for attracting tourists was the Troupe Folklorique

Nationale, led by Jean Léon Destiné and Lina Mathon-Blanchet. Destiné, in fact, was

featured in Pan American Airways advertisements for the Exposition. National culture

displays became an integral part of attracting increased tourism to Haiti and a primary

draw for international audiences. Across the Americas during these years, as Ramsey

notes, “Whether packaged as tourist attractions on the national stage or exported abroad

for displays for hemispheric unity, national ballets and folklore groups became a key

currency of inter hemispheric relations and diplomacy, to be circulated and exchanged

much in the same spirit as reciprocal trade.”326 Such folklore performances were central

to Estimé’s mission to change Haiti’s image and spotlight for the international community

the nation’s cultural richness.

Haitian folklore choreography drew on various sources, including colonial

contredanses and the ritual dances of Vodou. For foreigners, folkloric performances in the

latter mode were representations of “voodoo.” Although Estimé used these staged

performances to promote the cultural content of Haitian nationhood, he was not a

defender of the practice of Vodou. In fact, as Katherine Dunhman notes, Estimé “hated

the vaudun, or I should say held it in ridicule, feeling that the worship of African gods

tied the people to ignorance, diverting them from recognition of their immediate and real

problems.”327 It is notable that while the Estimé government promoted folklore

326
Ibid., 230.

Katherine Dunham, Island Possessed (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969), 26 See Ramsey, The Spirits
327

and the Law, particularly chapter four: “Cultural Nationalist Policy and the Pursuit of ‘Superstition’ in
Post-Occupation Haiti.”
 130
performance based, in part, on ritual dances during the Exposition, the Vodou religion

remained technically prohibited in Haiti during his years in office.328

Folklore was used in advertisements to lure tourists, but Haitian visual art with

Vodou themes was confined to very limited spaces at the exposition. The Haitian art

industry thrived due to foreign patronage and Estimé capitalized upon this interest by

showcasing the work of a few “naïve” artists in order to motivate “trips to Port-au-

Prince.”329 Wilson Rigaud’s and Castera Bazile’s murals were featured in Cité de

l’Exposition.330 However, Selden Rodman, a U.S. writer who promoted the Centre d’Art,

contended that beyond Rigaud and Bazile, few local Haitian artists were featured at the

International Exposition and that the four million dollar budget did not include much

investment in the work of such artists.331 According to Rodman;

Surely such a professed nationalist and Africanist as Dumarsais

Estimé would not be turned off by charges that the artists were
propagandists for vaudou! And yet, unbelievable as it seems in
retrospect, Estimé did exactly what we had thought unthinkable.
Peters and I had gone to see him twice. Both times we were turned
over politely to the Romanian contractor who was giving out the
commissions. Close to a million dollars was spent on painting and

328
Ramsey, The Spirits and the Law, 250.

329
Polly Pattullo, Last Resorts: The Cost of Tourism in the Caribbean (London: Latin America Bureau,
2005), 195. It was during this period that painters such as Hector Hyppolite and Philomé Obin became
internationally recognized artists. In 1948, Selden Rodman, the co-founder of Centre d’Art, published a
book entitled Renaissance in Haiti: Popular Painters in the Black Republic which focused on their work and
that of other Haitian artists. For more on Haitian art history see: Carlo A. Célius, Langage Plastique Et
Énonciation Identitaire: L'invention De L'art Haïtien (Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval, 2007),
Philippe Lerebours, “The Indigenist Revolt: Haitian Art, 1927-1944,” Callaloo 15, no. 3 (Summer 1992)
and “A History of Haitian Painting,” trans. Jessica Adams, and Cécile Accilien, in Revolutionary
Freedoms: A History of Survival, Strength, and Imagination in Haiti, eds. Cécile Accilien, Jessica Adams,
and Elide Mélange (Coconut Creek, FL: Caribbean Studies Press, 2006), 151-174.

330
Dorothy Williams, “Haiti’s New Look: On a Mountain Roadway in Haiti,” New Y ork Times, April 26,
1950.

331
Selden Rodman, W here A rt Is Joy: Haitian A rt: The First Forty Y ears (New York: Ruggles de Latour,
1988), 103.
 131
sculpture, and all of it went to French and Belgian pompiers who
defaced the walls, to dealers in diminutive cement replicas of third-
rate Greco-Roman marbles, or for fountains in the grossest taste.
Not one cent went to Haitian artists.332

The Estimé government had delegated control of public art displays and architecture

during the exposition to August F. Schmiedigen, the Romanian contractor. While

according to Rodman, few of the non-academically-trained artists affiliated with the

Centre d’Art were able to exhibit, it appears that Haitians from the black middle class

were featured. Victor Never Constant, a noiriste and later supporter of the François

Duvalier dictatorship, created the ceramic sculpture that appeared on the façade of the

legislative building in Cité de l’Exposition.333 Although Haitian culture was being

advertised for consumption, certain artists were promoted over others.

As Rodman notes, art installations by foreign artists comprised a significant part

of the Exposition. American artist Jason Seley and Haitian architect Albert Mangonès

were commissioned by Schmiedigen Associates to create several large sculptures of

reclining figures on the border of a reflecting pool in the Cité de l’Exposition.334 Arvi

Tynys, a Finnish sculptor, created the “mother and child” sculpture on the edges of the

Fontaine Lumineuse. Mia Steiner, an Austrian artist, had her murals featured at the Palace

of Tourism.335 The names and works of these foreign artists were promoted in

332
Ibid.

333
Constant, Souvenir d'une campagne, 1958.

334
Jason Seley Papers, 1928-2013, bulk 1929-1983, Box 1: Biographical Material: Correspondence,
Subject Files, Archives of American Art- Smithsonian Institution. Jason Seley and Albert Mangonès were
classmates at Cornell University.

335
“Haiti’s Exposition Ready Soon; Harlem Labor Protests,” New Y ork A msterdam News, October 15,
1949.
 132
international newspapers. Although Estimé’s objective for holding the Exposition was to

demonstrate Haitian capacity, this goal fell short in terms of highlighting Haitian artists.

Beyond Estimé’s own ambivalence, there were also clear conflicts regarding the

representation of Vodou at the Exposition and not everyone supported the government-

sponsored staged performances of the dances of Vodou as folklore or the representation

of the religion in artistic production. Patrick Leigh Fermor reported that a local Roman

Catholic priest stated, “worst of all, the practice of Voodoo is becoming rationalized,

codified almost,” which he blamed on scholars such as Melville Herskovits and Selden

Rodman.336 In addition, the Catholic Chapel, donated by the Vatican, refused to have

Haitian artists paint murals at their building.337 Instead, despite the controversy, the

Episcopal Cathédrale St. Trinité invited artists from the Centre d’Art to cover its interior

walls with painted murals of Biblical scenes.338

Beyond the performances of the Troupe Folklorique Nationale at the Théâtre

Verdure, Haitian businesses set up diverse forms of cultural entertainment for tourists and

locals heading to the Exposition. The local nightclubs charged a fee of $1-2 to attend

performances and dances. Simbie Night Club, located in the Palmistes area of the

exposition, opened every evening and featured famous Haitian performers such as Ti

Roro, a well-known drummer, and singer Lumane Casimir, known for her luminous

336
Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Traveller's Tree: A Journey Through the Caribbean Islands (London,
England: Penguin Books, 1984), 268.

337
Interview by author with Bernard Diederich, May 11, 2016, Miami, FL.
338
Rodman, The Caribbean (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1969), 296. Interview by author with Bernard
Diederich, May 11, 2016, Miami, FL.
 133
voice.339 Bands played in picturesque palm groves “on the edge of an indirectly lighted

pool.”340 The night club printed its advertisements in French, English, and Spanish within

Haitian newspapers indicating that they expected to attract an international crowd.

Bernard Diederich, a journalist based in Haiti at this time who attended the Exposition,

also mentioned that the Palmistes area featured poetry sessions by local writers, such as

Jean F. Brierre, poet, journalist, and Assistant Secretary of State for Tourism in Haiti

during these years.341

The International Exposition was a cosmopolitan event that featured performers

from across the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States. The Théâtre de Verdure

presented performances by Irene Umilta McShine, a musician from Trinidad; Spanish

choirs and dancers; Cuban pianist Rosario Franco; Etta Moten, an African American

concert singer; and African American opera luminary Marian Anderson.342 Anderson’s

performance at the Théâtre de Verdure attracted more than 3,000 people including Estimé

and his wife. George Corvington states that Marian Anderson sang “the interpretation of

the great classics by Schubert, Faure, Scarlatti, and executed moving negro spirituals….

339
“Simbie Night-Club,” Le Nouvelliste, December 6, 1949. Dr. Pierre-Michel Fontaine remembers the
career of Lumane Casimir, whose career started during the Exposition and reached new heights during the
Magloire regime.

340
“Caribbean Carnival: ‘Little World’s Fair is Haiti’s big bid for Tourists,’” Life Magazine, 108.

341
Interview by author with Bernard Diederich, May 11, 2016, Miami, FL. “Le Tourisme en Haiti et son
Avenir,” Le Nouvelliste, March 1, 1950. The pavilion for Rhum Barbancourt, the premiere Haitian rum
producer, was shaped as a wooden barrel and became a popular leisure venue for tourists, the black middle
class, and elite. In Cabane Choucoune, a club frequented primarily by the Haitian elite, popular Haitian
musicians such as Issa El Saieh and the band Jazz des Jeunes performed. Cabane Choucoune featured a
beauty pageant to crown the Exposition’s “Miss Commerce and Industry,” with the winner, Caridad
Apollon, traveling to Cuba to promote trade between the countries.

342
“Les choeurs et dances d’espagne à L’Exposition,” Le Matin, November 30, 1949. “Une grande
Musicienne de Trinidad,” Le Nouvelliste, December 13, 1949.
 134
At the end of the recital, the audience gave endless standing ovations to the brilliant

artist….”343 Performances of the Troupe Folklorique Nationale at the Théâtre de Verdure

were popular after the exposition among tourists and the bourgeoisie, continuing Estimé’s

goal to package and commoditize Haiti’s national culture beyond his presidency.

Haitian hotels such as Ibo-Lelé, Quisqueya, La Belle Créole, and Damballah

capitalized on foreign interest in Haiti’s history and culture through their very names. A

commodified version of Vodou was embraced by some Haitian business owners. Beyond

the Cité de l’Exposition, nightclubs such as the Vodoo-Club in Carrefour catered to

interest in Haiti’s folklore and religious practices and even printed their newspaper

advertisements in English to try to attract tourists.344 Pan American Airways noted how

“originality and spontaneity make Haitian night club performances different than those

seen any place else in the world. At Port-au-Prince, served from Miami and New York by

Pan Am jets, the Cabane Choucoune is a favorite spot with merengue-dancing

tourists.”345 Haiti was being cast as a rare and “exotic” location compared to the rest of

the Caribbean and the Exposition facilitated this process.

The Exposition’s Impact

The Haitian government sought coverage of the Exposition in U.S. media outlets

to highlight the infrastructural changes in the nation, improve Haiti’s image, and continue

343
Corvington, Port-au-Prince au cours des ans: la ville contemporaine (1934-1950), 483. “Au Théâtre de
Verdure,” Le Nouvelliste, April 10, 1950. Other U.S. entertainers who attended the Exposition included
boxer Joe Louis.

344
Interview by author with Bernard Diederich, May 11, 2016, Miami, FL.

345
Series 16: Photographs, 1918-1990, Box 326, Folder 3, Pan American World Airways, Inc records,
1902-2005, University of Miami Special Collections.
 135
to attract tourists. Life Magazine featured a ten-page article about the exposition on

March 13, 1950 with photos of performances by the Troupe Folklorique Nationale, the

newly constructed waterfront, Haitian art, nightclubs, and cockfighting.346 Describing the

International Exposition as “lavish,” the Life spread termed it “Haiti’s bravest

adventure.”347 Le Monde observed that the Exposition was celebrated with “great

pomp.”348 The New York Times covered the world’s fair as well, and commented on

“Haiti’s new look.”349 The largely positive foreign accounts often paid particular attention

to the modern buildings and renovated waterfront. Time Magazine remarked that “a

modern city bloomed on swamps.”350 Ruth Wilson, a U.S. traveler to the Exposition,

stated, “The clearing of slums and filling in of swamps to create the beautiful ground and

buildings of the Exposition are proof of existing ability” in Haiti.351

Spending over $4 million on the Exposition was a huge risk for the Haitian

government. Estimé’s infrastructural development of Cité de l’Exposition became a focal

point of local newspaper coverage, as did the fair’s reported cost, especially given that

the annual national budget was $13.4 million.352 World’s fairs were known to be huge and

346
“Deux Redacteurs de <<Life>> Arrivent le 10 Decembre,” Le Nouvelliste, December 5, 1949. Edith
Efron, a U.S. journalist living in Haiti, collaborated with the reporters to create the spread about the
international exposition, held in a country “that was partly her own.”

347
“Caribbean Carnival: ‘Little World’s Fair is Haiti’s big bid for Tourists,’” Life Magazine, 105.

348
Auguste Viatte, “Le Centenaire de Port-au-Prince,” Le Monde, December 10, 1949. My translation of
“Cette commémoration sera fêtée en grande pompe.”

349
Dorothy Williams, “Haiti’s New Look: On a Mountain Roadway in Haiti,” The New Y ork Times, April
16, 1950. Paul J.C. Friedlander, “Haiti’s Exposition: Bicentennial World's Fair Is Attracting More Tourists
to the Caribbean Area,” The New Y ork Times, December 25, 1949.

350
"Unparalleled Fair,” Time 54, no. 16 (October 17, 1949): 42.

351
Ruth Danenhower Wilson, Here Is Haiti (New York: Philosophical Library, 1957), 198.

352
Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 144.
 136
expensive endeavors that were mounted for the expected long-term benefits rather than

for short-term revenue. In fact, the 1924-1925 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley,

London ended “with a deficit of nearly £2 million, while the 1933 Chicago Fair debt was

“close to $33 million.”353 Since the Haitian Exposition did not charge fees on weekdays

for the first few months, the nightclubs and hotels earned most of the revenue during that

period. Augustin Mathurin, author of Bi-centenaire de la fondation de Port-au-Prince,

1749-1949, provides figures for the Exposition’s expenses drawn from Le Moniteur, the

official government newspaper. Most of the funds went to the Department of Finance for

the construction and upkeep of Cité de l’Exposition and to the Département des Travaux

Publics, which was in charge of the infrastructural changes in the capital, including work

on drainage, roads, canals, electricity, telephones, the Hôtel de Ville in Cité de

l’Exposition, and hydraulics for other new hotels.354 In addition, Estimé “remodeled the

business district, and built some housing for the urban underprivileged.”355

The International Exposition provided a beautiful waterfront with modern

buildings, but the event’s success — at least by certain measures — has often been

overshadowed by the large government expense. Nicholls asserts that the Exposition “had

353
Rydell, W orld of Fairs, 66 and 122. "Revisiting the 1939 World's Fair," USA Today (December 1996):
8.
http://search.proquest.com.access.library.miami.edu/docview/214515365?accountid=14585&rfr_id=info%
3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo. Alan Taylor, “The 1939 New York World's Fair,” The A tlantic, November 1,
2013. http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/11/the-1939-new-york-worlds-fair/100620/. The debt after
these fairs was attributed to low attendance numbers.

