List of Haitians

This is a list of Haitians, notable people from Haiti and persons of Haitian ancestry living abroad, including Haitian-Americans and Haitian-Canadians. The list includes people recognized for artistic, cultural, economic, historical, criminal, and political reasons, among others. If not indicated here, their Haitian heritage and notability is contained in their main article. This list does not include fictional characters or Haitian associations and organizations.

Academics, scientists

• John James Audubon, French-American naturalist (born in Haiti)

Artists

Painter Philomé Obin

• Gesner Abelard
• Jean-Michel Basquiat, acclaimed painter
• Rigaud Benoit
• Préfète Duffaut
• Jacques-Enguerrand Gourgue
• Alexandre Gregoire
• Hector Hyppolite
• Philomé Obin
• Prosper Pierre-Louis
• Petion Savain

Athletes

Martial artist David Loiseau

• Joachim Alcine - professional boxer
• Josmer Altidore - soccer player, AZ Alkmaar
• Yvenson Bernard - collegiate football player
• Andre Berto - professional boxer
• Samuel Dalembert - basketball player
• Rudy Doliscat - Canadian soccer player
• Dudley Dorival - America hurdler
• Quincy Douby - NBA basketball player
• Mario Elie - former Houston Rockets guard
• Nadine Faustin-Parker - Olympic hurdler
• Joe Gaetjens - professional soccer player
• Shad Gaspard - professional wrestler
• Jerrod Laventure - soccer player
• David Loiseau - martial-arts expert
• Olivier Occean - professional soccer player
• Jean Pascal - professional boxer, Light Heavyweight Champion
• Jean-Philippe Peguero - professional soccer player
• Olden Polynice - former Utah Jazz NBA player
• Bruny Surin - Canadian Olympian athlete

Professional American football players

• Junior Galette, born in Haiti
• Gosder Cherilus, born in Haiti
• Vladimir Ducasse, professional American football player, born in Haiti
• Ricky Jean-Francois, San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman
• Max Jean-Gilles, Philadelphia Eagles offensive guard
• Rashad Jeanty, Cincinnati Bengals outside linebacker
• Carlos Joseph – American NFL player
• Davin Joseph, Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive guard
• William Joseph, Oakland Raiders defensive tackle
• Vernand Morency, former football player
• Steve Octavien, Dallas Cowboys linebacker
• Jason Pierre-Paul, Defensive end New York Giants
• Jonal Saint-Dic, former football player
• Jonathan Vilma, New Orleans Saints linebacker

Hockey

• Georges Laraque, professional hockey player
• Claude Vilgrain, professional hockey player

Authors

Author Edwidge Danticat

• Lylah M. Alphonse – American journalist
• Carl Brouard – poet
• Edwidge Danticat – American author
• René Depestre – poet and communist
• Jean Dominique - journalist
• Roger Dorsinville – poet, journalist, novelist, politician, and diplomat
• Alexandre Dumas, père - French author
• Franck Étienne - author, poet, playwright, musician and painter
• Frankétienne – author, poet, playwright, musician and painter
• Nathalie Handal - French poet and playwright
• Dany Laferrière – Canadian novelist and journalist
• Jacques Roumain – writer and politician
• Nick Stone - author
• Jaira Placide – author

Business

• Reggie Fils-Aime - president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America
• Antoine Izméry - businessman
• Mathias Pierre - entrepreneur
• Dumas M. Simeus - American business executive
• Charles Terres Weymann - American airplane racing pilot and businessman

Crime

• Kendall Francois - serial killer
• Jean Lafitte, French pirate who operated around New Orleans and Galveston on the Gulf Coast of the United States, was born in Port-au-Prince around 1782.
• Abner Louima - crime victim
• Amiot Métayer - gang leader

Dignitaries

• Simone Duvalier - wife of Haitian dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier
• Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche - passenger on the Titanic
• Louise Laroche - passenger on the Titanic'

Fashion

• Tyrone Edmond - model

Historical figures

Founder of Chicago, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable as depicted in 1884

• Adélina, Empress of Haiti
• Sanité Belair
• Georges Biassou – rebel slave
• Boukman – Jamaican houngan
• Jean-Pierre Boyer
• Henri Christophe
• Jean-Jacques Dessalines
• Jean Baptiste Point du Sable – founder of the city of Chicago
• Simone Duvalier – former First Lady of Haiti
• Cécile Fatiman - voodoo priestess and a figure of the Haitian Revolution.
• Victoire Jean-Baptiste
• Jean François – rebel slave
• Jeannot – rebel slave
• Marie-Madeleine Lachenais
• Toussaint Louverture – rebel slave and military general
• François Mackandal – houngan and rebel slave
• Vincent Ogé
• Charlemagne Péralte, nationalist leader who opposed the U.S. Invasion
• Alexandre Pétion, President of Haiti
• Julien Raimond
• Sylvain Salnave

Law

• Pierre-Richard Prosper - attorney
• Mildred Trouillot, American lawyer, former First Lady

Medicine

• Marlie Casseus - notable surgery patient
• Henri Ford – pediatric surgeon

Military

• Raoul Cédras
• Louis-Jodel Chamblain
• Emmanuel Constant
• Guy François - colonel
• Fabre Geffrard
• Philippe Guerrier
• Josue Lajeunesse - humanitarian
• Paul Magloire
• Buteur Métayer - rebel leader
• Faustin Soulouque

