Jean Price-Mars, the Haitian Elite and the American Occupation, 1915-1935 [Hardcover]

Magdaline W. Shannon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997 | ISBN-10: 0312160372 | ISBN-13: 978-0312160371

This is a book about the life and many careers of Dr. Jean Price-Mars, Haiti's most distinguished scholar and considered by many other world-renowned scholars to be the father of negritude. He might well have become the President of Haiti but that was not to be. During the military dictatorships which followed the Duvalier years it was often said that what Haiti now needed more than ever before was a president with qualities of Price-Mars.

Editorial Reviews

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Price-Mars, the Haitian Elite etc. Allthough the US forces did not consider Price-Mars a political threat to the occupation (unlike the mililtant cacos), he nevertheless argued forcibly that their policies and actions in Haiti were major obstacles to a return to self-government and democracy. In the end, Haitiain forces that were successful in preventing the return to full democracy received continuing support from the mulatto elite and an illiterate peasant population. Although he sought to bring the intellectual elite and illiterate peasants together he was no more successul than were those who have followed him to the present.

Her interest in the contribution of black people to civilization and important historical events developed while teaching world history in an inner-city high school in the United States and was further advanced over the years as she both broadened her concern over the problems of inner-city dwellers and worked on an interdisciplinary volume on underdeveloped areas. Upon returning to graduate school she focused her attention on the problems of Haiti, visitng and conducting research there regularly since 1968.

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from the Introduction. Today with the growing awareness of the world about them, Haitian scholars at home and abroad continue in their intellectual and personal admiration of the role that Jean Price-Mars played in stimulating respect for and pride among those of color.

But at the beginning of the twentieth century, Haitians in general were not particularly aware of the rapidly developing world outside their county until Haiti was threatened, primarly because of World War I, with being overrun by the American Marines. The educated, dark-hued Jean Price-Mars had perceived that the lighter-skinned Haitian elite, privileged by education and economic power, should have created similar opportunites for the far more numerous but less fortunate, illiterate, dark-skinned Haitians and in doing so have gained political stability and, and eventually, the respect of other Western nations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 186 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312160372
• ISBN-13: 978-0312160371
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,626,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real revelation of the Elite during the Occupation, June 26, 2000

By 

Guival Mercedat (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jean Price-Mars, the Haitian Elite and the American Occupation, 1915-1935 (Hardcover)

The lack of courage and impartiality of Historian during the occupation leave us a lot of unanswered question about the behavior of the haitian elite. Jean Price Mars tells it as it was. He tells us from primary sources how the occupation was a turn over of the indigenious power to a power that control by the elite and the imperialism. If you want to know why the yankees destroyed the haitian popular indigenious army, why the americans occupied the Haitian National Bank until 1948, it is the Book to read. You will learn everything you want to know from a famous writer.

2.0 out of 5 stars Where is the book of Jean Price Mars, August 31, 2002

By 

Rameau Edy (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jean Price-Mars, the Haitian Elite and the American Occupation, 1915-1935 (Hardcover)

I think a biography of Dr Jean Price Mars is great! The sensible thing to do is to have to book itself ...
Where is " So spoke the uncle"