JEAN PRICE-MARS, THE HAITIAN ELITE AND THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION, 1915-35 Also by Magdaline W. Shannon SO SPOKE THE UNCLE Jean Price-Mars, the Haitian Elite and the American Occupation, 1915-1935 Magdaline W. Shannon First published in Great Britain 1996 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-24966-4 ISBN 978-1-349-24964-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-24964-0 First published in the United States of America 1996 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth A venue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-16037-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shannon, Magdaline W., 1914- Jean Price-Mars, the Haitian elite and the American occupation, 1915-1935 I Mgdaline W. Shannon. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-16037-1 I. Price-Mars, Jean, 1876--1969-Political and social views. 2. Haiti-History-American occupation, 1915-1934. Elite (Social sciences)-Haiti-Attitudes. 4. Haiti-Relations-United States. 5. United States-Relations-Haiti. I. Title. FI927.P75S5 1996 972.94'05-dc20 96--13142 CIP © Magda1ine W. Shannon 1996 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996 978-0-333-65457-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act I 988, or under the tenns of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottcnham Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who docs any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 Contents Acknowledgements viii Introduction XI l. The American Occupation of Haiti Ideological Justification for American Penetration of the Caribbean Establishment of the American Protectorate System 2 Haiti and Foreign Penetration 3 Haitian Resistance to Foreign Interference 5 American Occupation of Haiti 6 The Response of Jean Price-Mars 7 2. The Development of Jean Price-Mars' Position Regarding the Problems of Haiti, 1876-1915 14 Early Life and Education 14 Higher Education and Political Opportunities 16 Refutation of Prevailing Racial Theories 17 Opposition to Racism 19 Anglo-Saxon vs. French Educational Methods 20 Political Problems 21 The Issue of Public Education 23 The Coming of the Occupation 24 Jean Price-Mars' Evaluation of the Intervention 27 3. Price-Mars' Attempts to Organize the Haitians during the Early Years of the American Occupation, 1916-18 33 Institution of US Control 34 General Disorganization of Elites vs. Peasant Resistance 35 Price-Mars' Efforts to Rally the Elite 38 Haitian and American Reactions 44 Assessment of the Role of Women and Youth by Price-Mars 45 Haitian Response to La Vocation de /'Elite 46 4. The Development of Price-Mars' Political, Educational, and Religious Theories, 1919-29 53 VI Contents Growth of American Sympathy for Haiti 53 Response of Price-Mars and the Elite to American Dictatorial Methods 57 Russell-Borno Repression of Haitian Institutions 61 Price-Mars Argues the Viability of Voodoo as a Religion 62 Continuing Criticism of American Policies in Haiti 63 The Reaction of Price-Mars: Ainsi par/a l'Oncle 66 Response of the Haitian Elite to Ainsi par/a l'Oncle 69 5. Price-Mars and the Cataclysmic Events of 1929-30 79 Escalation of Haitian Discontent 80 A Stage in the Evolution of the Haitian People 83 Haitian and American Reaction to Russell's Proclamation of Martial Law 84 The United Efforts of the Haitian Elite to Regain Independence 87 Investigation and Recommendations of the Forbes Commission 90 Reaction to the Forbes and Moton Commissions to Haiti 93 Haitian Legislative and Presidential Elections 95 Price-Mars' Defeat in the Presidential Election 97 6. Price-Mars and the Period of Haitian-American Adjustment, 1930-3 107 Haitian-American Reaction to the Policy of Gradual Withdrawal 107 Vincent's Approach to Haitian Divisiveness and the Position of the Opposition 109 Price-Mars' Prestige Continues Despite his Presidential Defeat 112 Vincent Seeks Control of the Legislature 116 Legislative Rejection of the Haitian-American Treaty of 1932 117 Efforts to End American Financial Control of Haiti 119 Political Efforts of Price-Mars 119 Vincent Requests Extraordinary Powers to Control the Legislature 121 The Executive Accord of 1933 123 7. Price-Mars and the Governmental Transformations of 1933-5 132 Contents VII Continued Haitian-American Opposition to the Executive Accord of 1933 132 Opposition of the "Onze" and American Friends to Vincent's Dictatorial Policies 135 The Success of Vincent's Policies at Home and Abroad 139 Tumultuous Political, Economic, and Social Events in Haiti 140 Vincent's Efforts to Retain National Political Control 142 