This site is brought to you by Trinity College Haiti Program Washington, DC Dr. Bob Maguire, Director Jerome Lebleu, Coordinator The Trinity College Haiti Program provides information and analysis on Haitian political, economic and social issues, and raises awareness about the bicentennial of Haiti’s independence and about Haitian-Americans in the U.S. CLICK HERE to visit the Haiti Program’s website for publications and more information.

This site opened with the premise that an average citizen of the United States, if asked to associate a word with Haiti, would select one with some kind of negative connotation.

Based upon a fair amount of personal and professional experience, we suggested that our Caribbean neighbor has been so deeply and consistently portrayed within the United States in negative or threatening terms that it has become enshrouded in the collective American psyche by a certain darkness.

In our introduction, we expressed our belief that Haiti - and by extension Haitians - need not be cloaked in darkness. We proposed that a bright and positive response to Haiti is possible if we expand the base of our own knowledge.

Changing Darkness to Light
As you have traversed the pages of this web site, surely, you can see the basis for the expression of our belief. The historical vignettes of Haiti and the United States, and the contemporary snapshots of Haitians in America that appear on this site have been presented to challenge that pervasive image of darkness. Each successive story of how Haiti and Haitians have contributed to the well-being of the United States - and continue to do so today - often against considerable odds, has been presented as a ray of light to help peel away those deeply rooted layers of darkness.

We All Make Choices
We live our lives with choices. And we make choices as we live our lives. We of the Trinity College Haiti Program have chosen to accentuate the positive – as an antidote to the layers of darkness that enshroud our knowledge and understanding of Haiti and its people, and their relationship with the United States.

We hope that those who have taken the time to explore this site have achieved a fuller and deeper understanding of Haiti and its people. We think this is an appropriate moment in time for that deeper understanding, especially as our neighbor approaches its 200th anniversary of independence, and its sons and daughters in cities and towns all over the United States take note of this historic achievement. We hope that Americans will take note of it, also.

Our Wish
We close by offering Haiti and its people our thanks and gratitude for their positive contributions to the United States, wishing you all a Happy Anniversary and many happy returns.