Haiti Fights Back

Haiti Fights Back: The Life and Legacy of Charlemagne Pâeralte is the first US scholarly examination of the politician and caco leader (guerrilla fighter) who fought against the US military occupation of Haiti. The occupation lasted close to two decades, from 1915-1934. Alexis argues for the importance of documenting resistance while exploring the occupation's mechanics and its imperialism. She takes us to Haiti, exploring the sites of what she labels as resistance zones, including Pâeralte's hometown of Hinche and the nation's large port areas--Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haèitien. Alexis offers a new reading of US military archival sources that record Haitian protests as banditry. Haiti Fights Back illuminates how Pâeralte launched a political movement, and meticulously captures how Haitian women and men resisted occupation through silence, military battles, and writings. She locates and assembles rare, multilingual primary sources from traditional repositories, living archives (oral stories), and artisticrepresentations in Haiti and the United States. The interdisciplinary work draws on legislation, cacos' letters, newspapers, and murals, offering a unique examination of Pâeralte's life (1885-1919) and the significance of his legacy through the 21st century. Haiti Fights Back offers a new approach to the study of the US invasion of the Americas by chronicling how Caribbean people fought back--