Official and Unofficial American Response 143 Vincent Attains Complete Political Power 145 Foreign and Internal Reaction 149 Passive Haitian Acceptance of the Vincent Regime 150 Assessment of Vincent's Policies 151 Prospects of the "Onze," Particularly Price-Mars 153 8. Summary, Overlook, and Conclusions 163 Summary 163 Overlook and Conclusions 174 Index 183 Acknowledgements The experience of teaching world history to all-black high school classes in the inner city during the late 1930s and early 1940s kindled my interest in the contribution of black people to the world's civilizations. This interest was again brought to the fore during one of our trips to Haiti in the late 1960s when I read a lengthy front-page article about the late Dr Jean Price-Mars in Haiti's most distinguished newspaper, Le Nouvelliste. So my first acknowledgement must be toLe Nouvelliste, which provided such an excellent account of past and continuing events in Haiti, even during the country's most perilous times. My developing concern for the work of Jean Price-Mars culminated in the publication in 1983 of my translation of his most important volume, Ainsi par/a /'One/e. His eldest son, Dr Louis Price Mars, a professor of ethnopsychiatry and former Dean of the Medical School, had become my most valuable informant. His assistance was crucial in the process of translating Ainsi into English, not a simple translation but one which would have the beauty, the cadence, and the rhythm of the original French - for Jean Price-Mars was not only known for his scholarship but for his spoken and written eloquence. Louis' wife, Madeleine, and his sister Marie Madeleine were also excellent sources of information about Haiti's most renowned scholar. One cannot begin to mention all of those with whom we spoke in a nation with scholars so eager for contact with the outside world. First on the list would be the late Jean Fouchard, at his death the Dean of Haitian historians, followed of course by Jean-Baptiste Romain, Dean of the Faculty of Ethnology, and the social demographer, Maurice Lubin. The encour agement of Zvi and Rachel Loker, Zvi at the time Israel's ambassador to Haiti and a historian of the Jews in the Caribbean, will always be remembered. There was also the informative and Cornell University trained houngan, Max Beauvoir, and his scholarly family. And others such as the brilliant and informative writer, Aubelin Jolicoeur, in some respects a man for all seasons and partial model for one of Graham Greene's best-known novels, a man whom many thought they knew but really did not. Many Haitians and non-Haitians who lived there most of their lives were more helpful than they realized, especially Brother Jean Legendre Lucien of the Bibliotheque des Freres de St Louis Gonzague in Port- Acknowledgements ix au-Prince. It would be remiss not to acknowledge the early help which the late Mr AI Seitz, famed hotelier of the Grand Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince, provided, based on his many years of contact with the Haitian elite. Of the sources of information in the United States one must com mence with the National Archives in Washington, D.C., in which I spent some of my most rewarding weeks through the good offices of my major professor, now Professor Emeritus of History at the Univer sity of Iowa, Ellis Hawley. There was also the Library of Congress, the Marine Corps Historical Center, and the Moorland-Spingarn Re search Center at Howard University. And in New York the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York City Public Library. There were many almost untouched Hoover papers in the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa, and other papers in the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford. A multitude of staff members in each of these libraries and archives were of assistance over the years. In some respects, more than to most others, I owe an enormous debt to the staff of the University of Iowa Libraries, all of those who helped on a daily basis for years. My thanks are deeply extended to Wayne Rawley III, Director of Instructional and Research Services, and Keith A. Rageth, Interlibrary Loan Librarian. Among the historians at the University of Iowa it was Professor Hawley who focused my attention on Price-Mars in such a way that my work could become more than simply the story of his failed effort to become President of Haiti. I could not have produced a volume that described the enormous contribution of Jean Price-Mars to Haitian society without his advice and critical assistance. Magdaline W. Shannon August 31, 1995