354
Mathurin, Bi-centenaire de la fondation de Port-au-Prince, 1749-1949, 69-142. Additional source:
Memento du Moniteur; Contenant le budget, 1948-49; Les lois sur les taxes nouvelles; Les lois, arêtes sur
l’exposition 1949; Et la loi sur le Don National (Port-au-Prince: Imp. de l’Etat, August 6, 1948).

355
Trouillot, Haiti: State against Nation, 141.
 137
cost much more than it was worth.”356 Michel-Rolph Trouillot characterizes this period

somewhat critically as a moment of “picture-postcard projects,” but also remarks that

“many foreigners and Haitians alike shared the impression of real and imminent

progress.”357 Ramsey notes that overall, “public opinion toward the project, particularly

among urban middle classes, tended to be positive.”358 This assessment is consistent with

accounts by Pierre-Michel Fontaine, Michel Hector, and Bernard Diederich, who all

remember the era as providing hope to Haitians.359 Pierre-Michel Fontaine stated that

“even though Estimé was only in power for four years, there were various concrete things

that he did [for Haiti] and, of course, the Bicentenaire’s [construction] is the most evident

example of his contribution.”360 That hope was part of the “greater destiny” Estimé

heralded during the inauguration of the International Exposition and this rhetoric was

continued by Paul Magloire’s government (1950-1956).

The Haitian government expected 60,000 foreign visitors to attend the

Exposition.361 In early March 1950, three months before the fair ended, Le Nouvelliste

provided figures on foreign tourism since its opening, projecting that the Haitian tourist

356
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 192.

357
Trouillot, Haiti: State against Nation, 141.

358
Kate Ramsey, “Vodou, Nationalism and Performance: The Staging of Folklore in Mid-Twentieth
Century Haiti,” in Jane Desmond, Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance (Durham: Duke
University Press, 1997), 361.

359
Interview by author with Pierre-Michel Fontaine, May 2, 2012, Miami, FL, Michel Hector, July 9, 2012,
Pétionville, Haiti, and Bernard Diederich, May 11, 2016, Miami, FL.

360
Interview by author with Pierre Michel Fontaine on May 2, 2012, Miami, FL.

361
Series 1: Corporate and General, 1920-1994, Box 357, Folder 6 and Series 8: Legislation and
Regulation, 1920-1993, Box 281, Folder 4, Pan American World Airways, Inc records, 1902-2005,
University of Miami Special Collections. Letter dated May 10, 1950. “Le Tourisme en Haiti et son
Avenir,” Le Nouvelliste, March 1, 1950.
 138
industry would grow due to the exposition. The Bureau International des Exposition

(BIE) reported that the total number of foreign and Haitian attendees was 250,000.362 It

seems that Estime’s International Exposition was on the scale that the spread in Life

magazine described: it was a “Little World’s Fair.” Unlike other world’s fairs, it did not

attract millions, but nor did the Haitian government expect such numbers. Tourism was

still a nascent industry and the Exposition was meant to bring Haiti positive international

attention.

Figure 3.8 Data gathered from Pan American World Airways Records,
University of Miami’s Special Collections.

362
General Records of the Department of State, RG59, Box 5618 F2 838.191, November 20, 1950,
National Archives and Records Administration. “Expo 1949 Port-au-Prince,” Bureau International des
Expositions, http://www.bie-paris.org/site/en/1949-port-au-prince.
 139
Tourist numbers rose from 9,283 in 1949 to 12,754 in 1950, representing about a 33

percent increase. Rosalie Schwartz notes that “Cuba’s share of the Caribbean market

actually declined between 1949 and 1954, from 43 percent to 31 percent. Cuba doubled

and Haiti quintupled the number of their respective visitors. Tourist income expanded,

but too many of the dollars sailed past Cuba’s shores.”363 Haiti entered the tourist

industry as a strong competitor.

Pan Am advertised modest fares for traveling to Haiti, and also the availability of

Haitian and foreign goods at discounted costs in Haiti. In fact, the interest generated by

the Exposition motivated the airline to increase its service from the U.S. to Haiti.

According to a Public Relations officer from the Pan Am Latin American Division

writing in May 1950, “Much of the increased air traffic at Port-au-Prince is resulting from

travel to and from Haiti’s Bicentennial International Exposition. To handle this growing

travel PAA has doubled its service between Haiti and the United States.”364 Critics have

seen the exposition as a waste of public funds; however it is significant that a major air

carrier had to double its service.

The same month that Pan Am reported this dramatic expansion in its flights to

Haiti and only weeks before the Exposition closed, Estimé was forced out of office in a

military coup led by the same junta that had ended the Élie Lescot presidency. In ousting

Estimé, Franck Lavaud, Antoine Levelt, and Paul Magloire overturned “the most noiriste

363
Schwartz, Pleasure Island, 115.

364
Series 8: Legislation and Regulation, 1920-1993, Box 281, Folder 4, Pan American World Airways, Inc.
records, 1902-2005, University of Miami Special Collections. Letter dated May 10, 1950. Bowen Field was
a former U.S. Marine Corps base and was also a golf-course.
 140
regime the republic [had] ever experienced,” as Matthew J. Smith puts it.365 In light of the

apparent continued success of the Exposition in drawing tourism to Haiti, why did

Estimé’s presidency end in his overthrow? In understanding this it is crucial to remember

that Estimé’s government was closely identified with the interests of the black urban

middle classes. The milat elite felt alienated by his administration, and so increasingly

did working class people and the urban poor. Accusations of corruption on the parts of

officials combined with ongoing criticism from opponents regarding the public expense

of the Exposition weakened support for his government. Smith notes that “Estimé was

unable to come to terms with growing alienation of his regime. In the face of mounting

popular protest from the Marxist left and independent labor, the state responded with

repression “in the midst of the Exposition.”366 His government was incapable of

controlling the Haitian army, which was courted by “bourgeois factions that played a role

in the May 1950 coup.”367 The members of the junta thereafter announced to the

international press that the political transition would be peaceful, and sought to reassure

potential tourist travelers to Haiti. According to Colonel Levelt, “‘if some adventurous

tourists come to Haiti to look for street disturbances they will be disappointed…. If they

are looking for relaxation and night life, they will be satisfied.’” The New York Times

article in which this quotation appeared noted that, “Colonel Levelt insisted that the junta,

which also includes Brig. Gen. Frank Levaud and Col. Paul Magloire, does not constitute

365
Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 147.

366
Ibid., 148.

367
Ibid., 145.
 141
a military government in the American sense of the word.”368 The coup leaders also

presided over the scheduled closing of the fair on June 8, 1950, the formal ceremony on

this occasion ending with champagne flowing after cannons were fired and the flags of

the participating nations were lowered.369 In October 1950, one of the junta members,

Paul Magloire, was elected President of Haiti. Thereafter, he followed in the footsteps of

the government that he had helped to overthrow, continuing the state’s promotion of the

tourist industry in collaboration with Pan Am.370 In many ways, his administration can be

seen as the beneficiary of Estimé’s Exposition. Magloire was able to build on the

structural changes in the capital and the international publicity of the “Little World’s

Fair” to advance the burgeoning tourist industry, with the number of foreign visitors to

Haiti tripling during his years in office (1950-1956). In fact, the Magloire administration

has been credited with launching Haiti’s “Golden Age of Tourism,” even though, in fact,

this clearly began during Estimé’s government.371 The Cité de l’Exposition continued to

be the center of entertainment for tourists and Haitians. Hotels such as El Rancho, the

Roosevelt, and others opened up during and after the Exposition, which increased Haiti’s

capacity to host larger numbers of tourists.372

368
Nancy and Horace Sutton and Hamilton Wright, “All Quiet in Haiti: The Waterfront Marketplace at
Port-Au-Prince,” New Y ork Times, May 28, 1950.
https://search.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/111449203/abstract/7DA608093CFB4CE2PQ/5.

369
“Cérémonie de fermeture de l’Exposition,” Le Nouvelliste, June 8, 1950.
http://dloc.com/UF00000081/07287/1x?search=nouvelliste.

370
Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 153. Magloire was from a black elite family in Cap Haïtien. As Smith
notes, Magloire “engineered the resignation of two presidents,” believed in the “supremacy of the military,”
and had support from the bourgeoisie. State-sanctioned violence was a feature of Magloire’s military rule.

371
Plummer, Haiti and the United States, 137.

372
Dorothy Williams, “Haiti’s New Look: On a Mountain Roadway in Haiti,” New Y ork Times, August
16, 1950.
https://search.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/111447913/abstract/7DA608093CFB4CE2PQ/1.
 142
The International Exposition was one catalyst that helped change negative images

about Haiti among foreigners and locals during that time, providing a different vision of

Haiti from those that had long circulated in the media, while ensuring that the black

middle class had a permanent seat in Haitian politics. In addition, performances featuring

folklore dances continued to grow in popularity under Magloire. A travel guide to Haiti

published during Magloire’s regime states, “There is no doubt that the International

Exposition of 1949 has produced a tremendous effect on the Americas and the entire

world…. If you visit Port au Prince now, you will have a true idea of the considerable

work which was under way…. Visitors will learn about…the most beautiful ornaments of

the Caribbean Civilization.”373 Magloire later celebrated the Tricenquantenaire (150th)

anniversary of the Haitian Revolution in January 1954 in a similar fashion to the 1949-

1950 Exposition, signaling that his administration saw value in the International

Exposition and sought to recreate it despite the public criticism to which Estimé had been

subject to over its expense.374 Magloire even invited back Marian Anderson to mark the

celebration.375 The launch of the International Exposition had continued the efforts of

past governments to “fix” Haiti’s image problem, but embraced the commodification of

373
Haiti Tourist Information Bureau, Travel Guide to Haiti (New York: Haiti Tourist Information Bureau,
1950), 28.

374
Smith, Red and Black in Haiti, 167. Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic, also realized
the benefits of launching an international exposition and his government held its own. Launched in 1955,
La Feria or the Free World’s Fair of Peace and Confraternity in Santo Domingo, commemorated the 25th
anniversary of Trujillo’s rule in the Dominican Republic. This event was not officially recognized by the
BIE. Caribbean Collection, University of Miami Special Collections. La Feria was held from December 20,
1955-1956. See Lauren Derby, The Dictator's Seduction: Politics and the Popular Imagination in the Era of
Trujillo (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009), 109-134.

375
Rodman, The Caribbean, 287.
 143
Haitian folk culture, including elements from Vodou. In sum, for both Estimé and his

political successor Magloire, expositions were a means to increase recognition of Haiti’s

contributions to world history, promote its capability as a black nation to achieve

modernity through its infrastructural improvement, and signal its potential for growth in

exploiting its own cultural capital to increase tourism.

 Chapter 4: Image Déformée: François Duvalier’s Haiti and the World’s Fairs

“Haiti [can] exploit the golden opportunity presented by the Expo to promote the country
and its products to the millions of visitors expected in Montréal and show that Haitians
i.e. black and brown [people] are present at Terre des Hommes.”376
Andre Potvin, member of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce, November 9, 1966

World’s fairs and expositions were slowly becoming antiquated by the mid-

twentieth century. There was not another exposition after Port-au-Prince’s Bicentennial

Exposition in 1949 until Expo ’58, also known as the Brussels World’s Fair, in Belgium.

Afterwards, Seattle held its Century 21 Exposition in 1962 and then New York mounted

its world’s fair from 1964-1965. However, it was Terre des Hommes or the 1967

International and Universal Exposition, also known as Expo ’67 in Montréal, Canada that

came to be considered the most successful world’s fair in the twentieth century. With

over fifty million visitors and sixty-two nations participating, Expo ’67, held from April

21- October 29, celebrated the 100th year anniversary of the Canadian Federation.

Haiti had participated in world’s fairs and expositions since the nineteenth

century, but having an exhibit space at the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair and Expo

’67 was of particular importance to the dictatorship of François Duvalier. What did it

mean for the Duvalier regime to claim a physical space at the New York World’s Fair

and then at Expo ’67? What kinds of contestation surrounded Haiti’s participation in

cities such as New York and Montréal, where there were growing Haitian exile

populations? In this chapter, I argue that the Duvalier regime sought to continue Haiti’s

376
Letter from Andre Potvin, Charge d’Affaires from Haiti to the Secretary of External Affairs Department
in Ottawa, Canada, File RG71- A201300200, November 9, 1966, Library and Archives of Canada. My
translation from “Le Ministre du Commerce et de l’Industrie sut mieux que M. Sassine faire ressortir de
l’intérêt pour Haïti d’exploiter l’occasion en or que represénte l’Expo pour faire connaïtre leur pays et ses
produits aux millions de visiteurs attendus à Montréal et montrer que les Haïtiens i.e. les noirs et les bruns
sont présents à cette Terre des Hommes.”

144
 145
long standing tradition of participating in world’s fairs and expositions to counter the

negative portrayals of Haiti under his rule in the international media. According to the

dictatorship, such reports were largely created by the growing Haitian exile population

residing in New York and Montréal. The Duvalier regime, known for its nationalist

noiriste rhetoric asserting Haiti’s autonomy, also participated in these international events

to attract tourism and foreign investment, revealing a dependency on the very western

nations from which it claimed it was independent.

François Duvalier, known as a “country doctor” and ethnologist, was seen as the

“Estimist representative in the 1957 elections.”377 Estimé’s legacy was important to

Duvalier since his presidency signaled a victory for the black middle class. Duvalier was

part of the noiriste political and literary movement beginning in the 1930s, which

affirmed that the black urban middle class were best fit to rule over the black masses and

pushed for the removal of the traditional light-skinned bourgeoisie from power.378 Along

with Lorimer Denis and Louis Diaquoi, he founded the noiriste group Les Griots in 1932,

and with Denis, the journal Les Griots in 1938, which published articles and poems by

black middle class ethnologists, historians, and doctors. The members of Les Griots were

leaders of the noirisme movement, which valorized African elements in Haitian culture

and believed that only the black middle class were legitimate rulers of the country.379

377
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation: The Origins and Legacy of Duvalierism (New
York: Monthly Review Press, 1990), 135.

378
Lorimer Denis and François Duvalier, “La Civilisation Haitienne: Notre Mentalite est-elle Africaine ou
Gallo Latine?,” (Paris, 1936), 361. Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation, 134. Valerie Kaussen, Migrant
Revolutions: Haitian Literature, Globalization, and U.S. Imperialism (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books,
2008), 11. Noiriste writers claimed the literary heritage left by Anténor Firmin, Jean Price-Mars, and La
Revue Indigène, to argue that the Haitian “mentality” needed to be changed and that there was no “real”
national unity across color lines.

