I'm presently working on a translation of "Overview of the Historical Formation of the Haitian Nation" or "Aperçu sur la Formation Historique de la Nation Haïtienne''. This is considered one of the definitive works on Haitian history, written by Haitian communist Étienne Charlier. As far as I'm aware it has never been publicly archived or translated into english before. I might post more sporadically as I go.
Overview of the Historical Formation of the Haitian Nation
2nd Edition
Editor's Note
Les Éditions DAMI is pleased to present to the public, more than fifty years after the first edition, the re-edition of the book Overview of the Historical Formation of the Haitian Nation as it was written by Étienne D. Charlier in 1954. This book is an essential work for anyone who wants to understand the historical foundations of the Haitian Nation.
May the youth find answers here to their questions and reflect powerfully on the History of our country.
Our thanks go to Mrs. Ghislaine Rey Charlier, widow of Etienne D. Charlier, and to her sons André and Max, for the confidence shown in Les Éditions DAMI and for all the documents and information provided.
—Les Éditions DAMI Montreal, August 2009
Biography of the Author
Étienne Charlier was born in Aquin on June 12, 1904. Son of Danton Charlier and Gervrine Girault, both originally from l'Anse-à-Veau. Upon the death of his mother in 1906, Étienne was adopted by the couple Numa Cassy, whose wife was born Louise Charlier, who brought him to l'Anse-à-Veau. He remained there until September 1916. His studies, which began at the École Nationale de l'Anse-à-Veau, continued the same year in Port-au-Prince at the Petit Séminaire Collège St-Martial. Equipped with his second part baccalaureate, he entered the Port-au-Prince Law School directed by Dean Léon Nau. He obtained his law degree in 1927. He took an active part in the founding of la Nouvelle Ronde, which he managed after Antonio Vieux until the review ceased publication in April 1926.
He left for the Northern United States in September 1928 where he continued his legal studies at Columbia University. Then he went to Paris (France) in 1929, where he began a Doctorate in Law. He defended his thesis, On the arrangement of the principle of individual Freedom of Labor in French Law on May 30, 1932, at the Faculty of Law in Paris.
He returned to his native country in September of the same year, delivering lectures on the Planned Economy, an idea which he vigorously supported. He befriended Jacques Roumain and his group, of which he was a member. He published a pamphlet for an anti-fascist conference entitled Fascism and Nazism or Scientific Socialism, which he had been unable to deliver at the Port-au-Prince Law School premises as a member of the Association of Law Students following a ministerial decision prohibiting the use of that location for conferences that were not strictly legal (1934).
Étienne Charlier actively opposed the dictatorship of Sténio Vincent. Nearly a year after Élie Lescot’s accession to the presidency of the Republic, he was appointed professor at the National Law School of Port-au-Prince, where he was inaugurated on February 27, 1942. He taught Private International Law first, then Civil Procedure until January 9, 1946, the date he submitted his resignation in solidarity with the general strike and student-led political protest movement. He was one of the principal leaders of this movement, being one of the leading figures of the Democratic Front. Clandestinely founded in April 1945, it was a major force in the overthrow of the dictatorship. He was part of the Public Safety Committee which reconstituted itself as the Unified Democratic Front upon the announcement of Élie Lescot’s resignation on January 11, 1946. He collaborated with the newspaper La Nation upon the resumption of its publication by Max L. Hudicourt on January 22, 1946. He is one of the signatories of the Act of Constitution of the Popular Socialist Party (P.S.P.) and a member of the first provisional bureau of this party. For the P.S.P., he ran a campaign for Senate in the general elections of 1946, which he lost.
He was reinstated at the National Law School of Port-au-Prince by the Military Executive Committee.
He is one of the signatories for the P.S.P. of the manifesto of the National Defense Committee, which earned him 15 days in prison and his dismissal as a professor in May-June 1946. He continued to militantly serve in the P.S.P. and in the party's organ, La Nation, as manager or director. He served as Secretary of the P.S.P. from March 1, 1947, to December 27, 1950, the day the Party was banned. A practicing lawyer at the Port-au-Prince Bar, he wrote several articles for the inter-union newspaper “Auberge”.
Étienne Charlier was one of the leaders of the fight against the dictatorship of Paul Magloire and of the general strike that forced the latter to leave the country. After the fall of Magloire, he fought for the establishment of a democratic government and wrote numerous articles in the newspapers of the time. He was a Founding Member of the Haitian Democratic Alliance, a Member of the Steering Committee of the Alliance and its newspaper l'Haïtien libéré.
Arrested in November 1957, he spent 37 days in prison at "Jolibois”. He had to hide four times thereafter; the last time from November 22 to December 22, 1960.
Étienne Charlier died suddenly on December 27, 1960.