Motion picture and television personalities

Actress Garcelle Beauvais

• Arnold Antonin – film director
• Nadege August, actress, producer and director
• Garcelle Beauvais, television actress (NYPD Blue)
• Alex Désert, actor
• Abner Genece, award-winning stage actor
• Jamie Hector – American actor
• Jimmy Jean-Louis, actor (film Phat Girlz; television series Heroes)
• Jessica Lucas, actress, Melrose Place (2009 TV series)
• Trina McGee-Davis – American actress
• Luck Mervil – Canadian actor and singer-songwriter
• Raoul Peck, film director
• Quddus – Canadian VJ for MTV
• Daphnee Duplaix Samuel – American actress

Musicians and singers

Musician and former presidential candidate Wyclef Jean

• Toto Bissainthe, folk music artist
• Joanne Borgella - singer, songwriter, actor
• Alexandrine-Caroline Branchu – French opera soprano
• Frantz Casseus, guitarist and composer
• Manno Charlemagne – political folk singer
• Régine Chassagne - singer and multi-instrumentalist for the Arcade Fire
• Jean Jean-Pierre - Haitian composer, musician, journalist, and playwright, profiled by the New York Times'Public Lives
• Jason Derulo – American singer
• DJ Whoo Kid – American hip-hop DJ and radio host
• Nicolas Geffrard – musician; composed Haitian national anthem
• Lee Holdridge - Puerto Rican-American composer (born in Haiti)
• Kery James – French rapper
• Carlos Jean - Spanish musician
• Wyclef Jean - singer for The Fugees
• David Jude Jolicoeur, rapper from De La Soul
• Kangol Kid – American rapper
• Maxwell, singer (Haitian mother)
• MC Tee, rapper
• Luck Mervil
• Pras Michel, singer for The Fugees
• Muzion, French rap group
• Delisa Newton – American jazz vocalist
• Dawn Angelique Richard – American singer and former member of Danity Kane
• Melky Sedeck – American R&B/hip hop sibling duo
• Pastor Troy – American rapper
• Sha Money XL, rapper
• Smitty – American rapper-songwriter
• Torch – German rapper
• Tony Yayo, rapper

Political figures

• Hérard Abraham
• Boniface Alexandre
• Jacques-Édouard Alexis, Prime Minister of Haiti (2006 - Present)
• Pierre Nord Alexis
• André Apaid – politician and activist
• Jean-Bertrand Aristide, former president
• Prosper Avril
• Jean-Claude Bajeux – minister of culture and human rights activist
• Charles Henri Baker – politician
• Marc Bazin – United Nations diplomat and World Bank official
• Jean-Pierre Boyer – soldier and President of Haiti
• Phillip Brutus, first Haitian elected to the Florida state legislature
• Martial Célestin
• Jean-Marie Chérestal
• Henri Christophe – rebel slave and President of Haiti
• Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave
• Jean-Jacques Dessalines – President of Haiti
• François Duvalier – President of Haiti
• Jean-Claude Duvalier – President of Haiti
• Dumarsais Estimé
• Mathieu Eugene
• Linda Dorcena Forry
• Patrick Gaspard - Executive Director of the U.S. Democratic National Committee
• Ulises Heureaux, former President of the Dominican Republic (Haitian father)
• Antoine Izméry – pro-democracy activist and businessman
• Michaëlle Jean, former Governor General of Canada
• Jean Jeudy
• Émile Jonassaint, former President
• Gérard Latortue
• Robert Malval
• Leslie Manigat
• Michel Martelly - former musician (Sweet Micky) and President of Haiti (2011-present)
• Smarck Michel
• Henri Namphy
• Daniel Narcisse, former Foreign Affairs Minister
• Yvon Neptune
• Joseph Nérette, former President
• Vincent Ogé – revolutionary
• Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, former President
• Evans Paul - politician
• Guy Philippe - politician
• José Francisco Peña Gómez - Dominican politician and activist
• Charlemagne Péralte – nationalist leader and revolutionary
• Alexandre Pétion – nationalist, revolutionary and President of Haiti
• Gérard Pierre-Charles
• Michèle Pierre-Louis
• René Préval, former President (2006-2011)
• Pierre-Richard Prosper – American lawyer, prosecutor and former government official
• Julien Raimond – agriculturalist/planter and revolutionary
• Kwame Raoul
• André Rigaud
• Yolly Roberson
• Lysius Salomon
• Sylvain Salnave – former President of Haiti
• Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam
• Marie Saint Fleur
• Rosny Smarth
• Dany Toussaint
• Sténio Vincent
• Claudette Werleigh

Religion

• Jacques Bernard - theologian and publicist
• Gérard Jean-Juste – Roman Catholic priest and rector
• Mother Mary Lange – Cuban founder of a Catholic religious community for women
• Guy Sansaricq – first Haitian-born Roman Catholic Bishop in the United States
• Pierre Toussaint - activist & Catholic candidate for sainthood
• Louis William Valentine Dubourg – Roman Catholic bishop

Technology

• Gerard A. Alphonse – American electrical engineer
• Ralph Gilles – American automobile designer

See also

• Canadians of Haitian ancestry
• List of Haitian Americans

References

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