Self Determining Haiti

James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) was an American civil rights activist and writer who led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was the first African American chosen to be the executive secretary of the organization, a position he held between 1920 and 1930. A skilled writer, Johnson made a name for himself during the Harlem Renaissance for his writing and writing "Lift Every Voice and Sing"—also known as the Negro National Anthem. First published in 1920, this volume contains four articles originally published in “The Nation under the auspices of the Advancement of Colored People”. Contents include: "Self-Determining Haiti", "The American Occupation", "What the United States has Accomplished", "Government of, by, and for the National City Bank", "The Haitian People", "Documents the Proposed Convention with Haiti", "The Haitian Counter-Project", "The Haitian-United States Convention", "The New Constitution of Haiti", etc. Other notable works by this author include "Fifty Years and Other Poems" (1917), "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse" (1927), "Saint Peter Relates an Incident: Selected Poems" (1935). Read & Co. History is proudly republishing these classic articles now complete with the introductory essay "James Weldon Johnson" by Robert Thomas Kerlin.

Self-Determining Haiti by James Weldon Johnson is an early study focusing on finding means for societal advancement concerning the black people that resided in Haiti at the early 20th century.

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Excerpt from Self-Determining Haiti: Four Articles Reprinted From the the Nation Embodying a Report of an Investigation Made for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Together With Official Documents The articles and documents in this pamphlet were printed in The Nation during the summer of 1920. They revealed for the first time to the world the nature of the United States' imperialistic venture in Haiti. While, owing to the censorship, the full story of this fundamental departure from American traditions has not yet been told, it appears at the time of this writing, October, 1920, that "pitiless publicity" for our sandbagging of a friendly and inoffensive neighbor has been achieved. The report of Major-General George Barnett, commandant of the Marine Corps during the first four years of the Haitian occupation, just issued, strikingly confirms the facts set forth by The Nation and refutes the denials of administration officials and their newspaper apologists. It is in the hope that by spreading broadly the truth about what has happened in Haiti under five years of American occupation The Nation may further contribute toward removing a dark blot from the American escutcheon, that this pamphlet is issued. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

TO know the reasons for the present political situation in Haiti, to understand why the United States landed and has for five years maintained military forces in that country, why some three thousand Haitian men, women, and children have been shot down by American rifles and machine guns, it is necessary, among other things, to know that the National City Bank of New York is very much interested in Haiti. It is necessary to know that the National City Bank controls the National Bank of Haiti and is the depository for all of the Haitian national funds that are being collected by American officials, and that Mr. R. L. Farnham, vice-president of the National City Bank, is virtually the representative of the State Department in matters relating to the island republic. Most Americans have the opinion-if they have any opinion at all on the subject-that the United States was forced, on purely humane grounds, to intervene in the black republic because of the tragic coup d'etat which resulted in the overthrow and death of President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam and the execution of the political prisoners confined at Port-au-Prince, July 27-28, 1915; and that this government has been compelled to keep a military force in Haiti since that time to pacify the country and maintain order.

These two volumes of writings represent Johnson's experiences as one of black America's premier civil rights statesmen, and leader, participant, and historian of the Black Literary Movement of the 1920s.

"Contributors illuminate the role of external actors in Haitian sovereign affairs over the course of the last decade, concurrently discussing how Haitians reinforce their self-determination on economic, political, and cultural levels" -- Provided by publisher.