The Haitian-Americans of New York City

The peoples of the Caribbean are heavily represented in New York City, with large numbers of Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Jamaicans, Guyanese, and Trinidadians living within the five boroughs.  I think it's safe to say that every New Yorker has some awareness of Caribbean culture.  Millions of people attend the West Indian Carnival parade in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, each year, and Puerto Ricans and Dominicans are two of the most ubiquitous demographic groups in the entire city.  But for some reason, at least for myself, the Haitian-American community is one that has been largely under the radar.

There is an article in this week's New Yorker ("Helpless," by Lizzie Widdicombe), that mentions there are over a hundred-thousand Haitian-Americans living in New York City.  I had no idea the Haitian community in New York was so large.

And the numbers might be significantly higher than 100,000.  In 2001, students in the Language of America's Ethnic Minorities class at NYU did a fascinating cultural survey of the various ethnic groups in New York.  The report on Haiti mentions more than 200,000 Haitians living in Brooklyn alone, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

I also came across this article from 1975 in the New Yorker archives: "The Haitians of New York", by Jervis Anderson; the article notes that some estimates of the number of Haitians in New York City had reached as high as 300,000.  The article offers some explanation as to why Haitians do not have the same level of exposure as other immigrant groups in the city:

"Having been forced here as a result of  poverty and despotism, the Haitians, not surprisingly, have also carried with them their habits of pride and isolation.  Right now, they are probably the most isolated immigrant group in the city.  "The silent minority" is a term that even they use to describe themselves.  Of course, silence among Haitians is nothing new.  It is one of the traits formed during the history of their country's isolation in the hemisphere."

The article goes on to say that Haitians were scared to speak out in public because of fear that spies in the community would report back to Francois Duvalier's government, which ran Haiti like a police state.  This reticence caused the community to become invisible to the city at large.

I don't know if the 1975 New Yorker article accurately describes the Haitian community in New York today, but it is a fascinating glimpse into the lives of Haitians in New York as it was then, covering topics such as their complex relationship with African-Americans, the neighborhoods in the city in which they resided, the status of illegal Haitian immigrants as political refugees, religion, and political dissidence movements and the Haitian-American media.  It is well worth a read.