The Haitian diaspora consists of Haitian people and their descendants living outside of Haiti. Countries with significant numbers of Haitians include the Dominican Republic, the United States, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, the Bahamas, and France (including French Caribbean territories and French Guiana).
There are roughly 1.5 to 2 million people of Haitian ancestry living outside Haiti, mainly due to chronic economic issues, gang violence and political crises.
North America
Particulars Migration between people from Haiti in various forms to the United States is deeply rooted. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, an immigrant from Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), founded in 1803 the first nonindigenous settlement in what is now Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. The State of Illinois and City of Chicago declared du Sable the Founder of Chicago on October 26, 1968 - du Sable is perceived to be from Saint-Domingue. His father was a European Frenchmen who had a child with an enslaved African woman. Conflicting evidence suggests that he could have possibly migrated from Canada or elsewhere.
In January 2010, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada will consider fast-tracking immigration to help Haitian earthquake refugees.Canada considers fast-tracking Haitian immigration, CBC News (January 15, 2010). Retrieved 2010-01-15. US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Haitians "not legally in the United States" as of January 12, 2010, would be granted a form of asylum called temporary protected status (TPS).Earthquake Leads U.S. to Relax Policy on Haitian Refugees by Carmen Gentile, Time. January 15, 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-18. Thousands of Haiti earthquake survivors, including Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of earthquake, could be relocated to the US.Report: Thousands of Haiti earthquake survivors could be sent to Orlando , OrlandoSentinel.com, 2010-01-15. Senegal is offering parcels of land – even an entire region if they come en masse – to people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.Senegal offers land to Haitians, BBC News, 17 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-16. Northwest Arkansas seems to be a prime attraction as of 2026 for Haitian people in cities like Springdale and Siloam Springs. There is a significant Haitian population in South Florida, specifically the Miami enclave of Little Haiti. New Orleans, Louisiana has historic ties to Haiti that date back to the Haitian Revolution. New York City, especially in Flatbush, Brooklyn, East Flatbush and Springfield Gardens, has a émigré community with the second largest population of Haitians of any state in the nation. There are large Haitian communities in Massachusetts; Spring Valley, New York; New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; Providence; Georgia; Connecticut; Pennsylvania and Ohio. There are also large Haitian communities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Paris, France; Havana, Cuba; and Kingston, Jamaica.
Anténor Firmin was a 19th-century Haitian anthropologist, perhaps the first black anthropologist and an early writer of Négritude, who influenced 20th century American anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits.
Michaëlle Jean, the former Governor General of Canada and now Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, was a refugee from Haiti who came to Canada in 1968 at age 11.
Haitian immigrants have constituted a visible segment of American and Canadian society, dating back to before the independence of Haiti from France in 1804. Haiti's proximity to the United States, and its status as a free black republic in the years before the American Civil War, have contributed to this relationship. Many influential early American settlers and black freemen, including Jean Baptiste Point du Sable and W. E. B. Du Bois, were of Haitian origin.
In modern times, large-scale emigration from Haiti is mostly because they have been steadily migrating in significant numbers to the United States since the late 1950s–early 1960s, soon after François Duvalier ("Papa Doc") became the strongman of Haiti. The political repression that characterized Duvalier's regime forced large numbers of Haitians to seek safer harbor in the United States. Sustained political oppression, economic hardship, and lack of opportunity continued to drive contingents of Haitian immigrants out of their homeland throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.Zéphir 1996, 2001; Catanese 1999.
Haitian migration peaked in 1981 in conjunction with the Mariel Boatlift from Cuba. While President Carter conducted backdoor negotiations with Fidel Castro to re-seal the Port of Mariel and stem Cuban migration, the same approach did not work with Haiti, and in response, the newly elected Ronald Reagan began the policy of extraterritorial maritime interdiction conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard. This policy continues in force today with the current Secretary of Homeland Security noting, "The Coast Guard maintains a continual presence in the Florida straits and the Caribbean Sea, particularly around Puerto Rico and our maritime approaches, patrolling with air and sea military assets. Any migrant intercepted at sea, regardless of their nationality, will not be permitted to enter the United States. Migrants who do attempt to enter the United States by sea put their lives at incredible risk."
A 2011 article in the Journal of International Migration also considers Haitians "environmental refugees", noting that "the history of colonialization, repressive regimes and longstanding political turmoil in both countries [Haiti and the Dominican Republic] are major contributors to the current problems of environmental degradation. Major environmental problems on the island are deforestation, soil erosion and insufficient supplies of potable water."
