Juliette Bussière Laforest-Courtois

Juliette Bussière Laforest-Courtois (Cap-Français, Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) 1789 – 24 December 1853), was a Haitian teacher and journalist. She co-founded and managed the first school in Haiti opened to girls (1818–1828) and co-managed the paper La Feuille du Commerce where she was active as a journalist (1828–1853). She was the first journalist of her gender in Haiti.

Life

She was a member of the affranchi. Shortly after birth, she followed her father to Paris, where she received an education. She returned to Haiti after her marriage to Joseph Courtois in 1816. In 1818–1828 the couple managed their own school for both boys and girls, La Maison d'Education, where she tutored in music and literature. When it was closed, there were no education for girls in Haiti until the Imperial school in 1850. She also managed the paper La Feuille du Commerce jointly with her husband. no other female would work as a journalist in Haiti until 1923. The paper voiced the opposition against president Boyer and later emperor Soulouque. Her husband was sentenced to jail during both regimes, during which she managed the paper by herself.

References

• http://www.haiticulture.ch/Juliette_Bussiere_Laforest-Courtois.html
• Dictionnaire biographique de Duraciné Pouilh, dans Femmes haïtiennes