379
Valerie Kaussen, Migrant Revolutions, 11.
 146
After the ousting of Estimé, Duvalier saw the Paul Magloire government as “the very

negation of the 1946 revolution, a reign of ‘noir without color’ at the service of the

mulâtre bourgeoisie.”380 However as Trouillot and other scholars have argued, the

Duvalier regime was not a complete break with pre-existing political forms and socio-

economic conditions in Haiti, but rather advocated that the black middle class be included

as the nation’s leaders.381 Although Duvalier employed noiriste rhetoric to claim that his

government would rule in the best interest of the black majority, he in fact perpetuated

the longstanding exploitative socio-economic structures by incorporating the black

middle class in the process. The economic and political interests of the milat elite,

became intertwined with the black middle class during the Duvalier dictatorship.

Tourism as a major revenue source expanded under Magloire and the 1950s

became known as the “Golden Age,” of international travel to Haiti. After Duvalier came

to power, many affiliated with his government sought to expand tourism to Haiti and saw

participation in the 1964 New York World’s Fair and Expo ’67 as an opportunity to do

so. In this chapter, I argue that Duvalier and officials in his government saw participation

in the 1964 New York World’s Fair and Expo ’67 as a key part of his project to

rehabilitate the international image of his regime to increase tourism and investment. The

study of the Duvalier regime’s participation in the world’s fairs can provide insight on:

how he used these international events to improve the image of his dictatorship as well as

his relationship with Haitian exiles. It also illuminates how the black middle class and

380
Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation, 135.

381
Ibid., 165.
 147
light skinned elite members of his government and supporters of the regime worked

together at these events to revive the tourist trade. These case studies concerning

Duvalier’s participation at these fairs demonstrate his government’s preoccupation with

his international image and Haiti’s continued dependency on enticing foreign investment.

Duvalier’s concern about his international image began once he came to power in

1957 through what many saw as a fraudulent election. Duvalierists attacked political

opponents and committed many acts of indiscriminate violence during his presidential

campaign, aided by the army.382 The Haitian military, “supported Duvalier

wholeheartedly after May 1957, and was “best prepared and most willing to use

violence.”383 However Trouillot notes that “in spite of the fraud and the superficial

character of the campaign, there is no evidence to indicate that Duvalier would not have

won in regular elections.”384

Even though he came to power with the aid of the Haitian military, Duvalier saw

this institution as a potential threat to his rule. He neutralized the army through

“transferrals, dismissals, and early retirements.”385 However Trouillot notes that, “it is

important to realize that these early retirements were possible because of the promotions

that went hand in hand with them. The post-occupation Haitian army had never seen so

many rapid promotions as in the first years of François Duvalier’s term.”386 By 1962,

382
Ibid.,136.
383
Ibid., 152.
384
Ibid., 136.
385
Ibid., 157.
386
Ibid.
 148
Duvalier had created a parallel paramilitary force that encompassed the feared tonton

makout, a secret police force, and a civilian militia known as the Corps de Volontaires de

la Sécurité Nationale (VSN) to support his government. The tonton makout, known for

wearing dark sunglasses, and the VSN committed many acts of violence on behalf of the

regime. James Ferguson notes that, “the fourteen-year reign of François Duvalier was the

social and economic ruin of Haiti. Between 30,000 and 60,000 people were killed by

state terrorism during this period, and many others were exiled and otherwise

brutalized.”387 Entire families and institutions were subject to indiscriminate state

violence perpetuated by the tonton makout and the VSN. The Catholic Church, the Boy

Scouts, universities, the Haitian press, and other institutions were undermined or closed

down by the Duvalier regime.388

By the early 1960s, Duvalier recognized he had an international public relations

problem due to the accounts of violence perpetrated by the army and Duvalier supporters

during his election campaign, which were broadcasted through international media

outlets. According to Laurent Dubois, “as soon as he was installed in office, Duvalier

hired a New York public relations firm headed by John Roosevelt, the son of Franklin, to

promote Haiti and the Duvalier regime. (This was the first of the many U.S. firms hired

by Duvalier, who at one point turned to Lehman Brothers for advice on economic

reforms). The publicity efforts soon paid off.”389

387
James Ferguson, Papa Doc, Baby Doc: Haiti and the Duvaliers (Oxford, UK: B. Blackwell, 1988), 57.

388
Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation, 159.

389
Dubois, Haiti: The A ftershocks of History, 334.
 149
The United States government under president Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-

1961) was more concerned about the spread of communism in the region than about

violence under the Duvalier regime. This concern intensified after the 1959 Cuban

Revolution and shaped the United States’ relationship with the Caribbean during the Cold

War. Wein Wiebert Arthus states, “Under Eisenhower, Duvalier was buoyed by the

United States. He received U.S. aid based on his alleged fight against Communism

without any restriction regarding the dictatorial path of his regime.”390 Brenda Gayle

Plummer notes, “the U.S. preoccupation with communism and specifically, with the

Cuban Revolution forms a motif that runs through Haitian diplomacy with Santo

Domingo as well as with Washington.”391 While Duvalier received U.S. aid under

Eisenhower, the relationship with Washington began to change during John F. Kennedy’s

presidency (1961-1963). In fact, Arthus notes that the period between 1961-1963 was a

turbulent time for Haiti's international relations.392 According to Dubois, “In the early

1960s, the Kennedy administration had considered Duvalier a threat to democracy and

Caribbean stability.”393 This stemmed in particular from Duvalier’s 1961 referendum on

whether he should continue to serve as president until 1967. The ballots only listed

Duvalier’s name and subsequently Duvalier dismissed the bicameral legislature and

390
Wien Weibert Arthus, “The Challenge of Democratizing the Caribbean during the Cold War: Kennedy
facing the Duvalier dilemma,” Diplomatic History, 2015, 39 (3): 505-506.

391
Plummer, Haiti and the United States, 181.

392
Wien Weibert Arthus, Duvalier à L’Ombre de la Guerre Froide: Les dessous de la politique étrangère
d’Haiti (1957-1963) (Port-au-Prince, Haïti: l'Imprimeur, 2014), 29.
393
Dubois, Haiti: The A ftershocks of History, 349.
 150
replaced it with a single chamber assembly filled with his supporters.394 The U.S. deemed

the election fraudulent and the Kennedy administration withdrew the ambassador and cut

off direct military aid to Haiti.395 According to Laurent Dubois, "the goal was to establish

distance from Duvalier himself and search for a political alternative within Haitian

society, while trying to avoid a social upheaval by continuing to provide humanitarian

assistance."396 The political instability in Haiti worried United States officials, who

thought that if the situation became worse it could inspire a communist movement similar

to that in Cuba. Due to the widespread repression during the dictatorship, many coup

attempts were launched by both internal enemies and Haitian exiles between 1958-

1968.397

Haitian exiles became involved in the Kennedy plan to search for a political

alternative. An exodus of professionals and the wealthy began in the late 1950s after

Duvalier took power through the 1960s. Trouillot explains that “Duvalierist violence

forced so many professionals and technicians to go into exile that the majority of white

collar Haitians are now outside the country.”398 These exiles formed organizations, such

as the Haitian Coalition, an exile group founded by journalist Raymond Joseph, who

condemned Duvalier in U.S. and Canadian newspaper articles. Joseph and other exiles

founded the Haitian Coalition in January 1965 and the organization had about 2,000

394
Max Franky, “Duvalier Begins Second Term After Claiming Election in Haiti: 200,000 See
Inauguration: President Vows to Work for ‘True Democracy,’” New Y ork Times, May 23, 1961.

395
Dubois, Haiti: The A ftershocks of History, 336. Plummer, Haiti and the United States, 185.

396
Ibid.

397
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 220. Plummer, Haiti and the United States, 191.

398
Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation, 173.
 151
members at its height in cities such as New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Miami,

and Montréal.399 The Haitian Coalition claimed to be a democratic, non-violent, and anti-

Communist group in opposition to the Duvalier dictatorship. Duvalier often accused the

group and other exiles of being communists to dismiss their grievances with his regime.

This was a strategic accusation of course, in light of Cold War politics.400 The United

States partially backed plans by Haitian exiles to attack Haiti, however “support for such

schemes was halfhearted at best, and the exile groups who eventually did attack Haiti

from the United States in the 1960s would do so largely on their own initiative.”401

Although the Kennedy administration supported efforts to undermine the Duvalier

dictatorship, it needed the Haitian government for a strategic swing vote that would expel

Cuba from the O.A.S. In January 1962, the United States promised aid to Haiti if it voted

in favor of expulsion. However, in June 1962 Arthus notes that Kennedy “decided that

USAID instead of the Haitian government, would manage money disbursed for Haiti in

the form of donations…[A]t the end of 1962, Kennedy decided Haiti should not receive

new assistance from the United States and the staff and budget of USAID in Haiti were

reduced considerably."402 The Duvalier government wanted to encourage investment and

tourism to Haiti and the Kennedy administration became an impediment to these goals.

Trouillot reminds us that “the greatest ‘realizations’ of the decade of 1946-1956 had been

399
RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder Haiti Newspaper Clips, Fernand Beauregard, “Selon las
Coalition Haïtienne: La rumeur d’assassinat est un truc d’abolique de ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier,” La Presse,
July 21, 1967, Library and Archives of Canada.

400
Arthus, “The Challenge of Democratizing the Caribbean during the Cold War,” 505-506.

401
Dubois, Haiti: The A ftershocks of History, 336.

402
Arthus, “The Challenge of Democratizing the Caribbean during the cold war,” 517.
 152
a direct result of the growth in foreign aid. Haiti became a country of projects for

numerous international, governmental, and private organizations.”403 The Duvalier

regime needed this foreign aid from the U.S. to continue growth, but the antagonistic

relationship with Washington limited his government’s ability to encourage financial

growth through investment and tourism.

On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated and the relationship with the

United States changed again. With Kennedy out of the picture, Duvalier had an easier

time launching a public relations campaign to encourage the return of tourism. According

to Arthus, Kennedy’s successor “Lyndon Johnson, was certainly not so concerned about

Latin America and the Caribbean. Duvalier, therefore, had free rein.”404 International aid,

investment, and tourism did not immediately resume during Johnson’s administration, but

the less antagonistic relationship slowly changed Washington’s approach toward the

regime. In addition, Duvalier’s resistance against the many coup attempts might have

convinced the international community that his government was stable despite the

growing repression in Haiti. Duvalier insisted that he was providing stability and security

to Haiti and that international investment should continue. In fact, after gaining control

over all the institutions in Haiti, Duvalier declared himself President-for-Life in 1964.405

The Johnson administration continued to tolerate the violence under the Duvalier

regime as long as it maintained an anti-communist stance. According to Plummer, “the

Johnson administration’s [conciliatory] attitude toward Port-au-Prince” was due to

403
Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation, 140.

404
Arthus, “The Challenge of Democratizing the Caribbean during the Cold War,” 531.

405
Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation, 160.
 153
Washington’s interest in investments opportunities in Haiti.406 Plummer notes that “U.S.

officials came to accept the idea that social change should be attendant on expanding

capitalism, and financier David Rockefeller grew increasingly influential in policymaking

circles. Friends of the Johnson administration found investment in Haiti attractive.”407

Duvalier’s partnership with John Roosevelt earlier in his administration and later with the

Rockefeller family aided in the relationship change with Washington. Haiti increasingly

was becoming attractive to these families and other U.S. investors due to its “cheap labor

force.”408 Ferguson notes, “…US tourism improved once again and American companies

began to set up their ‘offshore’ assembly plants in Haiti. Haitian workers, non-unionized

and badly paid, are soon producing every baseball used in the American league.”409 In

addition to courting investment from U.S. companies, Duvalier stated that he envisioned

Haiti as a top tourist destination for “the American middle class,” since “it is close,

beautiful, and politically stable.”410 It would take time to encourage closer cooperation

between Haiti and the U.S., but the change in administration benefitted the Duvalier

regime especially since it was able to prove its stability.

Duvalier still needed to do some image repair for his regime to encourage

investment and tourism. Notions of the “nightmare republic” with the menacing tonton

406
Plummer, Haiti and the United States, 189.

407
Ibid., 193.

408
Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation, 200.

409
Ferguson, Papa Doc, Baby Doc: Haiti and the Duvaliers, 55.

410
Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation, 200.
 154
makout circulated in U.S. newspaper reports.411 In addition, Graham Greene’s popular

1966 novel The Comedians (turned into a movie starring Elizabeth Taylor the following

year) critiqued the Duvalier dictatorship, while also reinforcing distorted images of

Vodou religious practices and social disorder. Duvalier later published criticisms of the

novel within Haitian newspapers and a book entitled Graham Greene Démasqué—

Finally Exposed, which according to Ferguson “set out to discredit Greene’s character

and his motives for writing his novel.”412 Duvalier needed to shift the focus away from

the violence of his dictatorship and old allies of previous Haitian government

administrations helped this process.

Poppy Cannon White, the widow of Walter White, the former Executive Secretary

of the NAACP, was unofficially part of this effort to help the Duvalier government

distract from accounts about his abuses of power. Under the Magloire administration,

Poppy White was appointed as the public relations consultant for Haiti.413 She wrote

several articles in the New York Amsterdam News in 1963 lamenting the media focus on

the Duvalier dictatorship rather than on Haiti’s beauty and critiquing the usage of the

phrase “poverty-stricken Negro republic” within newspaper accounts.414 Poppy White

wrote, “Now the news reports almost seem to revel in reviling not only Duvalier but

Haiti. Forgotten, ignored, never mentioned are the beauty and the charm, the grace and

411
Eliot Fremont-Smith, “Books of the Times: Opting Out in Never-Never Land,” New Y ork Times,
January 26, 1966.

412
Ferguson, Papa Doc, Baby Doc: Haiti and the Duvaliers, 51.

413
Léon Dénius Pamphile, Haitians and A frican A mericans: A Heritage of Tragedy and Hope (Gainesville:
University Press of Florida, 2001), 159.

414
Poppy Cannon White, “Some Truth About Haiti,” New Y ork A msterdam News (1962-1993), May 18,
1963.
 155
elegance, the dignity, pride and vigor that belong not only to the elite in the cities but to

the poorest peasants in the most remote of Haitian villages…Few people realize,

however, that, unlike peasants in other parts of the world, a great proportion of Haitians

are landowners.”415 Although Poppy White no longer worked as a public relations

consultant for Haiti, she continued to promote the country by focusing on the everyday

people living in the nation. Her larger corpus of writings on Haiti indicates that she did

not necessarily support the Duvalier dictatorship and also critiqued the U.S. government

for supplying Duvalier with funding, military equipment and training. She romanticizes a

Haiti without the Duvalier dictatorship and even noted that “there are indications that the

days of the dictator may be numbered.”416 Poppy White intended to provide these

“truths” about Haiti and its people to shift focus away from the Duvalier regimes abuses,

however inadvertently her articles served the goals of the dictatorship.

Participation in world’s fairs and expositions was another way for Duvalier to

divert attention from reports of his political repression and corruption. This refocus was

critical to the revival of Haiti’s tourist trade. When he was elected in 1957, tourism was

already in decline due to the political upheaval. Haiti went from over 90,000 visitors

yearly in the mid-1950s, to fewer than 60,000 in 1957.417 Haitian tourism also

experienced increasing competition from other Caribbean destinations. The Bahamas and

Jamaica had overtaken Cuba’s top position, which suffered after the 1959 Cuban

415
Ibid.

416
Ibid.

417
George Horses, “Haiti envisages rise in tourism; $10,000,000 annually expected,” New Y ork Times,
February 2, 1958.
 156
Revolution.418 The Duvalier government’s participation in the 1964 New York World’s

Fair and Expo ’67 became part of his strategy to counter the negative portrayals of Haiti

in the international media and also to encourage international investment and tourism.

