Multifaceted Identities Of Immigrant Haitian Families Coping Strategies And Strengths

This book presents the various challenges Haitian immigrants in the United States encounter as an ethnic group. Different immigrant groups have different trajectories in the United States: some groups have assimilated quickly into the existing structure while other groups have not. Haitians who immigrated to the United States and naturalized several years ago may have never felt like a full part of the US citizenry. They continue to remain on the periphery of mainstream American life and culture, although newer immigrants from Europe have been fully accepted into the culture. Many Haitian immigrants are distinctly different from other immigrant groups because their homeland, Haiti, was the first black republic in the world. Consequently, their blackness is a symbol of resistance, freedom, and independence. However, members of other groups, especially historically advantaged U.S. groups, may interpret blackness differently. The realities of discrimination were faced by many of the Haitian immigrant families portrayed within this study.

I investigated these sociological realities in close-knit societies such as those found in New York City and the Miami area (Dade and Broward counties) and Tampa (Hillsborough County) in Florida that have experienced a large influx of Haitian immigrants.

To write this book, which originated as my dissertation, I interviewed 31 Haitian immigrant families. Family members discussed the everyday challenges they encountered in relation to school, work, the police, health services, and civic organizations. I analyzed how identities varied within the same family and by generation. The responses revealed various layers of differences that led to MULTIFACETED IDENTITIES.

Dr. Rolande Dorancy-Dathis is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Department of Sociology at Texas College in Tyler, Texas, teaching sociology with an emphasis on social change and social stratification, Ex Department chair of Sociology and Psychology at Wiley College, in Marshall, Texas.

Recipients of Jimmy Carter-Menil Human Rights Award of 1993; Neal Adams Richard Powell Civil Rights Award, NAACP, June 1992; City of Miami, City Commissioners and Metro Dade Commissioners Award and Commendation for Community Service and Contributions to the U.S history of the ’90s; The National Society of Leadership and Success Award, Sigma Alpha PI, for excellence in teaching, April 25, 2018; and many more