Haitian Americans (; ) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest population of Haitian citizens in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida area. In addition, they have sizeable populations in major Northeast cities such as New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and in Chicago, Springfield, and Detroit in the Midwest. Most are immigrants or their descendants from the mid-late 20th-century and ongoing 21st century migrations to the United States. Haitian Americans represent the largest group within the Haitian diaspora.
In 2021, the U.S. Census estimated that 1,138,855 people of full or partial Haitian descent lived in the United States. During the 1960s and 1970s, many Haitians emigrated to the U.S. to escape the oppressive conditions during the dictatorships of François "Papa Doc" and his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.
Haitians are among the largest groups to have held Temporary protected status or TPS. Haiti was designated in 2010 after a major earthquake, and the designation was extended and expanded in 2021, covering an estimated 330,000 people by 2026. The first Trump administration announced the end of Haiti's TPS in 2017, but court injunctions kept it in force until the Biden administration redesignated Haiti in 2021. The second Trump administration announced a new termination in June 2025, which courts blocked until the Supreme Court's decision in Mullin v. Doe in June 2026 allowed it to proceed. TPS for Haiti ended on July 27, 2026.
History During the 18th century, the French colony of Saint-Domingue was the richest in the Caribbean due to its massive production of sugar cane. This wealth was concentrated in the hands of a small minority of mostly French and European planters, who used slave labor from Sub-Saharan Africa to cultivate, harvest, and process their crops. Beginning in 1791, slaves (who formed about 90 percent of the population) revolted against their masters, fought against invading forces, and succeeded in forcing France to abolish slavery.Felix Eme Unaeze, and Richard E. Perrin, "Haitian Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America 2:305–316.
When France attempted later to reintroduce slavery, the former slaves again revolted and won their independence in 1804, declaring the Republic of Haiti the second republic in the Western Hemisphere. The rebellion proved disruptive to the country's economy, however. Many wealthy colonists left, both white and free people of color. The freedmen wanted to cultivate their own plots rather than work on plantations. Many refugees from Saint-Domingue emigrated to the United States, taking their slaves with them, particularly to the New Orleans region, where they reinforced the existing French-speaking and African populations. Though France and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean (Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico) were other major destinations for many immigrants, the United States was a much more popular destination.
During the early 19th century, many immigrants from colonial-era Haiti (St. Domingue) helped found settlements in the French Empire, which would later be the sites of Chicago and Detroit in the modern-day United States. During the Haitian Revolution, many white French left Haiti for the New Orleans region because of its strong French connection, despite being a part of the United States by then. They brought slaves with them, an action that doubled the black population in the New Orleans region. Haitian influence includes that of Haitian Creole on the Louisiana Creole language and Haitian Vodou on the Louisiana Voodoo religion. Though these things were already present in the region, the Haitian presence made it stronger. The Haitian descended population has since been heavily mixed into the general Louisiana black population as a whole.
While most of the early 20th-century emigrants from Haiti were from the upper classes, persistent conditions of poverty, as well as political unrest, eventually prodded many lower-class Saint Dominicans to emigrate as well. Altogether, there have been four periods of major migration to the United States in the history of Haiti: the initial wave at the turn of the 20th century, following the U.S. occupation from 1915 to 1934, during the 1960s and 1970s to escape the Duvalier regime, and following the 2004 overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
20th century Between 1957 and 1986, when the Duvaliers ruled Haiti, their political persecution of the opposition and suspected activists resulted in many Haitian professionals, the middle class, and students emigrating to other countries, among them the United States, France, Dominican Republic and Canada (primarily Montreal). Between 1972 and 1977, 200,000 Haitians landed in South Florida, many of them settling in the neighborhood of Little Haiti.
In the late 20th century, there was a significant brain drain from Haiti as thousands of doctors, teachers, social workers and entrepreneurs emigrated to several cities in the East, particularly to New York City and Miami. Other Haitians worked in restaurants and music stores. In the early 1980s, 40,000 Haitians who came to the United States seeking political asylum achieved permanent resident status. In 1991, there was another wave of Haitian emigration by boat. But the administration of President Bill Clinton tried to discourage Haitian immigration. People were either detained and/or sent back to Haiti. Still, between 1995 and 1998, 50,000 Haitians obtained temporary legal status.