The participation also reminded the international community of Haiti’s unique art,

culture, cuisine, history, and dance that was not available at the other tourist destinations

in the Caribbean.

Haiti at the New York World’s Fair in 1964-1965

The New York World’s Fair was held between April and October 1964 and

reopened again in 1965. Mounted at the Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens like

the previous New York World’s Fair in 1939, the 1964-1965 fair took “Peace through

Understanding” as its theme. This exposition was focused on the Space Age, new

technology, but also intended to bring countries together while downplaying the

underlying intense Cold War tensions of this moment, two years after the Cuban Missile

Crisis. The 1964 New York World’s Fair, according to Lawrence Samuel and other critics,

has been notorious as “the world’s fair that permanently put an end to major world’s

fairs.”419 It became known as a financial disaster, since the attendance was lower than the

projected 70 million visitors needed to earn a profit.

418
John M. Bryden, Tourism and Development; A Case Study of the Commonwealth Caribbean,
(Cambridge, England: University Press, 1973), 100. Paul P. Kennedy, “Caribbean Hailing Cuba’s Ex-
Tourists,” New Y ork Times, June 4, 1961.

419
Lawrence R. Samuel, End of the Innocence: The 1964-1965 New Y ork W orld's Fair (Syracuse, NY,
USA: Syracuse University Press, 2010), xiv. The fair also funded infrastructural projects for the expansion
of transit and highways in Queens and the completion of Flushing Meadows Park, just as the 1939 New
York’s world’s fair originally intended, but was unable to complete. The New York Hall of Science and the
Queens Museum were projects that came to fruition after the 1964-1965 fair.
 157
Robert Moses, city planner and organizer for the 1964-1965 New York World’s

Fair, led the corporation formed for the project whose members primarily included

businessmen. The disappointing attendance might have been impacted by the fact that the

fair was not given approval by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the

governing body of world’s fairs and expositions, which sanctioned Seattle's World's Fair

in 1962 and later Expo '67 in Montréal, Canada. According to the BIE’s rules, “a single

country could not host more than one major exposition in a ten-year period, a fair could

run six months at most, and fair organizers could not charge governments for exhibition

space.”420 Robert Moses decided to proceed with the fair and although the “BIE had often

granted exemptions in the past, Moses’ arrogant dismissal of BIE authority led the

organization to actually request that its members not participate in the event. And most

didn’t, leaving a world without much of the world.”421 Many BIE member nations, such

as Austria, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, decided not to

participate.422 Not having the official sanction of the BIE was a factor that contributed to

the fair's low attendance and profits.

World’s fairs and expositions were primarily concerned with stimulating foreign

investment and promoting local businesses, although “they had a rather dismal financial

history.”423 The active recruitment of smaller nations, such as Haiti, was seen as crucial to

the success of the New York World’s Fair especially since nations such as the U.K,

420
Ibid., 10.

421
Erik Mattie, W orld's Fairs (New York City, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998), 218.

422
"66 Nations Help Set Fair Record," New Y ork Times, Apr 22, 1964.

423
Samuel, End of the Innocence: The 1964-1965 New Y ork W orld's Fair, 11.
 158
Canada, and the Soviet Union pulled out due to the BIE’s request. About twenty-four

nations participated in the exposition and this number included many recently

independent and smaller nations. This was the first fair featuring “exhibits from many

newly independent Asian and African nations.”424 In fact, the New York World’s Fair in

1964-1965 was the first international exposition in which Haiti was not the only

independent black nation represented. The symbolism of black autonomy and sovereignty

that Haiti had once signified on its own was now being shared with newly independent

African nations. Yet, while Duvalier often publicly presented himself as a noiriste, black

nationalist and Pan-Africanist, this was not the emphasis of the government’s

participation in the New York World’s Fair. This shared representation of black autonomy

and sovereignty meant that the Haitian government had to strictly focus on using its

participation as an opportunity to promote their unique culture, encourage investment

opportunities, and shift the narrative in order to prove that Haiti was stable and safe for

tourists despite violence under the Duvalier dictatorship. While these nations were able to

gain political independence, they were increasingly moving toward a neocolonialist form

of economic dependence.

Nelson Rockefeller, governor of New York (1959-1973), was interested in

developing better relations with the Caribbean and Latin America. According to the New

York Times, he advocated for “an all out effort to achieve closer cooperation among the

American nations.”425 Rockefeller added that, “No nation today, large, or small can

preserve its national integrity or meet the needs of its people by action within its own

424
Rydell, Fair A merica: W orld's Fairs in the United States, 107.

425
“Rockefeller Bids Americas Go All Out for Cooperation,” New Y ork Times, April 12, 1963.
 159
borders alone…This is true for the United States as it is for Guatemala, Haiti, or

Bolivia.”426 His statement reflected the U.S.’s increasing global economic integration,

starting with regional economic integration in the Caribbean and Latin America. The

1964 New York World’s Fair was seen as a space to promote this closer cooperation and

in the case of the Rockefeller family, an occasion to discuss potential investment

opportunities in countries such as Haiti. The Haitian government was heavily courted by

high ranking officials of the New York World’s Fair cooperation in spite of the political

violence under Duvalier. In fact, to ensure the Haitian government’s participation, a

delegation from the World’s Fair Corporation visited Port-au-Prince in January 1961 and

New York State governor Charles Poletti visited Haiti in September 1962.427 Poletti, who

served as the vice-president of international and foreign exhibits for the New York

World’s Fair corporation, wrote to Duvalier stating, “we believe that your country can

contribute a most colorful and interesting pavilion and we are most anxious in our desire

to see your national flag flying in New York in 1964 and 1965.”428 Poletti also wrote that

"the important results of the New York exposition are the cultural exchanges,

understanding between peoples, which in this space age have suddenly made us

neighbors. Tourism will also benefit, as well as capital investment and trade.”429 Due to

426
Ibid.

427
New York World’s Fair Corporation Records 1964–1965, Haiti Foreign Participation, General Files
Participation, July 14, 1961 and Sept. 9, 1962, New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives
Division.

428
Ibid., July 14, 1961.

429
Ibid., Sept. 5, 1962 My translation from “Dans mon opinion, a dit M. Polletti, les résultats importants de
cette Exposition de New-York sont des échanges culturels, une meilleure compréhension entre le peuples
qui, dans cet âge de l’espace, sont soudainement devenus de propres voisins. Le Tourisme en profitera
aussi, ainsi que les investissements de capitaux et le commerce. Mais assurément, le résultat le plus
significatif sera un pas de plus vers la paix par l’entente.”
 160
the boycott of the exposition by major BIE members and the financial interest from

members of the Johnson administration and the Rockefeller family, Haiti’s participation

was seen as highly desirable. Poletti even extended an invitation for Duvalier and his

officials to attend “honor ‘Haiti Day’ at the Fair.”430 A day was dedicated for government

officials of each participating country to have an official presence covered by the press as

well as to schedule cultural performances. Mr. Poletti proposed “that January 1st being

the Independence Day of Haiti…will be set aside at the fair as ‘The Day of the Republic

of Haiti.’”431 Having participated in world’s fairs since the 19th century, Haiti was known

for its exhibits performances, art, and culture. According to Millery Polyné, “Haiti

symbolized the Africa of the West, without the long voyage, and maintained some

semblance of U.S. influence.”432 Expositions created an opportunity for national folkloric

displays and performances to be seen by millions. The “Golden Age” of Haitian tourism

made these performances internationally popular and in ultimately accepting Poletti’s

invitation, Duvalier intended to capitalize on this past image.

In February 1962, Haiti became the sixty-sixth exhibitor in the international area

of the New York World’s Fair. Haiti would be joined by other Caribbean and Latin

American nations, such as Argentina, Jamaica, Venezuela and many others. The Haitian

Chamber of Commerce was involved to help recruit Haitian businessmen to travel to the

430
Ibid., September 9, 1962.

431
Ibid.

432
Millery Polyné, From Douglass to Duvalier: U.S. A frican A mericans, Haiti, and Pan A mericanism,
1870-1964 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010), 155.
 161
exposition.433 By the time of the exposition, Duvalier had been in power for several

years and his circle included many wealthy Haitians. Harry Tippenhauer, a Haitian

industrialist and engineer, and Carl Mevs, owner of the “Gift Fair” tourist shop in Port-

au-Prince were designated by Duvalier to take the lead in arranging Haiti’s participation

at this exposition.434 Tippenhauer and Mevs represented the milat elite of Haiti.

According to Trouillot, Duvalier’s strategy of survival included, “the strategic alliance

with the local bourgeoisie and with U.S. imperialism, particularly though the proliferation

of subcontracting industries.”435 This demonstrates that Duvalier sought greater inclusion

of the black middle class into the existing socio-economic order of Haiti, and not to

overturn this established order. Under Duvalier the black middle class and light-skinned

elite started to integrate and have mutual interests, such as tourism development.

By the time Haiti participated in the New York World’s Fair, the softening of

relations with the U.S. helped Duvalier to re-enter the tourist field. Participation in the

exposition was very important to reintroduce the idea that Haiti was a "safe" tourist

location due to its political stability. The New York Times reported in October 1964, that

Haitian tourist officials, “reconstituted [the] Haiti National Office of Tourism… They

announced the forthcoming revival of their pleasure traffic, the appointment of directors

for their American tourist offices, the undertaking of a $150,000 promotion and

advertising campaign with Pan American World Airways.”436 According to the Wall Street

433
New York World’s Fair Corporation Records 1964–1965, Haiti Foreign Participation, General Files
Participation, February 14, 1962, New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division.

434
New York World’s Fair Corporation Records 1964–1965, Haiti Foreign Participation, General Files
Participation, September 5, 1962, New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division.

435
Trouillot, Haiti, State against Nation, 186.

436
“The Field of Travel,” New Y ork Times, October 18, 1964.
 162
Journal, “about 145,000 visitors came in 1959,” but by 1964 the total had dropped to

about 19,000 visitors.437 The revenue from tourism benefitted the Haitian government as

well as hotel owners, tourist shops, and other businesses. Duvalier and others loyal to his

regime stood to benefit the most from increased tourist traffic since they owned most

tourist-related businesses. Clovis M. Desinor, Secretary of State for the Haitian Chamber

of Commerce, in cooperation with Tippenhauer, named the Haiti Development

Corporation to organize and direct its fair exhibit. Harold. A. Tuthill, president of the

corporation, acted on behalf of the Haitian government and signed a contract for an area

of 10,000 square feet for the Haitian pavilion with William Berns, the New York World’s

Fair vice president of communications and public relations.438 If promotion of Haiti

during the exposition was successful, Tippenhauer, Mevs, Tuthill and the Haitian

Chamber of Commerce members stood to benefit from the future tourist revenue.

Initially, the Haitian pavilion was intended to be partially subsidized by the

Haitian government and otherwise funded by private sponsors. The Haitian Chamber of

Commerce was involved to help recruit Haitian businessmen to travel to the

exposition.439 According to New York World’s Fair Corporation Records, Haiti’s original

pavilion space was “at one of the corners of the Americas and United Nations Avenue…’

This position offers a great opportunity for merchants, industrialists, artists, ethnologists,

437
Kenneth Slocum, "Papa Doc Holds On,” W all Street Journal, May 20, 1968.

438
New York World’s Fair Corporation Records 1964–1965, Haiti Foreign Participation, General Files
Participation, February 14, 1962, New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division.

439
Ibid.
 163
and the businessmen of Haiti to make the name of Haiti shine...440" Tuthill secured the

space for the Haitian government’s exhibit for a rental price of $60,000; however, he did

not make the payments on time, which jeopardized the exhibit.441 Tuthill intended to pay

for the rental space by turning the Haitian pavilion into retail stands for hats, Pepsi-Cola,

and vending machines.442 George Bennett, representative for the International Affairs and

Exhibits at the New York World’s Fair, wrote to Haitian officials about his concerns about

Tuthill. He commented, “Although Mr. Tuthill’s evasiveness is causing us some concern,

what really disturbs us is the way in which he has been shopping around in an obvious

attempt to transform the Haiti pavilion into a series of commercial concessions….We

think someone, in addition to ourselves, needs to make him understand that he is

supposed to display products of Haiti and the culture, attractions, and achievements of

that country; that he is not to turn the Haiti exhibit into a bazaar.”443 Tuthill was granted

several extensions to make payments to secure the Haitian pavilion, but was unable to

meet them. The Haitian government’s partial subsidy of the pavilion seems not to have

materialized. It is clear that the Duvalier government wanted to rely on private sponsors

to mount the exhibit; however, they were unable to secure these. Although Tuthill made

overtures to the Arlington Hat Company, Pepsi-Cola, and the Continental Vending

Machine Company, he was unable to find funding to finance the pavilion. The Duvalier

440
Ibid., March 6, 1964. This was part of an advertisement text for Radio Caraibe. Texte Publicitaire. My
translation from “A l’un angles de l’avenue des Amériques et des Nations Unies se situe la place réservé à
HAITI, cette position offre une grande opportunité aux Commerçants, Industriels, Artistes, Ethnologues, et
hommes d’affaires d’Haiti le faire reluire le nom d’HAITI…”

441
Ibid., February 8, 1962.

442
Ibid.

443
Ibid.
 164
government’s involvement with Tuthill, who World’s Fair officials characterized as a

corrupt businessman reinforces Plummer’s contention that, “Duvalier’s shady deals with

unsavory characters, while not unprecedented in Haitian history, were significant for

several reasons. They occurred frequently, they put government functionaries in contact

with an international criminal network, they involved persons with links, albeit covert, to

U.S. government officials, and they corresponded to certain desiderata of U.S. foreign

policy.”444 Tuthill’s lack of payment and “unbecoming character” were a disappointment

not only to the Haitian government, but also to Charles Poletti and other New York

World’s Fair organizers. Unfortunately, Tippenhauer and the Haitian Chamber of

Commerce had given authority over the Haitian pavilion plans to a “suspicious”

businessman. Tuthill made many promises and failed to deliver, which ultimately caused

the Haitian government to lose its pavilion.

Tippenhauer, who had been placed in charge of the Haitian pavilion's

construction, attempted to straighten out the payment issues with exposition officials.

However, by September 1962, the agreement between the Haiti Development

Corporation and the New York World's Fair had been terminated.445 Governor Poletti

insisted that the Haitian government officials disassociate with Tuthill in any further

transactions concerning the Haitian pavilion.446 A U.S. financial group, which was

sponsoring the Caribbean pavilion, arranged a meeting at El Rancho Hotel in Port-au-

444
Plummer, Haiti and the United States: The Psychological Moment, 188.

445
New York World’s Fair Corporation Records 1964–1965, Haiti Foreign Participation, General Files
Participation, September 13, 1962, New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division.

