Finding Haiti, Finding History in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Published in: Modernism/modernity (Baltimore, Md.) Vol. 19; no. 4; pp. 755 - 774
• Main Author: Stuelke, Patricia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 01.11.2012
• Subjects: African American literature; American literature; Debt; Earthquakes; Forced labor; French language; Hurston, Zora Neale (1891-1960); Imperialism; Keresiouan languages; Literary criticism; Military occupations; Novels; Occupations; Poverty; Urban areas; Vocational education; Dominican Republic; Haiti; France; United States > US
• ISSN: 1071-6068; 1080-6601; 1080-6601
• DOI: 10.1353/mod.2012.0089

According to Joseph, "What pact the Haitians made with the Devil has helped the United States become what it is": "When the slaves rose up against the French and defeated the French army ... the U.S. was able to gain the Louisiana Territory for $15 million. After its successful revolution, Haiti was forced to borrow money at predatory interest rates from private French and U.S. banks to satisfy France's demand for one hundred fifty million francs in compensation for lost slave property.8 By 1914, eighty percent of Haiti's resources were tied up in debt payments, leaving them vulnerable to the greed of U.S. financial elites.9 In an attempt to consolidate Haiti's debts in the hands of U.S. private inter ests, and wrest control over the Haitian economy away from Europe, U.S. bankers first purchased a controlling interest in the Banque Nationale-in 1914, U.S. marines escorted a gunboat containing fifty thousand dollars from the Haitian Banque Nationale to the National City Bank in New York, after which the Haitian Bank hoisted an American flag-and then forced the Haitian government to default on its payments in order to precipitate Wilson's 1915 invasion.10 Debt thus became the justification for the United States' nineteen-year occupation, during which, in the name of rescuing Haiti, the U.S. extended the reach of Jim Crow beyond the U.S. South, establishing segregated facilities in urban areas, impressing Haitians into forced labor, and closing down traditional public schools in order to implement vocational education.\n . . the wheels kept turning round and round.