From Saint-Domingue to New Orleans Southern Dissent University Press of Florida Florida A&M University, Tallahassee Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers Florida International University, Miami Florida State University, Tallahassee New College of Florida, Sarasota University of Central Florida, Orlando University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville University of South Florida, Tampa University of West Florida, Pensacola Southern Dissent Edited by Stanley Harrold and Randall M. Miller The Other South: Southern Dissenters in the Nineteenth Century, by Carl N. Degler, with a new preface (2000) Crowds and Soldiers in Revolutionary North Carolina: The Culture of Violence in Riot and War, by Wayne E. Lee (2001) “Lord, We’re Just Trying to Save Your Water”: Environmental Activism and Dissent in the Appalachian South, by Suzanne Marshall (2002) The Changing South of Gene Patterson: Journalism and Civil Rights, 1960-1968, edited by Roy Peter Clark and Raymond Arsenault (2002) Gendered Freedoms: Race, Rights, and the Politics of Household in the Delta, 1861-1875, by Nancy D. Bercaw (2003) Civil War on Race Street: The Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland, by Peter B. Levy (2003) South of the South: Jewish Activists and the Civil Rights Movement in Miami, 1945-1960, by Raymond A. Mohl, with contributions by Matilda “Bobbi” Graff and Shirley M. Zoloth (2004) Throwing Off the Cloak of Privilege: White Southern Women Activists in the Civil Rights Era, edited by Gail S. Murray (2004) The Atlanta Riot: Race, Class, and Violence in a New South City, by Gregory Mixon (2004) Slavery and the Peculiar Solution: A History of the American Colonization Society, by Eric Burin (2005; first paperback edition, 2008) “I Tremble for My Country”: Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Gentry, by Ronald L. Hatzenbuehler (2006) From Saint-Domingue to New Orleans: Migration and Influences, by Nathalie Dessens (2007; first paperback edition, 2010) Higher Education and the Civil Rights Movement: White Supremacy, Black Southerners, and College Campuses, edited by Peter Wallenstein (2007) Burning Faith: Church Arson in the American South, by Christopher B. Strain (2008) Black Power in Dixie: A Political History of African Americans in Atlanta, by Alton Hornsby Jr. (2009) Looking South: Race, Gender, and the Transformation of Labor from Reconstruction to Globalization, Mary E. Frederickson (2011) Southern Character: Essays in Honor of Bertram Wyatt-Brown, edited by Lisa Tendrich Frank and Daniel Kilbride (2011) The Challenge of Blackness: The Institute of the Black World and Political Activism in the 1970s, by Derrick E. White (2011) From Saint-Domingue to New Orleans Migration and influences Nathalie Dessens Foreword by Stanley Harrold and Randall M. Miller University Press of Florida Gainesville/Tallahassee/Tampa/Boca Raton Pensacola/Orlando/Miami/Jacksonville/Ft. Myers/Sarasota Copyright 2007 by Nathalie Dessens All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dessens, Nathalie, 1963– From Saint-Domingue to New Orleans: migration and influences / Nathalie Dessens; foreword by Stanley Harrold and Randall M. Miller. p. cm.—(Southern dissent) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 978-0-8130-3037-1 (cloth); 978-0-8130-3567-3 (pbk.) ISBN: 978-0-8130-4011-0 (e-book) 1. Haitian Americans—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—18th century. 2. Haitian Americans—Louisiana—New Orleans—History—19th century. 3. Immigrants—Louisiana—New Orleans—History. 4. Refugees—Louisiana— New Orleans—History. 5. Refugees—Haiti—History. 6. Haitians—Migrations— History. 7. Haiti—History—Revolution, 1791–1804—Refugees. 8. Haiti— Emigration and immigration—History. 9. New Orleans (La.)—Emigration and immigration—History. 10. New Orleans (La.)—Social conditions. I. Title. F379.N59H273 2007 976.3'350496972949–dc22 2006022836 The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida. University Press of Florida 15 Northwest 15th Street Gainesville, FL 32611-2079 http://www.upf.com To Patrick, with love Contents List of Illustrations ix Series Foreword xi Preface and Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. The Saint-Domingue Epic 6 French Colonial Saint-Domingue Revolution and Departures Away from the Island The Saint-Domingue Diaspora 2. Louisiana, Land of Welcome 22 Louisiana-Bound Louisiana, the Meeting Place for the Diaspora The Louisianan Asylum at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century The Louisianans and the Refugees 3. The Refugee Community 46 Building an Identity Dissolving within the New Orleans Creole Society Between Symbolic Ethnicity and Mythic Influence 4. Influencing Louisiana’s Economic Pattern 67 Success Stories Fitting into the New Orleans Occupational Pattern Fields of Excellence 5. A New Social Era? 91 Impact on the Three-Tiered Society An Altered Conception of Race Relations? Consequences on the Religious Community Altering Social Practices 6. The Refugees’ Politics: From Visibility to Influence 109 Distrust and Repression Slave Agitation and the Louisiana Psyche Shaping Political Activism Louisiana Politics, American Politics Shaping Ideologies in Nineteenth-Century America 7. A Still Unfathomed Cultural Legacy: Refugees in Creole New Orleans 139 A New Cultural Environment Creole and Folk Cultures Linguistic and Cultural Heritage Conclusion 169 Notes 175 Bibliography 227 Index 249 Illustrations Maps 1. Map of Saint-Domingue, ca. 1800 7 2. Map of the Caribbean, 1774 17 3. Pilié’s Map of New Orleans, 1808 75 Figures 1. Tombstone, Church of St. Mary of the Annunciation, Charleston 51 2. Tombstone, St. Louis cemetery #1, New Orleans 53 3. Café des Réfugiés, New Orleans 54 4. Théâtre d’Orléans, New Orleans 86 5. Destrehan Plantation 151 6. Pitot House, New Orleans 151 7. “The Bamboula at Congo Square,” Century, April 1886 155