446
Ibid., September 19, 1962.
 165
Prince to entice Haitian representatives to participate in their pavilion.447 The Caribbean

Pavilion included Trinidad, Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, Puerto

Rico, the Bahamas, and Bermuda.448 Some of these nations participated in 1964, while

others exhibited in 1965. None of the Caribbean nations were able to secure an

independent pavilion, most likely due to the high costs. In addition, some countries had

exhibited at Seattle’s Century 21 in 1962 exposition and could not afford to launch

another exhibit so soon thereafter. The grouping of African nations and countries in

Central America within two pavilions demonstrates that costs factored into whether a

nation could hold an individual exhibit. The huge cost was also an issue for recently

independent nations in Africa. According to Bill Cotter, many African nations, “wanted to

showcase their new independence there, but finances caused most of them to abandon

their individual pavilions, though some participated in the eventual Africa Pavilion.”449

The African pavilion was a stereotypical portrayal of a village with “round huts” that

represented the twenty-four nations participating.450

Although Haiti wanted its own pavilion, even if the Haitian government was able

to afford the costs, I contend that Haitian officials might have been convinced to join the

447
Ibid., June 29, 1963.

448
Ibid., July 19, 1965.

449
Bill Cotter and Bill Young, The 1964-1965 New Y ork W orld's Fair: Creation and Legacy (Charleston,
SC: Arcadia, 2008), 59.

450
Time, Inc. Official Guide, New Y ork W orld's Fair, 1964-1965 (New York: Time, Inc, 1964), n.p.
Countries in Central America, such as Guatemala and Honduras were designated a space in the Central
American pavilion. Only Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Sudan had separate pavilions instead of being housed
in the African pavilion, which displayed the exhibits of recently independent African nations such as
Burundi, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Congo, Ivory Coast, Dahomey,
Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Upper Volta,
Malagasy Republic, Somalia, Rwanda, Senegal, Zambia, Tanzania, Togo.
 166
other nations in the Caribbean pavilion. The “generic” Caribbean tourism imagery was

partly appealing to the Duvalier government given all the negative international press.

The creation of spaces such as the Caribbean pavilion, the Central American pavilion,

and the Africa pavilion were perhaps an attempt by New York World’s Fair organizers to

secure the participation of small countries. Due to the BIE boycott, the fair organizers

relied on the involvement of such nations to gain revenue, although it was ultimately not

enough to keep the fair from being known as a financial disaster. Confining nine nations

into the Caribbean pavilion in effect homogenized the image of the Caribbean. The

advertising within official guidebooks excluded which Caribbean nations were being

represented at the exposition in 1964 or 1965 and the official New York World’s Fair

guide book 1964-1965 described the Caribbean pavilion in this way:

An enormous flagstone terrace dotted with palm trees, café tables

and the flags of eight Caribbean areas distinguishes this pavilion.
Two low, glass faced structures with Spanish tile roofs exhibit and
offer for sale many island products—among them tortoise shell
jewelry, straw mats and bags, wood carvings and ceramics. The
dominating building is a large restaurant and bar. Hung with tribal
masks, the restaurant present steel bands, calypso singers and
Caribbean dancers. Dishes include pumpkin soup, suckling pig,
plantain (a variety of banana) and a dessert which is made of fresh
coconut meat. Rum drinks and coconut milk are featured at the
bar.451

Within the official fair guide’s pavilion description, there were usually highlights about

the nation’s history or descriptions of artifacts for fair-goers to peruse. However in this

case, based on the official guidebooks, it is unclear which nations in the Caribbean were

being represented in the pavilion and thus their particular histories and cultures were

blurred.

451
Ibid.
 167

Figure 4.1 Caribbean Pavilion. Photo courtesy of Bill Cotter.452

Although Haiti had a presence in the pavilion, this was only partially appealing for

Duvalier, who intended to make Haiti a distinct location for tourists. In addition, Haiti

was in competition for tourism with other Caribbean islands represented. Caribbean

islands were not able to present their goods, industry, and culture on a larger scale like

other nations at the exposition with their own pavilions, since the larger part of the

building was dedicated to a restaurant and bar. In fact, the description above advertises

the pavilion’s food, dance, and drink as the focus rather than highlighting their particular

histories and achievements. The architecture reinforced the notion that the Caribbean was

452
Bill Cotter, “A different angle on the Caribbean Pavilion,” World’s Fair Community,
http://www.worldsfaircommunity.org/topic/12546-a-different-angle-on-the-caribbean-pavilion/.
 168
a place of consumption and pleasure. In the photo below, one can see that clearly the

Dominican Republic is in the building, however there are no other visual markers that

reflect that Haiti, Trinidad, Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and

Bermuda were also present.

While exposition officials did not highlight the different national presenters in the

Caribbean pavilion, the Haitian exhibit was actively promoted in Haiti by Radio

Caraibes, led by André Dorsainvil, the director of a publicity agency, for several months

to encourage members of Haiti’s Chamber of Commerce to visit and participate.453

Although Haiti only had a small exhibit within the Caribbean pavilion, the government

arranged for Haitian dancers and singers to perform at the New York State pavilion.

While usually the Troupe Folklorique Nationale performed abroad at these events, on

September 5, 1964, The New York Times announced that the “Afro-Haitian program:

drums, dances; including La-Remise de Colliers-voodoo of the Raba [SIC] ritual- would

be presented by the Constant Jeanty Company Repeat at 6 P.M. New York Pavilion,” and

on July 8, 1965 a Haitian Radio Choir from Cap-Haïtien performed at the New York State

Pavilion as well.454 The New York State pavilion was a larger space and stage for opera,

ballet, and other performances during the exposition. These performances based on

Haitian culture and the Vodou religion continued to entice audiences. The performances

by the Constant Jeanty Company, according to the New York Times, "elicited the most

453
New York World’s Fair Corporation Records 1964–1965, Haiti Foreign Participation, General Files
Participation, April 2, 1964, New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division. André
Dorsainvil was the director of Emission Speciale Agency based in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

454
"Fair Calendar," New Y ork Times, September 05, 1964. "Fair Calendar," New Y ork Times, July 08,
1965. These events, held on September 1964 and July 1965, were advertised on the fair calendar in the
New Y ork Times. The Constant Jeanty Company was based in Haiti and initially made their New York
debut on November 26, 1963 at Carnegie Hall.
 169
heated response from the audience…In the latter phase, it was engrossing."455 After the

International Exposition in Port-au-Prince in 1949, there was increased international

interest in Haitian dance and art. This continued interest coincided with Duvalier’s

objective to increase tourism to and investment in Haiti.

The Caribbean pavilion was itself a tourist attraction in the midst of the exposition

and a majority of the pavilion visitors went into the bar and restaurant area to relax and

enjoy the “native” cuisine. According to the New York Times, “Some of the foreign

pavilions, such as those of the Caribbean countries and Polynesia, are designed solely as

money-makers. There is an admission charge to see a show of native talent, as in the case

of Polynesian pearl-divers. A bar sells drinks associated with the country, a restaurant

offers national dishes, and native products are sold as at a bazaar.”456 The New York

Times characterized the New York World’s Fair’s sale of native products in the same

manner that Harold Tuthill was criticized for attempting to make the Haitian pavilion into

a venue for concessions. However, the New York World’s Fair was a mostly corporate-

funded event and none of the revenue from the exhibits would return to the respective

participating nations.457 The thatched roof pavilion was inviting and perpetuated the

notion of a “friendly,” “safe,” “fun”, and “carefree” environment available for tourists

heading to the Caribbean. The Caribbean pavilion blurred the particularity of the islands

exhibiting, however it re-established the notion that Haiti was a "safe" place for tourist

455
“Haiti Dance Group appears at Carnegie,” New Y ork Times, November 27, 1963.

456
"66 Nations Help Set Fair Record," New Y ork Times, April 22, 1964.

457
Samuel, End of the Innocence, xx.
 170
travel despite past reports. Duvalier's regime was not associated with being "safe" or

”friendly," after seven years of political violence and corruption, but the pavilion

reintroduced this idea to potential tourists. Although the Haitian government was initially

ambivalent about the Caribbean pavilion’s generic imagery, they likely welcomed these

representations in seeking to re-associate Haiti with touristic pleasure.

Figure 4.2 Caribbean Pavilion Restaurant. Courtesy of Queens Memory458

In January 1965, a new “jet-length airport,” named after Duvalier, facilitated the

arrival of tourists by planes, but others came from cruise ships. By March 1965 there

458
“Caribbean Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair,” Queens Memory,
http://queensmemory.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/1861.
 171
were already reports of an “upswing in tourism in Haiti” from the United States, although

no exact statistics of visitors were provided.459 During 1965, airline tickets, hotels, and

cruise-ship bookings increased as the Haitian government sought to reclaim its spot as a

top Caribbean tourist destination. Pan American Airways cooperated with the Duvalier

government from the mid-1960s onward by advertising Haiti as a unique travel

destination, as it had in the 1950s before Duvalier took office. During the new airport’s

inauguration, Pan Am officials hosted “thirty-five travel agents” who made a trip to Haiti

in order to assemble “information for the clients of travel agencies in New York,

Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, Montréal, Toronto, Chicago,

Pittsburg, Boston, Buffalo and Hartford.”460 While Haiti did not have its own pavilion at

the New York World’s Fair in 1964-1965, the smaller exhibit in the Caribbean pavilion

served as a step to re-familiarize North Americans with the “carefree” and “friendly”

Haiti from the “Golden Age” in the 1950s. Press reports aided the “friendly,” “safe,” and

“exotic” image Duvalier sought to communicate to foreign visitors. After the New York

World’s Fair, the Duvalier government set its sights on enticing not only United States

Americans to become tourists, but also Canadians.

459
Series 16: Photographs, 1918-1990, Box 326, Folder 4, Pan American World Airways, Inc. records,
1902-2005, University of Miami Special Collections. “Upswing in Tourism in Haiti,” New Y ork
A msterdam News, March 27, 1965. “The Field of Travel,” New Y ork Times, October 18, 1964. The older
airport was at Bowen Field, which had been used since the United States occupation of Haiti (1915-1934).
For more information on the 1965 airport, see Claire Payton’s dissertation “The City and the State:
Construction and the Politics of Dictatorship in Haiti (1957-1986).” (PhD Dissertation, Duke University,
2018).

460
“Present as jet age makes arrival in Haiti,” New Y ork A msterdam News, January 30, 1965.
 172
Expo '67

Expo ’67 was designed to expand and modernize the city of Montréal. It drew

over fifty million visitors with sixty-two countries participating and since the exposition

was sanctioned by the BIE, it enjoyed the participation of all forty member nations. Also

in contrast to the New York World’s Fair, Expo ’67 was a state-sponsored event, rather

than privately funded.461 The $73 million Canada invested, according to Erik Mattie,

“was in reality a pittance when considering that with that money Montreal bought a new

metro system, a series of roads and bridges, slum clearance, and a variety of new hotels

and theaters.”462 After the exposition, the majority of the fair grounds were converted to

permanent usage.

Even with the assured participation of all forty member nations of the BIE,

Canadian officials courted Haiti’s participation as zealously as exposition officials from

the New York World’s Fair had done. To ensure the success of Expo ’67, Canadian

officials recruited nations to participate early. Exposition officials Robert Letendre and

Laurent M. Asselin visited Port-au-Prince in early November 1964 for several days.463

Since the New York World’s Fair in 1964 was unauthorized by the BIE, there was fear

that countries would be reluctant participate in Expo ’67 just a few years later.464 Robert

Letendre and Laurent M. Asselin emphasized the benefits participating in the exposition

461
John Lownsbrough, The Best Place to Be: Expo 67 and Its Time (Toronto: Allen Lane, 2012), 24.

462
Mattie, W orld's Fairs, 228.

463
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71-A201300200, November 9, 1964, Library and
Archives of Canada.

464
Robert Alden, “Fair Costs Here Felt in Montreal: Exhibitors Show Reluctance to Sign Up for ’67
Show,” New Y ork Times, June 25, 1965.
 173
could have for Haitian and Canadian relations.465 However, the mounting of a national

pavilion at the exposition would cost an estimated $300,000, and the Duvalier

government maintained they could not spend more than $150,000 for the event. The

project was submitted in December 1965 and Canadian official Charles Bédard, the

Director of Exhibitors, worked on a plan to reduce the price and size of the pavilion

project.466 In addition to a standard pavilion exhibit, the Haitian government wanted to

install a restaurant.467 This section examines how the Haitian government participated in

Expo ’67 to promote the idea that Haiti was a safe place for tourists under the Duvalier

dictatorship through its pavilion’s architecture, cultural performances, propaganda against

Haitian exiles, and by establishing new commercial links with Canada.

On May 6, 1965, Haiti confirmed its participation in the exposition and

announced its intention to promote “commercial exchanges” between Haiti and

Canada.468 The Haitian Chamber of Commerce was placed in charge of organizing Haiti’s

participation at Expo ’67, and proceeded to secure commitments from the private sector

in Haiti to fund the pavilion.469 The Haitian government and the Chamber of Commerce

intended to ensure the “greatest success” of Haiti’s pavilion since it would draw hundreds

465
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71-A201300200, May 8, 1965, Library and
Archives of Canada.

466
Ibid., January 20, 1966.

467
Ibid.

468
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71- A201300200, May 8, 1965, Library and
Archives of Canada.

469
Ibid., August 5, 1964.
 174
of thousands of visitors.470 The chamber members noted that, “this is an opportunity for

us to showcase our infinite resources and our beautiful country’s rich possibilities in the

field of artisanship, arts and culture.”471 The officials in charge of Haiti’s participation in

Expo ’67 calculated that Haitian art and culture continued to be a strong draw for

potential tourists. The chamber members, many of whom owned businesses in Haiti,

stood to profit from Haiti’s increased international tourism to the country.

In November 1966, the Haitian Chamber of Commerce met to discuss Haiti’s

participation in the exposition. Financiers, traders, and industrialists responded to the call,

which had been advertised in local Haitian newspapers such as Le Nouvelliste for several

months. During the meeting, the chamber members designated Max Ewald, who they

claimed was the “best architect, artist, and decorator in Haiti,” to adorn the pavilion.472

The Haitian Chamber of Commerce, interested in securing more investment and tourist

dollars for its members, emphasized that participation in the exposition was a good

opportunity to present the country and its products to the millions of visitors heading to

Montréal.473 As noted in this introduction, Andre Potvin, member of the Chamber of

Commerce in Haiti, was pleased to participate in an exposition with “Haitians i.e. black

470
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder
Haiti Newspaper Clips, August 8. 1966, Library and Archives of Canada.

471
Ibid. My translation from “Le Gouvernement ainsi que la Chambre de Commerce d’Haiti se proposent
d’assurer le plus grand succès au stand d’Haiti à ce great event Universel qui attirera des centaines de
milliers de visiteurs. Ce sera l’occasion pour nous de mettre en valeur les ressources infinies de notres beau
pays ainsi que nos riches possibilités dans le domaine de l’artisant, des arts et de la culture.”

472
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71 11 Vol. 446 Haiti-Hydro Quebec,
A201300200, November 9, 1966, Library and Archives of Canada.

