Self-Determining Haiti

Banks, military authority and national independence meet in James Weldon Johnson's account of the American occupation of Haiti. This pamphlet brings together four articles published in The Nation in 1920, based on his investigation, alongside official documents. Johnson challenges the stated reasons for intervention and traces the diplomatic pressure, control of customs revenue and constitutional changes through which he argues Haiti lost command of its own affairs.

Alongside that political argument are observations of Port-au-Prince: its cathedral, cafes, markets, residential streets and educated social circles. Johnson names Haitian writers and describes public discussion and country women walking toward town markets. These scenes support his defense of Haitian society against dismissive outside judgments. Readers interested in relations between Haiti and the United States will find a contemporary argument connecting financial interests, government policy and the right of a people to govern themselves.