Shortly after winning its independence in 1804, Haiti’s leaders realizedthat if their nation was to survive, it needed to build strong diplomatic bondswith other nations. Haiti’s first leaders looked especially hard at the UnitedStates, which had a sizeable free black population that included vocalchampions of black emigration and colonization. In the 1820s, PresidentJean-Pierre Boyer helped facilitate a migration of thousands of black Americansto Haiti with promises of ample...