473
Ibid.
 175
and brown [people]…present.”474 According to Potvin, participation in the exposition

would promote Haiti as a tourist destination, while staking a claim to its modernity as a

black nation.475 This collaboration between the black middle class and light-skinned

industrial elite reflected the fact that Duvalier had consolidated his rule. This is another

example of how Duvalier sought to include the black middle class into the existing socio-

economic order.

The Haitian government was likewise convinced that participation in Expo ’67

would help restore tourist traffic to Haiti.476 François Duvalier encouraged participation

and Robert Letendre noted during his visit in 1964, “Haiti is currently stagnant. Tourism

has fallen to nothing.”477 Though interest increased in Haiti’s tourism industry following

the 1964 New York World’s Fair, tourism never completely rebounded to its 1950s levels.

Participation at Expo ’67 presented an opportunity to cultivate a relationship with the

Canadian government to court both investment and tourists. Duvalier also continued to

counter the negative portrayals of his government by attempting to divert attention away

from the political violence and rampant corruption. He appointed Luc Albert Foucard, the

brother of his private secretary and husband to his daughter Nicole, as the minister of

tourism in 1967. In the same year, according to the New York Times, “with the help of a

special gasoline tax, which brings the price of a gallon to 60 cents, the Public Works

474
Ibid.

475
Ibid.

476
Ibid., August 5, 1964.

477
Ibid., August 4, 1964. My translation from “Haiti est actuallement dans le marasme. Le tourisme est
tombé à rien.”
 176
Department has made some improvement in the streets and roads in and around Port-au-

Prince. A more vigorous program to attract tourists, who are the country’s main hope of

increasing its revenues and putting people to work, has produced some hope too.”478

Participation in Expo ’67 was part of this vigorous program to attract tourists. This

potential revenue stream also spurred some minor infrastructural projects in Haiti to

increase the volume of tourists, as well as to facilitate their comfort. On September 23,

1967 Luc Albert Foucard stated, “We are improving our tourist facilities in order to make

North American visitors even more welcome and comfortable.”479

Although local facilities were being improved, the Haitian government still had to

confront its image problem. “Haiti, Land of Sun” was chosen as the theme for the Haitian

pavilion at Expo ’67, which countered Graham Greene’s “nightmare republic” image.

The Haitian pavilion was modeled after Cabane Choucoune, a popular Port-au-Prince

nightclub, known for its commodified Vodou performances staged explicitly for tourists,

that during the Duvalier era also catered to elite Haitian audiences.480 Like other

nightclubs and high-end shops, Cabane Choucoune needed tourist patronage to remain

open. Initially the Haitian Chamber of Commerce said it was going to finance the Haitian

pavilion; however, Hurricane Inez landed in Haiti on October 1966, causing millions of

dollars in damage and hundreds of deaths. In particular, there was severe damage to the

coffee crops in Haiti, which possibly impacted the ability of the Haitian Chamber of

478
Henry Giniger, “Economy of Haiti just limps along,” New Y ork Times, August 5, 1967.

479
“Haiti dedicates Jet Terminal,” New Y ork Times, September 23, 1967.

480
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71- A201300200, November 9, 1966, Library
and Archives of Canada. “Choucoune” was also a song that praised the beauty of Haitian women.
 177
Commerce members to foot the bill for the expense of the pavilion since the Haitian

economy relied on coffee and rum.481 Jean Sassine, the Haitian General Commissioner

for the pavilion, mentioned to an exposition official, Robert Letendre, that he was looking

for financial backers for the project. Letendre noted that “it would appear that their

Commissioner General Sassine has been turned loose without funds to arrange for a

participation which now seems most unlikely.”482 Sassine was seeking backing from the

Canadian government on a five-year basis to pay for the Haitian Government’s

participation in the exposition, but there appeared to be no prospect of financing on these

terms.483

Despite the Haitian government’s increasing financial difficulties, Sassine

authorized construction of the Haitian pavilion on July 20, 1966.484 Sassine emphasized

to Expo ’67 officials that this was an extensive and important effort for Haiti’s President-

for-Life François Duvalier.485 Sassine stated that “I am convinced that everyone will have

an altogether different idea of my country, which is so poorly known.”486 The exposition

was an opportunity for the international community to know more about the nation, the

Duvalier regime, and the new “safe” image the Haitian government wanted to broadcast.

481
Ibid., March 21, 1967.

482
Ibid., May 17, 1966.

483
Ibid.

484
Ibid., July 20, 1966.

485
Ibid., No date.

486
Ibid., No date. My translation from “Je suis convaincu que tout un chacun se fera une toute autre idée de
mon Pays qui est si mal connu”.
 178
With coffee and other crops being devastated by Hurricane Inez, tourist dollars were

needed to boost the Haitian economy.

The Haitian Chamber of Commerce was still involved in the pavilion’s

preparation and advertising even though it was not able to fund the construction. They

continued to hope that the pavilion would be a great success since millions of visitors

were expected to attend Expo ’67. Le Nouvelliste newspaper reported, “this is an

opportunity for us to showcase the infinite resources of our beautiful country and our rich

possibilities in the field of crafts, arts and culture.”487 The objective for participating in

Expo ’67 had some continuity with Haiti’s participation in expositions earlier in the

century. However, the stakes were higher for the Duvalier dictatorship given its infamous

international reputation at the time. The Haitian government wanted visitors to see the

Duvalier regime as safe for tourists and investors, while ignoring the state violence and

corruption associated with the regime. Nevertheless, Duvalier’s status as an authoritarian

and “strong man” made the country appear safe for foreign tourists.

The Haitian government had high aspirations for their pavilion and managed to

find a financial backer to continue the work on it. Chez Tony Motel Inc., headed by

French-Canadian millionaire Antonio Simard and his son André Simard, financed the

pavilion’s completion.488 In return, Simard received a portion of the profits from the

pavilion’s bar. He also established a company in Haiti, A. Simard Inc., to finance projects

487
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec 2,
Folder Haiti Newspaper Clips, August 8. 1966, Library and Archives of Canada. My translation from Le
Nouvelliste “ce sera l’occasion pour nous de mettre en valeur les ressources infinies de notres beau pays
ainsi que nos riches possibilités dans le domaine de l’artisant, des arts et de la culture.”

488
Ibid., July 2, 1967.
 179
such as the construction of a complex of roads, hotels, motels, and restaurants following

the exposition.489 This was the kind of investment the Duvalier regime had in mind when

it sought to participate in the expositions in the first place. Due to the construction delays,

the Haitian pavilion was inaugurated on May 11, 1967 instead of April 21, 1967, Expo

’67’s opening date.490

Figure 4.3 Photo of the Haitian Pavilion. Courtesy of Library and Archives of Canada.

489
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit. File RG71-A201300200, March 21, 1967, Library
and Archives of Canada.

490
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder
Haiti Newspaper Clips, “Malgre certaines difficultes Haiti ouvre officiellement son pavilion aux visiteurs
de l’Expo,” Le Journal de Montreal, Thursday, May 11, 1967, Library and Archives of Canada.
 180
The architecture of the 60-foot square pavilion had a “terre de soleil” (land of sun

motif). It was bounded on two sides by canals on Ile Notre-Dame and located near the

pavilions of Monaco and the former Yugoslavia. The floor of the pavilion as well as the

external terrace were decorated with a stylized representation of the sun. The sunlight

entering the pavilion was reflected by the walls painted in different shades of orange. The

pavilion’s lower exterior walls were glass, and a series of vèvès, Vodou religious

symbols, adorned each of the top exterior walls which were shaped in cubes. The vèvè

symbols (some of which are pictured above) paid homage to Vodou lwa, or spirits, such

as Ezili, Agwe, the Marasa, Danbala, Bo-Sou, Loko, and Ogou.491 On the cubes next to

the vèvès are small stars that reference water, fire, earth, and air. Vodou iconography was

a hallmark of the Haitian pavilion, and Duvalier and Haitian officials utilized religious

imagery as a sign of Haiti’s pride and culture. However, as in the past Vodou symbolism

was employed to recapture the fascination of foreigners to encourage tourism. In fact, a

Pan American Airways ad noted that “If folks are pressuring too much, you can always

put a hex on them by sticking pins in a voodoo doll.”492 Duvalier was well known for

promoting Vodou symbolism during his regime, using it inspire fear among the

population. According to Kate Ramsey, “Duvalier became internationally known for

appropriating iconography from Vodou in the service of his own self-fashioning, as well

as for exploiting the popular identification of political power with sorcery.”493 While

491
See Milo Rigaud, V è-V è: Diagrammes Rituels Du V oudou (New York: French and European
Publications, 1974) for more information on vèvès.

492
Series 12: Public Relations and Marketing, 1927-1992, Box 403, Folder 28, Pan American World
Airways, Inc. records, 1902-2005, University of Miami Special Collections.

493
Ramsey, The Spirits and the Law, 250.
 181
Vodou symbolism was used to inspire fear locally, internationally the Duvalier

government advertised it as an exotic commodity available for tourist consumption.

The interior exhibit also featured sisal hats and bags, cotton, and tapestries

covering the pavilion’s walls. In addition, paintings, dolls, and wooden sculptures were

displayed on steel wires stretched between the floor and the wooden panels of the

ceiling.494 Many of the paintings and wooden sculptures depicted the Haitian peasantry

and countryside. The interior exhibit paintings displayed “the three principal phases in the

evolution of art in Haiti: naive/primitive, popular, and the contemporary or

‘advanced.’”495 Haitian art, which was characterized as evoking the country’s African,

Spanish, and French influences, continued to be a popular tourist attraction and the

exhibit displayed its transformation.496 As in past expositions, Haitian visual art became a

major part of the Haitian government’s exhibit at Expo ’67.

The architecture and art collection exhibit were not the only attractions of the

Haitian pavilion. The space prominently featured a bar and restaurant, which was a

favorite rendezvous for the staff of other pavilions, because of its large terrace and

reportedly “happy-go-lucky atmosphere among the waiters and hostesses.” At the bar and

restaurant, visitors got to enjoy Haitian cuisine and Rhum Barbancourt, produced by one

494
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71- 11 Vol. 446 Folder Haiti-Hydro Quebec,
Library and Archives of Canada.

495
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder
Haiti Newspaper Clips July 2, 1967, Library and Archives of Canada. My translation from “La section
peinture présente bien les trios phases principales de l’évolution de cet art en Haïti: le primitif, le populaire,
le contemporain ou ‘avancé.’”

496
Centre International De Documentation & D'Information Haitienne Caraïbéenne & Afrocanadienne
Archives (CIDIHCA) - Video Visite à l’Expo.
 182
of Haiti’s oldest rum companies. Music and folkloric dancing were other attractions. Jazz

des Jeunes, a popular band from Haiti, performed on the terrace every evening. Haiti was

the first national pavilion at the exposition to feature dancing on a regular basis.497

During Haiti’s “national day” at the exposition, August 30, 1967, twenty-three dancers of

the Troupe Folklorique Nationale, and sixteen members of Jazz des Jeunes performed for

about 2,000 onlookers, who gathered around the bleachers to listen and enjoy a jazz

combo with “a Caribbean flavor.”498 Newspaper reports noted that the dancers and

musicians from “sunny" Haiti performed well to a large audience despite Montréal’s

rainy weather.499 In its commentary on the performances by the Troupe Folklorique

Nationale, the Montréal Star stated:

What really brought down the house was a humorous and decidedly
erotic duet by a young couple, which featured a series of pelvis-
twisting gyrations that would put any teeny-bopper to shame. There
were overtones of voodoo in the finale which steadily grew more
pronounced until, at the end of the number, there were several
women writhing on the ground in a frenzy and shrieking in as
realistic an imitation of a person possessed by a voodoo spirit as
one could ever hope to see. Fighting such handicaps as the loud
drumming of the rain and a leaky roof that forced the band to split
into two sections and kept the maintenance crew sweeping the
stage between numbers to clear away the accumulated water, the
performers put on a terrific show in the best tradition of
showbusiness.500

497
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71-3 Vol. 40, Library and Archives of
Canada.

498
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71-6 (series), Volume 144 File # ARC-
71/144-10 or ARC 71/144-7, Library and Archives of Canada.

499
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG-71-1 Vol. 11 ARC 71/11/6, Wednesday,
August 30, 1967, Library and Archives of Canada.

500
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, File RG71-1-Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder
Haiti Newspaper Clips- Steve Hendler, “Rhythm routs rainfall,” The Montréal Star, Thursday, August 31,
1967, Library and Archives of Canada.
 183
A commodified version of Vodou ritual remained the main attraction for visitors during

the performances as had been the case during Haiti’s “Golden Age” of tourism. The

dances were depicted as exotic and enticing for onlookers. This time, however, the

performances also promoted the idea that Duvalier’s Haiti was available for tourist

consumption. In presenting Haiti as the accessible “Africa of the West,” the government

utilized folkloric dances and other art forms to attract tourists. However, according to

Polyné these performances also “served as the vehicle through which many tourists

authenticated their racist and paternalistic beliefs.”501 Haitian government officials

played a role in framing these performances as exotic and enticing, yet due to past

familiarity with Haitian folkloric performances, foreign audiences and reviewers were

conditioned to characterize these acts in particular ways.

Special attention must be paid to the so-called “hostesses” who worked at the

Haitian pavilion since they became an attraction as well and part of the Haitian

government’s strategy to encourage investment and tourism. A national pageant was held

in Haiti to select a woman who would greet tourists in Port-au-Prince. Gladys Sylvain,

selected and crowned as the “Queen of Haitian tourism,” flew to Canada after Haiti’s

national pageant.502 Young women became the international public face of Duvalier’s

Haiti, which the government wanted to be rebranded as safe and welcome for tourist

travel. Sylvain was often seen posing with a doll at the Haiti pavilion.503 Just like the doll

501
Polyné, From Douglass to Duvalier, 155.

502
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71-1-Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder Haiti
Newspaper Clips- Montréal Matin, August 31, 1967, Library and Archives of Canada.

503
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71- 11 Vol. 445, Folder Haiti-Hydro Quebec,
Montréal-Matin, Thursday, August 21, 1967, Library and Archives of Canada.
 184
with which she often posed, Sylvain was dressed in traditional “affranchi” costumes, or

French colonial dresses, as were the other Haitian women who worked at the Haitian

pavilion. Most were lighter-skinned women and included Haitian students who were

living in Montréal as well as a few flown in to work at the pavilion. Some of the

hostesses, such as Micheline Donat, Marlene Bellanton, Marie-Carmen Lamoute came

from Ecole d’Hôtellerie d’Haïti, which focused on preparing workers for the tourist

trade.504 The hostesses served food and alcoholic drinks to the guests at the pavilion. The

Haitian government was trying to revive tourism and Haitian women were at the

forefront of the campaign. The beauty and “kindness” of Haitian women was

consistently referenced in reports concerning the pavilion. Art, food, dance, music, and

Haitian women were being presented as available for foreign consumption.

Figure 4.4 Haitian waitresses at the Haitian pavilion. Courtesy of

Library and Archives of Canada.