Immigration today Political strife, marked with corruption and intimidation, led to many Haitians leaving the island for the opportunity of a better life. Suffering from a lack of education, many have had difficulty flourishing in the United States. However, trends have shown strong signs of assimilation. Haitian American children of immigrants have higher rates of education than those in Haiti, and experience better economic outcomes than their parents. Waves of Haitians made it to the shores of Florida, seeking asylum. Most of the foreign-born Haitians arrived during the mid- to late 20th century.
Today, Florida has the largest number of people of Haitian heritage. In 2000, Florida had 182,224 foreign-born Haitians, 43.5% of the total foreign-born population from Haiti in the United States (this number did not include U.S.-born citizens of Haitian heritage). New York had the second-largest population of foreign-born Haitians, with 125,475, approximately 30% of the total. Haitian illegal immigrants continue to attempt to reach the shores of Florida and are routinely swept up by the United States Coast Guard. They are often repatriated. Civil rights groups have protested this treatment, remarking on the contrast to the asylum granted between the late 1950s and January 2017 to Cuban refugees. In January 2023, President Joe Biden announced the extension of a humanitarian parole program to accept up to 30,000 migrants a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Nearly 40,000 Haitians have entered the U.S. under this program from January to April 2023. The Trump administration moved to end TPS protections for Haitians in 2025, with the termination originally set to take effect on February 3, 2026. A federal judge blocked the termination in February 2026, but on June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled in Mullin v. Doe that the termination could proceed, clearing the way for the removal of protections for roughly 350,000 Haitian TPS holders.
Culture
Language and religion Most recent Haitian immigrants speak Haitian Creole and are either familiar with or have learned English. In Haiti, French is an official language but is not widely spoken or fully understood. Most Haitians speak Creole in daily life. More than 90% of the vocabulary of Creole is of French origin (with some secondary influences from Taíno, West African languages, Portuguese and Spanish), which provides some limited mutual intelligibility between the two languages; however, its grammar and pronunciation display considerable West African influence. Most native-born Haitian Americans speak English fluently, as do many immigrants. Many Spanish-speaking countries like Cuba and Dominican Republic have significant Haitian populations, and many Haitians who have lived there before moving to the United States have some knowledge of Spanish, if not fluency.
Most Haitian Americans are Roman Catholic, with Protestant communities being the second largest religious group. There are also communities of Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. Some individuals practice Vodoun while officially following one of the main religious groups. Religion is very important in the life of Haitian Americans.
Adjustment and communities The Haitians who emigrated to the United States brought many of their cultural practices and ideologies, as do all immigrants. Many foreign-born Haitians have set up their own businesses, initially to serve their communities. Thus, many established barbershops, bodegas and restaurants (predominately of Haitian cuisine). Around half of Haitians in the United States are in the state of Florida. Haitian Americans have a visible cultural presence in Little Haiti, Miami and several nearby communities, such as Golden Glades and North Miami. The northern portions of the Miami metropolitan area have the highest concentrations of Haitians in the country, including Broward County and northern Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade County has the largest number of Haitians, with 130,438, followed by Broward and Palm Beach counties. Outside of South Florida, there are Haitian communities growing in the rest of the state, especially the Orlando area.
Other significant Haitian-American communities are found in several neighborhoods of New York City, such as Prospect Heights, Flatbush (Nostrand), Crown Heights, Gravesend, Park Slope, Brownsville, Flatlands, Lefferts Gardens, East Flatbush, Bensonhurst, Midwood, Kensington, Canarsie and Bushwick in Brooklyn, Jamaica, Hollis, Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, South Jamaica, Holliswood, Laurelton and Rosedale in Queens, as well as Long Island and Rockland. However, Central Brooklyn, especially the Flatbush section, has the largest Haitian concentration in the New York City area and the 2nd largest in the country outside South Florida. In 2018, a section of Flatbush, Brooklyn, that stretches from East 16th Street to Parkside Avenue, to Brooklyn Avenue, and along Church Avenue between East 16th Street and Albany Avenue, was designated Little Haiti. Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte was the 'driving force' behind the successful designation of the Little Haiti Cultural and Business District. Following the designation of Little Haiti, thirty blocks of Rogers Avenue between Farragut Road and Eastern Parkway were co-named Jean-Jacques Dessalines Boulevard. The street co-naming was a tribute to Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a former slave who led Haiti to victory, making it the first Latin American country to declare independence from colonial rule and the first black republic.