Arab-Haitian Rise to Prosperity

In Haiti several ethnicities comprise the populace: French, Spanish, African, and the indigenous people, the Taino, are a well-documented part of Haiti's mixed-race heritage. But little is known about the Arab-Haitians, who have lived on the island for decades.

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The first migration of Arabs to Haiti came from Syria, the Lebanese in 1890. During this period, German and Italian immigrants held sway in the business community in cities like Port-au-Prince. Facing racial prejudice, Arabs moved to rural areas and set up shop in small villages. Beginning by selling imported fabrics in market plazas, they eventually profited enough to start their own brick-and-mortar businesses.

Another mass migration took place during World War I when Germany, seeking allies, influenced Turkey to divest Lebanon of its sovereign state. This precipitated the Arab flight to Haiti. Prior to World War I, in 1912, when then-Haitian President Michel Leconte banished Arabs from the island, he paid for his actions: his life was taken when unknown instigators bombed the National Palace. Arabs then vanished, taking refuge in Cuba and South America.

From the 1920s up to the present era, Haitian-Arabs have been repeatedly threatened by anti-Arab laws passed by the government of Haiti. In spite of being maligned by the Haitian underclass also, Arab-Haitians have won acceptance slowly. They have risen from street-peddling to running successful businesses, particularly supermarkets. They have become part of the Haitian elite. But their hard-scrabble backgrounds and diligent work ethnic has set them apart from the privileged mulatto elite, who know nothing of struggle and sacrifice.

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