504
Marcel Adam, “Le Pavilion d’Haiti, terre de soleil, est inauguré sous la pluie,” La Presse, Thursday,
May 11, 1967, Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ).
 185
Canadian newspapers reported that Haiti celebrated its national day on

Wednesday, August 30, 1967 “with the ominous trappings of maximum security…with

no byproducts of its stormy political situation spilling into the Expo.”505 The stormy

political situation mentioned referred to the June 10, 1967 executions of “19 young

officers of the palace guard suspected of plotting against the president.”506 These young

officers were allies of Duvalier’s son-in-law Lt. Col. Max Dominique. Duvalier came to

consider Dominique a threat to his rule and decided to execute all of Dominique’s

potential supporters if a coup was attempted. Duvalierist government representative and

Haiti’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Lébert Jean-Pierre said these executions

were not unwarranted and “that they are only carried out after due court procedure.”507

Duvalier did not want any challenges to his absolute rule and even family members could

be suspected of possible treason. He felt that his enemies, also declared enemies of the

state, would try to smear his reputation locally and internationally. This is why during

Haiti’s national day at Expo ’67 a “heavy cordon of security was present throughout the

incident free day although not so much as a hint of violence occurred.”508 There was a

ceremony at the Place des Nations, where Dr. Jean-Pierre gave a speech that praised Expo

’67 and stated that it topped everything “the human spirit has produced so far.”509 It

505
Tony Burman, “No political incidents: Haiti marks national day in tight web of security,” Montréal Star,
Thursday, August 31, 1967, RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder Haiti Newspaper Clips- The
Montréal Star, Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ).

506
“19 Haitians reported shot,” New Y ork Times, June 11, 1967.

507
Tony Burman, “No political incidents: Haiti marks national day in tight web of security,” The Montréal
Star, Thursday, August 31, 1967, Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ). File - RG71- 11
Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder Haiti Newspaper Clips –Library and Archives of Canada.

508
Ibid.

509
Ibid.
 186
rained heavily during Haiti’s national day, but Dr. Jean-Pierre spoke in front of an

audience of about 1,800 visitors and mentioned the connection between Canada and Haiti

by noting that both peoples were French-speaking and that Montréal was “the second

French-speaking capital of the world.”510

The Haitian government blamed journalists and Haitian exiles for spreading

negative accounts about the Duvalier regime. In defending the image of the Duvalier

government during Expo ’67, Haitian officials used the country’s pavilion as a platform

for propaganda against exiled opponents of the dictatorship. Jean Sassine, the General

Commissioner for the Haitian pavilion, and other Haitian officials hoped that the

exposition would improve relations between Canada and Haiti, and regarded Haitian

exiles as a potential obstacle to this goal. Haitian officials remained “convinced that their

excellent relations [with Canada] will not be altered despite the negative efforts of a

group that is multiplying to destroy and annihilate this virile and exemplary fraternity. It

is however regrettable that amateur journalists, in search of an easy story, subscribe [to

such reports] with an ease [that defies] logic…”511 Haitian officials were combatting the

Duvalier government’s portrayal in the international media and accused Haitian exiles of

being the source of negative accounts regarding the dictatorship to journalists in order to

smear the government. Throughout Expo ’67, Haitian government officials gave public

510
“Haitian Pavilion Opened,” The Montréal Star, Thursday, August 31, 1967, Canadian Corporation for
the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Library and Archives of Canada.
511
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71-A201300200, No exact date. After an item
dated August 15, 1966, Library and Archives of Canada. Letter to Canadians from Haitian officials. My
translation from “Je demeure persuadé que leurs excellentes relations ne seront point altérées malgré les
efforts négatifs d'une groupe qu se multiplie pour detruire et anéantir cette fraternité virile et exemplaire. Il
est pourtant regrettable que quelques journalistes amateurs, en quete de consécration facile, souscrivent
avec une aisance à étonner la logique…”
 187
addresses to counter accounts by Haitian exiles and journalists, while attempting to

provide an alternative view of the nation under the dictatorship through the pavilion and

its cultural programming. During the earlier May 1967 inauguration of the Haitian

pavilion, Jean Sassine stated in his address:

Certain men refuse to understand [patriotism] and [they] aim to

dirty their country’s [reputation] and their flag…Haiti and the
government of his excellency, Dr. François Duvalier, is
participating at the 1967 Universal and International World
Exhibition. In our pavilion everything will be done for the
satisfaction of the visitors. I am convinced that it will provide an
entirely different idea of my country, which is so misunderstood.
Propaganda inspired by mediocrity would have it that the only
country of French expression in America (apart from Canada)
should not participate at the Exhibition in Montréal.512

Jean Sassine accused exiles of being unpatriotic because they revealed their personal

experiences with the dictatorship, which were harsh and continued to portray life in

Duvalierist Haiti as a “nightmare.” François Duvalier had been in power for a decade by

the time of Expo ’67 and clearly was very concerned about Haitian exiles spreading

information that maligned his government. By interpreting any criticism against him as a

criticism of the nation, Duvalier identified Haitian exiles as traitors to their country.

During Haiti’s national day at the Expo ’67, the Haitian Coalition, an exile group led by

Raymond Joseph, condemned the dictator in the Canadian newspaper, La Presse. The

Haitian Coalition, founded in 1965, claimed that the Duvalier regime “was the cause of

10 years of martyrdom and misery in Haiti, 10 years of social decline, 10 years of a

512
Library and Archives of Canada, Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71- 11 Vol. 446
Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder- Haiti 567. Statement by the Commissioner General for the Participation of the
Republic of Haiti at Expo 67.
 188
perpetual holocaust, and 10 years of economic stagnation.”513 The Haitian Coalition

claimed to be a democratic, non-violent, and anti-Communist group in opposition to the

Duvalier dictatorship. They ran a radio broadcast program called Radio Vonvon and had

launched Le Combattant Haïtienne, a weekly newspaper that discussed current events in

Haiti. At the time of Expo ’67, there were about 1,000 Haitian exiles living in Montréal

and tens of thousands in the United States. The first waves of exiles to the U.S. and

Canada were primarily from the professional and elite classes. According to Frantz

Voltaire, himself one of these emigrants, “beginning in 1966, Canada became a land of

choice for West Indian immigrants. The Haitian presence in Quebec changed from tens of

individuals around 1950 and became more and more important with the arrival of Haitian

professionals.”514 The province of Quebec in particular became a “land of choice” for

elite and middle class Haitian immigrants due to its francophone population and the

availability of skilled professions. The Haitian exiles who arrived included doctors,

nurses, teachers, and other professionals. According to Sean Mills, “the first wave of

migrants, highly educated and possessing skills that were very much in demand,

integrated relatively well into a rapidly transforming Quebec society. In the 1960s,

Quebec’s public and para-public sector grew and, in need of qualified personnel, its

institutions welcomed the arrival of highly skilled Haitian migrants.”515

513
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec - Folder
Haiti Newspaper Clips- La Presse Monday, August 28, 1967, Library and Archives of Canada. My
translation from “Le régime ‘duvaliériste’ a été la cause de 10 années de martyre et de misére morale, à
Haïti, de 10 années de recul social, de 10 années d’un holocauste perpétuel et quotidian, et de 10 années de
stagnation économique.”

514
Frantz Voltaire, A Brief History of the Black Communities in Canada (Montréal: Éditions du CIDIHCA,
2007), 54.

515
Sean Mills, "Quebec, Haiti, and the Deportation Crisis of 1974," The Canadian Historical Review 94,
no. 3 (2013): 411.
 189
Even though Jean Sassine accused Haitian exiles of tarnishing Haiti’s

international reputation, many of the Haitian pavilion workers were drawn from the

Haitian exile population in Montréal, Canada. Some students of Haitian descent worked

at the Haitian pavilion even though they were living in exile with families who likely

opposed the Duvalier regime. Marjorie Villefranche, now the director of Maison d’Haiti

in Montréal, mentioned that her eighteen-year-old brother worked at the bar in the

Haitian pavilion. Despite having been targets of the Duvalier regime, her family had little

issue with him working in the pavilion.516 Frantz Voltaire went to Montréal for a few days

to see the Haitian pavilion in 1967 and noted that there were no public demonstrations.

When asked how he accounts for this, Voltaire stated that Expo ’67 was an opportunity

for Haiti to show its cultural presence to the world.517 It was a rare moment for these

exiles to celebrate the accomplishments of their country despite their opposition to the

current government. Notwithstanding the call for protests from the Haitian Coalition,

Canadian newspapers reported that Haiti celebrated its national day without any visible

protests from Haitian exiles. However, exiles with family still in Haiti might have not

wanted to place their relatives at risk of reprisal by publicly protesting at an international

event that was receiving daily coverage.

It was unusual for a country to hold a press conference on its national day since

the occasion was usually reserved for diplomatic pleasantries and not political discussion.

However on August 30, 1967, Haitian officials attempting to improve the government’s

Interview with Marjorie Villefranche, Directrice Générale - La Maison d’Haïti, August 5, 2015,
516

Montréal, Canada.

517
Interview with Frantz Voltaire, Director of CIDIHCA, July 26, 2013, Montréal, Canada.
 190
image organized one and had many questions to answer from international journalists.

According to The Montreal Gazette, “Dr. Jean-Pierre was grilled on the policies of

President Duvalier and his methods of rule which have earned him the title of the ‘black

voodoo president’ and once prompted President John Kennedy to call his [government] ‘a

reign of terror.’ But Dr. Jean-Pierre insisted Haiti was the victim of a ‘viciously

inaccurate press’ and that any methods the president has seen fit to employ are

necessitated ‘by treasonous opposition elements in our country.’”518 Haitian exiles,

“enemies” of the dictatorship, and journalists were blamed publicly for influencing

international press reports on the Duvalier government. Jean-Pierre claimed that due to

the “hell on earth press reports” the country’s “tenuous tourist trade had suffered.519

Lebert Jean-Pierre estimated that “80 percent of all press reports on Haiti are grossly

distorted,” and repeatedly mentioned that “this has seriously hurt” Haiti’s tourist

industry.520 He claimed that President Duvalier “was more than willing to join with

opposition parties in a serious attempt to meet the country’s problems, but these parties

did not respond to his invitation.”521 The minister defended the actions of Duvalier and

his government when questioned about the many executions of political prisoners by

replying that “Haiti did not invent treason.”522 Whenever Duvalier’s government was

518
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Folder
Haiti Newspaper Clips, “Dupuy Sticks to Rum Minister to his Guns,” The Gazette Thursday, August 31,
1967, Library and Archives of Canada.

519
Lownsbrough, The Best Place to Be, 81.

520
Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibit, RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Mark
Starowicz, “Haitian Minister Claims Air Link to Canada Near,” Montreal Gazette, Thursday, August 31,
1967, Library and Archives of Canada.

521
Ibid.

522
Ibid.
 191
criticized for executing or persecuting the opposition, they often deflected the blame to

western powers for legal conventions and ways they dealt with treason against their

governments. During his speech, Jean-Pierre continued to blame “opposition elements on

the island” and Haitian exiles for the “dissemination of fantastic lies” regarding the

Duvalier dictatorship.523 He said that Haiti has had to “renounce the international

convention honoring political asylum because political enemies were abusing this

convention, and many people who want to leave the country to work elsewhere employ

this route.”524 He asserted that many Haitian exiles in Montréal were seeking greater

economic opportunities or continuing their studies and not, in fact, fleeing political

repression. While Jean-Pierre conceded that students were “often reluctant to return to the

island,” he said “this is because Haiti just cannot offer enough opening for trained

professionals.”525 The officials used the press conference to dismiss the actual grievances

of exiles against the dictatorship, while promoting Haiti as a future tourist destination for

Canadians. Part of Duvalier’s strategy towards “cleaning up” Haiti’s image involved a

propaganda campaign to malign Haitian exiles and anyone who publicly critiqued the

Duvalier government. Participation at Expo ’67 was an important part of the Duvalier

regime’s effort to vilify any group against his interests, especially since unfavorable

criticisms impacted his economic interest to spur tourism to and investment in Haiti.

523
Ibid.

524
Ibid.

525
Ibid.
 192
To revive Haiti’s tourist trade and attract foreign investment, Haitian officials

promoted the establishment of a direct air link from Haiti to Canada to facilitate the

arrival of Canadian tourists. Establishing a direct air travel link with Air Canada gave

tourists another option besides flying with Pan American Airways, which provided the

majority of flights to Haiti. Prior to this air link, Canadians had to fly into the U.S. and

then take a separate Pan Am flight to Haiti. During the press conference, Jean-Pierre

claimed that an air link to Canada was a much needed “connection needed to

Montréal.526” Before Expo ’67, according to The Montreal Star, “the controversial

policies of Haiti’s president, François Duvalier, [had] proven to be an obstacle to

completion of any regular direct air service. However, according to Dr. Jean-Pierre, the

situation is changing.”527 It seems notable that The Montreal Star characterized a decade

of documented political repression and corruption as Duvalier’s “controversial policies.”

Through participation in Expo ’67, the Duvalier government hoped to persuade the

Canadian public as well as officials to change their views of the dictatorship, and the

Montreal Star’s commentary seems to reflect such a shift. Nevertheless, critiques were

continuously launched against the policies of the dictatorship in newspaper reports.

During Expo ’67 several Canadian newspapers, such as La Presse and The Montreal

Gazette, began to run advertisements promoting travel to Haiti, which advised potential

tourists to visit their travel agents.528 Some of these advertisements were paid for by the

526
Mark Starowicz, “Haitian Minister Claims Air Link to Canada Near,” Montréal Gazette, August 31,
1967, Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ).

527
Tony Burman, “No political incidents: Haiti marks national day in tight web of security,” The Montreal
Star, Thursday, August 31, 1967, RG71- 11 Vol. 445 Haiti-Hydro Quebec, Library and Archives of
Canada.

528
Montreal Gazette, Saturday, May 13, 1967. La Presse, Friday, June 23, 1967.
 193
Haitian Tourism Bureau, though others did not have clearly identifiable sponsors. These

advertisements characterized Haiti as “sunny and exotic” and “a must for island hoppers

in the Caribbean! - Beautiful scenery and most exotic folklore.”529 Caribbean vacations

packages advertised to tourists that a visit was not complete without a trip to Haiti.

Another advertisement paid for by the Haiti’s Ministry of Tourism asked Canadians to

“make [their] next vacation a pleasant adventure. Under the sun... Exotic, a land of

contrasts and thrift: Haïti.”530 The reference to Haiti as a “land of contrasts” would seem

to well describe the persistent characterization of Haitians as “peaceful” and “happy”

people, who at the same time were living under the violence of the Duvalier regime. A

few months after the close of Expo ’67, the Duvalier government recorded a surge in

tourists to Haiti. The Wall Street Journal noted that, “air passenger arrivals this year

[1968] have been running at double the rate of last year when 24,492 persons flew in.