Present status in the United States Haitian immigration persists to the present day, as evidenced in the numerous reports of major news networks, such as those of CNN or the New York Times, about the boat people disembarking on the Florida shores as recently as October 2002. The combination of push and pull factors led Haitians to cross the Caribbean Sea, by plane or by boat, legally or illegally, in order to reach the shores of America, the perceived land of opportunity, to begin new lives. An examination of the records of the Census Bureau as well as those of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) allows for reasonable inferences about the size of the legal Haitian population currently residing in the United States. However, estimates provided by community leaders who offer assistance to the illegal population as well suggest that the actual number of the Haitian diaspora is higher than that recorded in government documents. In short, there is good reason to believe that the Haitian diaspora in the United States exceeds 850,000 and according to community leaders may be close to 1 million.
That the Haitian community in the U.S. is one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups is reflected in its political gains. Florida boasts two Haitian-American state lawmakers, and another recently served as secretary of health under former Gov. Jeb Bush, who actively courted the community's votes. In Chicago, Kwame Raoul, the son of Haitian émigrés, filled Sen. Barack Obama's former state Senate seat in 2004. He ended his term in 2019. Pierre-Richard Prosper, the son of Haitian doctors, served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes after he was nominated by President Bush in January 2001. He ended his term in 2005. Under heavy lobbying by the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus and some Republicans, Congress enacted the HOPE Act, and President Bush signed it. The act provides duty-free imports for some Haitian textiles. The Bush administration also spared Haiti some of the deep aid cuts that hit other Latin American nations.
The Congressional Black Caucus has urged more economic aid for Haiti and criticized the lack of U.S. support for former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted in 2004 amid a violent uprising.Belfast News Letter. (2004, March 1). Aristide flees as rebels close on Haitian capital. Belfast News Letter, p. 16. Retrieved from https://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/
Boston Boston has attracted significant numbers of immigrants from Haiti for over 40 years. This arrival over time of Haitians in Boston corresponded to several waves of migration that have come to the United States from the Caribbean country since the 1950s. The largest of these migratory waves in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s flowed into the metropolitan New York area. Since the late 1970s, the largest destination has expanded to include South Florida.
Haitians have settled in sections within the Boston city limits and its surrounding area. The location and diffusion of the population has mirrored the growth of the community. Highly concentrated in the city at first, Boston's Haitians slowly expanded to neighboring municipalities and, most recently, to far-flung suburbs. There are, for example, significant numbers of the population in Brockton, Randolph and Malden. The area of greatest Haitian concentration in Boston proper is in Mattapan, followed by Dorchester, Hyde Park and Roxbury.
Blue Hill Avenue is an important Haitian thoroughfare. The street runs through Roxbury and Dorchester. Its last section, in Mattapan, is Boston's Haitian 'downtown.' There, the street is dotted with several Haitian businesses. Many Haitian churches and organizations have their headquarters along Blue Hill Avenue also.
On the north bank of the Charles River, Haitians settled in Cambridge in the 1950s and 60s. The population in this area now numbers approximately 7,500. Although Haitians did not arrive in nearby Somerville until the early 1990s, the community there today is almost as large as the one in Cambridge. Currently, however, increasing costs of living in Cambridge and Somerville are beginning to drive out people of modest means. The result has been the relocation of many of these area's Haitians to the more affordable neighboring towns of Revere, Everett and Lynn.
In the mind of most Americans, Boston is a city of politics, and politics in Boston is dominated by its Irish population, particularly the legendary Kennedy family. In today's city, however, where the traditionally powerful white population has recently become a minority, another immigrant group — Haitians — has found itself in a position to play an important role in building institutions, starting enterprises and building broad political coalitions with other groups.
The organizational basis of the community is evident from the broad array of public and private entities that serve it. Haitians in Boston are beginning to develop themselves into an emerging, local political force. A variety of entrepreneurial activities established in the Haitian population have been successful in the Boston area. Activities focusing on food services (catering and restaurants), money transfer, tax preparation, and financial management are among the most common, attracting interest and sustaining success. These enterprises cater to the needs of any recently arrived and rapidly growing population. Haitian entrepreneurs have established businesses through the Boston metro region.
Many of the area's earliest immigrants from Haiti were skilled professionals who went on to become locally prominent lawyers, doctors, and educators. In increasing numbers, Haitian immigrants are working in the region's health care system, particularly as nurses. One community leader suggests that a visit to any nursing home in the Boston area would uncover the fact that 75% of those working there are Haitian. Other common areas of employment include office positions with the high-tech companies along Route 128, as well as positions as teachers in elementary and high schools.