Haitians
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Haiti is one out of 6 Francophone counties and territories in the Americas (in fact is the only one of those that is an independent country) that has a population which refers to themselves as Créole.The term Créole as used in Haïti and the rest of the French West Indies refers to the natives of these areas. Créole natif natal is a term used in Haïti to refer to someone born and raised in that country. 80-85% of Haïti’s population is made up of black Creoles, the descendants of Africans brought to the island in captivity during French colonialism (note this number is sometimes shown as 90-95% as mixed race haitians of darker skin tones "brown" for example are sometimes counted in this category). The remaining 20-15% are of a racially mixed background. A small percentage of the non-black population consists of white Creoles (Mostly of French, German or Polish ancestry) there are also some Haitians of Arab origin Haitians of East Asian origin number approximately 400.
The Créole idientity is one that unifies Haitians of all races. It’s the language, the music, the food and the culture that connects not only all Haitians but all People of the French West Indies. In Haïti everyone is Créole but there are terms to refer to a person or race/racial mix of a person based on a person’s skin color.
Origins
The Creoles of Haiti and Haiti's Creole culture orginate from a number of ethnic groups and social classes dating back to colonial times. French pirates, hunters and buccaneers and habitants made up the European component and as France made moves to colonize this part of the island Both Frenchmen and black Creoles (free and slave) settled on the Island coming from nearby Saint Christophe. These early settlers Often Intermarried froming Creole families with the parings of a French father and a (free) Creole woman as the mother who bore mixed raced Creole children. The people of this time spoke a dialect of French refered to as patois (later créole) and often worked the land of Haïti (then Saint-Domingue) to produce things like indigo, cacao with which they had great success. The success of these industries attracted more colonists from France to cross the atlantic and settle in Saint-Domingue. It also opened up trade with foreign powers. As less Europeans desired to work and instead prefered to take part in the success of the colonies industries the French turned towards importing slaves from Africa; something they learned from the Dutch. Even in these times successful Creoles of color fluorished in some cases they faired even better than White Creoles. Racial tensions developped between these groups of people as Creoles of color faught for even more rights but white Creoles felt that their connection to France made them better than the Creoles of color who were connected to the people they imported from Africa to work as slaves. Dispite racial tension and the Code Noir French men continued to have sexual relations with women of color (both free and slave). Frenchmen slept with many of their female slaves most of which where rapes but many formed relationships certain female slaves (who they often made housekeeper) and the man usually took responsibility to the children he fathered with this kept woman eventually freeing her and their children. The contrast of the two types of sexual relationships that occured between the French colonists and his female slaves are that often the man raped his slaves simply for sexual pleasure due to the lack of French female colonists during that time or for the production of more slaves. In the case of the kept woman, the Frenchman often had been attracted to this woman.
Race
- Blanc adj./n. A white person (this term is also used on a non racial basis to refer to foreigners)
- Brun adj. to have a brown skin complexion
- Grimaud adj./n. a faire skinned Negro
- Jaune adj. to be “yellow skinned” (fairer than a grimaud)
- Marabout n. a person of mixed African and Taino descent or African, European and Taino descent (typically dark or brown skinned with loosely coiled or straight hair)
- Marron adj. to have a brown or chestnut skin complexion
- Mulâtre n. a faire skinned Negro who has loosely coiled or straight hair
- Nègre n. A black person (all Haitians regardless of race are concidered black)
- Négresse n. a black female
- Noir n. A black person and all mixes of black
- Rose adj. to be “pink skinned” (fairer than a jaune and very faire in complexion)