Compared with other prominent Caribbean resorts, Haiti is inexpensive.”531 Tourists

traveled to Haiti in larger numbers in the late 1960s and the 1970s to spend their money

after the Duvalier government was able to convince the international community that it

was stable and ready for investment. Beyond participation in Expo ’67, the friendlier

relationship with the United States and later Canada benefited the Haitian government as

it began to take steps to accommodate tourists. According to Dubois, “In the early 1960s,

the Kennedy administration had considered Duvalier a threat to democracy and

529
Montréal Gazette, Saturday, May 13, 1967, Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ).

530
La Presse Montréal, Saturday, May 13, 1967, Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ).
My translation from “Faites de vos prochaines vacances une aventure agréable. Sous le soleil...dans
l'exotisme, sur une terre de contrastes et d'aubaines: Haiti- Office National du Tourisme, Port-au-Prince.

531
Kenneth Slocum, "Papa Doc Holds on," W all Street Journal, May 20, 1968.
 194
Caribbean stability; a decade later, he had firmly established himself as one of America's

most favored client governments in the region."532 Growing interest in investment

possibilities in Haiti on the part of the Johnson administration, the Rockefeller family,

and other North American industrialists were other factors that contributed to the changed

outlook on the relationship with the Duvalier regime.

Participating in Expo ’67 was part of the Haitian government’s initiative to defend

the image of the dictatorship while simultaneously attracting Canadian tourists to Haiti.

Duvalier had built a new Port-au-Prince airport in 1965, but tourism initially remained

stagnant due to Haiti’s reputation as the “nightmare republic.” Participation in the New

York World’s Fair in 1964-1965 and Expo ’67 coupled with the shift in U.S. relations

towards Haiti helped attract foreign investment, and revive tourism especially from North

America. The exiled opponents of the regime challenged and contested this official

rebranding of the Duvalier dictatorship by drawing attention to the state violence, human

rights abuses, and corruption under Duvalierist rule. However, even though the

international newspapers continued to publish accounts of these abuses, the Haitian

government had some success in restoring Haiti’s image as a carefree destination for

tourists. The new direct flight from Air Canada and advertisements from Haiti’s Ministry

of Tourism aided in the increase of tourists to the island. Duvalier used these expositions

to re-familiarize North American tourists with the image of Haiti’s past “Golden Age” of

tourism to reinforce the idea that Haiti was “safe” and “exotic” under the Duvalier

dictatorship. Cultural programming and the exhibit displays were modeled on their

antecedents in past expositions. In addition, the participation at these world’s fairs

532
Dubois, Haiti: The A ftershocks of History, 349.
 195
reflected and reinforced Haiti’s dependent position on foreign investment despite

Duvalier’s nationalist rhetoric. Given that dependency, foreign investment and tourism

growth under Duvalier were still dictated by the terms set by foreign investors. The

changing international climate towards Duvalier’s dictatorship, the propaganda at the

expositions, the Haitian government’s public relation campaign, and foreign newspaper

advertisement for tourism were key factors that contributed to the return of tourists and

investors. By the 1970s, the Haitian government sought to promote tourism by

associating the country with Vodou performances, “naïve” paintings, inexpensive goods

like sisal hats and mahogany woodwork, as well as beautiful women.

 Epilogue

Latin American and Caribbean participation in and mounting of world’s fairs and

expositions remains an understudied field of research. In particular, Haiti’s omission

from the historiography of world’s fairs, despite its long-time involvement in and hosting

of these events, is striking. Similarly, Haiti’s involvement with international expositions

has gone missing from most political histories of the country as well. Neither scholarly

literature has closely examined the investment of successive Haitian governments in

world’s fairs and how their motivations for participation differed, in some respects, from

those of western nations. In this dissertation, I have argued that world’s fairs and

expositions became opportunities for Haitian governments to disseminate new narratives

about the nation’s “progress” and “civilization,” while at the same time promoting

foreign investment, trade, and eventually tourism. Developing nations, more generally,

have had alternative motives for creating exhibits or pavilions at these international

events. Lisa Munro notes that, “although former colonies sought to imitate the grandiose

spectacles they observed abroad, they often adapted the exposition format to meet their

particular political, economic, social, and cultural needs.”533 In the cases I have examined

here, expositions provided the opportunity to showcase Haiti’s world historical

significance, even as the country’s particular history of demanding racial equality made it

more challenging to acquire investment from western nations.

533
Lisa Munro, "Investigating World's Fairs: A Historiography,” Studies In Latin A merican Popular
Culture 28 (January 2010): 87.

196
 197
Since 1853, Haitian governments considered world’s fairs as venues of

international influence, and they became important events at which the nation attempted

to defend and define its image. Expositions were attended by millions of visitors,

domestic and foreign, and provided “a stage on which nations could display and promote

their identities in both a global and commercial context.”534 Through pavilions and

exhibits, Haitian governments sought to promote export trade, national history and

culture to defend its sovereignty and be recognized as a nation on the path “progress.”

The participation of Presidents Lysius Salomon (1879-1888), Florvil Hyppolite (1889-

1896), Sténio Vincent (1930-1941), Dumarsais Estimé (1946-1950), and François

Duvalier (1957-1971) in expositions reveals, in varying degrees, the tension between

asserting Haiti’s sovereignty through historical displays, while at the same pursuing

international trade relations and investments that could compromise the nation's

sovereignty. The aims of governments from Salomon to Duvalier shifted over the course

of this century-long period from expanding export trade and foreign investment in

largescale agriculture in the late nineteenth century, to attracting tourists by the mid-

twentieth century. Each government's involvement in world's fairs also reveals the

promotion of specific political and economic interests in the country, as well as points of

internal conflict. For Salomon, modernization in Haiti meant giving concessions to

foreigners willing to invest in the nation's agricultural export sector. Hyppolite, in turn,

mounted an exhibit focused on revolutionary heroes and elite "great men" to demonstrate

how Haiti's history was tied to world historical events and how the country deserved to be

534
Katherine Smits and Alix Jansen, "Staging the nation at expos and world's fairs,” National Identities 14,
no. 2 (June 2012): 173.
 198
treated as an equal among sovereign nations. In the twentieth century, increasing Haiti's

exports remained an important focus of the Haitian government; however, Vincent aimed

to use exposition exhibits to assert Haitian sovereignty while Haiti was still under U.S.

occupation and to re-establish trade relations with European powers. While Vincent

omitted references to the Vodou religion in exhibits abroad, Estimé used a commodified

version of Haitian folk culture that embraced elements from Vodou at the 1949

Bicentennial International Exposition in Port-au-Prince. This Exposition was part of the

Estimé government’s larger modernization effort to rebrand Haiti as a Caribbean tourist

destination, and figure the black middle class as the leaders of "progress" in the nation.

During the 1960s, François Duvalier sought to use world's fairs to counter negative

portrayals of his dictatorship, which he blamed on Haitian exiles based in the U.S. and

Canada. At the Expo ’67 pavilion in Montréal, the regime relied on folkloric

performances, artwork, and Haitian women “hostesses” to create an image of tropical

“paradise” in an attempt to rehabilitate Haiti's tourist industry. Internal as well as

international political agendas were served by these Haitian government’s involvement

with world’s fairs.

The number of nations organizing world’s fairs and expositions has decreased

significantly since the 1970s. Rydell notes that “in the late nineteenth and early twentieth

centuries, visitors could go to fairs and literally see the wonders of the world; attending a

world’s fair was a fantasy substitute for travel. By the 1960s the world’s marvels could be

bought in stores, seen on television, and admired in museums.”535 Nevertheless, despite

the advent of the jet-age, television, and social media, world’s fairs have continued. BIE-

535
Robert Rydell, Fair A merica, 129.
 199
recognized expositions have been mounted in Osaka, Japan (1970), Seville, Spain (1992),

Hannover, Germany (2000), Shanghai, China (2010), and Milan, Italy (2015); the

upcoming Expo 2020 will be hosted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.536 The Haitian

government’s participation in world’s fairs declined after Expo ’67 in Montréal, Canada,

however small exhibits were created and/or commemorative stamps were issued for Expo

’70 in Osaka, Expo ’92 in Seville, and Expo 2000 in Hannover.537 The Haitian

government even participated after the 2010 earthquake at Expo 2010 in Shanghai,

China.538 The government of President Michel Martelly (May 2011- February 2016),

mounted a two-floor pavilion at Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy.539 The performances of

national culture staged at Expo 2015 were similar to those codified in the 1940s, thus

revealing how influential and enduring those constructions have been.540 Even as

expositions have become less frequent and diminished in importance, nations like Haiti

536
Specialized Expositions focused on themes such as energy, science, art, the oceans, and sustainable
development have been held in Bulgaria, Canada, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Portugal, as well as in
the United States in Tennessee, New Orleans, and Washington state.

537
“Se celebra el Día Nacional de Haití en Expo 92,” Exposición Universal de Sevilla,
http://www.legadoexposevilla.org/se-celebra-el-dia-nacional-de-haiti-en-expo-92/. “Hannover, Germany,
Expo 2000, Man, Nature, Technology,” JDP Econ Publications and Studies,
http://jdpecon.com/expo/wfhannover2000.html. “The Participants: Haiti, A Treasure Trove for Artists,”
Exposeum,
http://site.expo2000.de/expo2000/tn/detail_print.php?lang=1&tn_ktn_id=1002&tn_do_id=100142.

538
“Shanghai Expo to exhibit Haitian capital before and after quake,” China.com,
http://english.china.com/zh_cn/news/china/11020307/20100117/15779599.html.

539
“Theme: From the Earth to the Plate, Let’s Share and Enrich our Heritage,” Expo Milano 2015,
http://www.expo2015.org/archive/en/participants/countries/haiti.html.

540
“Haiti celebrates its National Day at ExpoMilano 2015 with traditional music and dancing,” Expo
Milano 2015, http://www.expo2015.org/archive/en/news/haiti-celebrates-its-national-day-at-expo-milano-
2015-with-traditional-music-and-dancing.html. Aidan Turebekova, “CARICOM Countries to Participate in
Expo 2017, The A stana Times, https://astanatimes.com/2016/09/caricom-countries-to-participate-in-expo-
2017/ CARICOM http://today.caricom.org/2017/06/11/caricom-at-expo-astana/. Haiti also participated in
Expo 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. “Balli Haitiani a Expo 2015,”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHh4mxsD4lc, July 12, 2015.
 200
continue to participate as members of the BIE, which guarantees a certain number of

participants.541

Images of Haitian national culture have endured longer than some of the built

structures for the 1949 International Exposition. In the Cité de l’Exposition, now known

simply as the Bicentenaire, the built legacy of the 1949 International Exposition includes

Jason Seley’s sculptures, Harry Truman Boulevard, the Sixtine Chapel donated by the

Vatican, and the Théâtre de Verdure, currently called the Théâtre National d'Haïti. Cité de

l’Exposition facilitated the arrival of thousands of tourists from the 1970s to the early

1980s. Haiti’s tourist industry collapsed after AIDS accusations, the fall of the Duvalier

dictatorship, and political instability afterwards.542 The Bicentenaire has continued to

deteriorate over the years as the coast-line was reclaimed to accommodate informal

housing. Trouillot notes that in 1986, after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship, an "angry

crowd from the neighboring shanty towns rolled down Harry Truman Boulevard, took the

statue of Columbus, removed it from its pedestal, and dumped it into the sea."543 Today,

Bicentenaire is barely recognizable as the former Cité de l’Exposition.

Haitian governments have been interested in reclaiming the picturesque image of

the nation created by the Estimé government in conjunction with Pan American Airways

and other parties during the 1949 International Exposition. In addition, Haitian

governments have continued to be occupied with framing a “positive” image for Haiti in

541
“The 1928 Paris Convention,” Bureau des International Expositions (BIE), http://www.bie-
paris.org/site/en/bie/the-1928-paris-convention.

542
Polly Pattullo, Last Resorts: The Cost of Tourism in the Caribbean (London: Latin America Bureau,
2005), 38-39.

543
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (Boston, Mass: Beacon
Press, 1995), 156.
 201
efforts to again revive the nation's tourist sector. This remains an even greater challenge

today than it was in the mid-twentieth century due to years of political instability after the

Duvalier dictatorship, the 2010 earthquake and its repercussions, as well as the return of

the image of Haiti as unhealthy or diseased due to the country’s enduring association with

AIDS and the cholera outbreak caused by the U.N. occupation.544 To counter such

associations, the Ministry of Tourism under Stéphanie Balmir Villedrouin (2011-2016),

initiated tourist campaign advertisements that used similar motifs from the so-called

Golden Age of Haitian Tourism, including a red hibiscus flower logo formerly featured in

Pan American Airways poster advertisements for the 1949 International Exposition, as

well as young women in folkloric outfits at various events. Under her tenure, Port-au-

Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport was remodeled, several hotels

opened in Haiti, and Carifesta, an international arts and music festival, was held at

various cities throughout the country.545

In 2018, the Haitian government led by President Jovenel Moïse hired a public

relations firm to manage their international image.546 Mercury Public Affairs is contracted

to oversee “Haiti’s print, television, radio, and digital media presence by crafting their

narrative and amplifying their message ... [and] placing stories, booking media

544
Johnathan Katz, “The U.N.’s Cholera Admission and What Comes Next,” The New Y ork Times,
August 19, 2016.

545
“Minister Stephanie Villedrouin: Putting Haiti Back on the Tourism Map,” Boston Haitian Reporter,
June 23, 2015. “Haiti Unveils Renovations at Toussaint Louverture International Airport,” Carib Journal,
November 25, 2012, https://www.caribjournal.com/2012/11/25/haiti-unveils-renovations-at-toussaint-
louverture-international-airport/#. Jason Beaubien, “For Your Next Caribbean Vacation, Haiti ... Maybe?,”
NPR, January 29, 2013, https://www.npr.org/2013/01/29/170187951/for-your-next-caribbean-vacation-
haiti-maybe.

546
Megan R. Wilson, “Haiti hires PR firm after ’s—hole’ controversy,” The Hill, March 7, 2018,
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/377080-haiti-hires-pr-firm-after-wh-s-hole-controversy.
 202
appearances, preparing talking points/media advisories.”547 This firm was retained after

reports circulated that Donald Trump had used an epithet against and more generally

maligned Haiti; however, there has been controversy as to whether the government has

misplaced priorities in spending public funds in this way considering the arguably more

pressing needs Haiti faces.548

Before public relations firms, world’s fairs were vehicles for the Haitian

government to inform foreign audiences of the nation’s history and accomplishments,

while also encouraging investment and tourism. While Haiti continues to be maligned by

foreign commentators, even today, Haitians living in the country and in the Haitian

diaspora have taken up the cause of spreading “positive” propaganda and creating “new

narratives” for the nation through social media, and the internet more broadly, as well as

through scholarly work.549 World's fairs and expositions were early precursors of Haitian

governments using an international platform to dispel negative portrayals of Haiti,

educate foreigners about the nation’s history, and encourage its recognition as a black

nation that played a key role in shaping the modern world.

547
Ibid.
548
Ibid. The hiring of a public relations firm is consistent with the goals of earlier governments that sought
to promote an improved image of the nation abroad, just as the 1949 International Exposition was similarly
controversial due to its use of public funds for image control given other pressing needs.
549
Gina Athena Ulysse, W hy Haiti Needs New Narratives: A Post-Quake Chronicle (Middletown:
Wesleyan University Press, 2015).
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