During the late 50s and early 60s, Boston became a prime destination for the Haitian intellectual elite.

Seeking Opportunity – Fleeing Dictatorship
Haitians first arrived in Boston in the mid-to-late 1950s as professionals seeking better opportunities than those offered in Haiti. Subsequently, the installation of the repressive regime in Haiti of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier forced increasing numbers of the country’s upper and middle class professionals to emigrate, this time as exiles fleeing the dictator’s wrath. During this period, Boston became a prime destination for the Haitian intellectual elite. Today, scholars and Haitians themselves distinguish between Haiti’s “boatpeople” and “Boeing people” emigrants. The former represents generally poorer Haitians who have fled by boat beginning in the 1970s; the latter those who have had the means to leave the country by air. In this early period of Haitian emigration to the U.S. those fleeing Haiti were all “Boeing people.” A significant number of them chose Boston as their destination.

After its initial spike during the 50s and 60s, migration to Boston slowed, but nonetheless grew consistently in the 1970s. Estimates suggest that anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 Haitians lived in the Boston area in 1973. By the early 1980s, however, that number had grown to approximately 20,000. The 1973 succession of power from Papa Doc to his son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, resulted in increased migration to the area as the continuing repressive tactics and economic mismanagement of the regime encouraged more and more Haitians to leave the country.

Massachusetts in the 1980s was undergoing a period of great economic expansion referred to as the “Massachusetts Miracle.”

The Attraction of the “Massachusetts Miracle"
The 1980s marked the Boston Haitian community’s demographic explosion, for two principal reasons. First, the children of the 1950 – 1960 arrivals represented a second generation in a growing population. Second – and quite significantly - boatpeople from Florida and earlier migrants from New York began arriving in Boston search of jobs. As both old and new immigrants settled into the community, their presence had a multiplier effect, as they began to welcome family members from Haiti directly to Boston. Fueling much of this vibrant flow was the fact that in the 1980s Massachusetts was experiencing a period of great economic expansion referred to locally as the “Massachusetts Miracle.” Hence, in the 1980s, the Boston metro area combined two important elements to attract more and more Haitians: ample employment opportunities and an established community that could welcome and facilitate the integration of newly arriving members of the immigrant population.

The presence of institutions within the community to assist newcomers integrate themselves was highly important for the migrants arriving in the 1980s and 90s. Many of them came from modest backgrounds in rural Haiti. For most, their educational and economic levels were considerably lower than that of the elites who had arrived before them. Their needs for successful integration into their new homeland, therefore, were great. In response to those needs, members of the established community worked among themselves and with others to create a variety of institutions and organizations. Throughout the 1980s, Haitian-centric service organizations, including some that worked on issues of public health, women’s rights, immigration status, domestic abuse and the new issue of HIV/AIDS, sprouted up in significant numbers.

The economic opportunities of the 80s helped many migrants to assimilate, but a period of leaner economic times required increased support for newcomers.

The Community Today
In the 1990s, two developments had significant impact on Boston’s Haitian population. First, the economic boom of the 80s that helped immigrants assimilate has been followed by somewhat leaner economic times, particularly in recent years. Second, political turmoil in Haiti during 1991-1994 period of violence and repression that followed the 1991 military coup-d’etat resulted in the arrival in Boston of a new group of immigrants – refugees. Fortunately, the organizations that had emerged to serve the population in the 1980s mobilized their resources and experience to contribute toward helping to address these two new developments.

Extent of PMSA -click for a better view-

Today, Boston’s Haitian community is a complex mixture of these older and newer waves of migrants, as well as their first, second – and even third - generations. Official 2000 U.S. Census data counts 43,819 Haitians in the Boston Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA). The number accepted by neighborhood leaders, however, ranges between 70,000 and 80,000.