Self-Determining Haiti
James Weldon Johnson’s Self‑Determining Haiti is a searing exposé of the United States’ 1915–1934 occupation of the world’s first Black republic. First published in 1920 as a series of investigative articles for The Nation, Johnson’s narrative unmasks the fusion of Wall Street finance and Marine Corps force that dismantled Haitian sovereignty, imposed forced labor, and funneled the nation’s revenues to New York’s National City Bank. With meticulous documentation and the moral clarity of a leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance, Johnson demonstrates how the rhetoric of “benevolent intervention” concealed a project of racial capitalism whose legacies still reverberate across the Caribbean.
This definitive modern edition reproduces the complete, unabridged text of the 1920 pamphlet and surrounds it with the scholarly apparatus the work has long deserved. A new foreword situates Johnson’s campaign within the wider Black internationalist movement that linked anti‑lynching activism at home to anti‑imperialist protest abroad, while a substantial preface traces the occupation’s economic logic and cultural impact from Port‑au‑Prince to Washington. Detailed annotations clarify military events, identify key Haitian and American figures, and gloss financial and legal references that shaped the occupation’s machinery. A selected bibliography guides readers to Haitian memoirs, oral histories, and the latest scholarship on racial capitalism, positioning Haiti as an early proving ground for the marriage of corporate power and military might.
Designed for students, scholars, and general readers alike, Self‑Determining Haiti restores Johnson’s indictment to the center of contemporary debates over debt, sovereignty, and foreign intervention. His analysis—at once investigative reportage and impassioned plea—remains alarmingly relevant: it challenges us to confront the enduring structures that allow economic interest to masquerade as humanitarian duty. More than a historical document, this book is a call to vigilance, reminding us that genuine self‑determination requires constant defense against the ever‑shifting alliances of capital and coercion.
