This essay examines the ideas and activism of a woman calling herself Madame Parque, who traveled across the United States giving lectures to black and white audiences during the 1870s. Claiming to be a well-educated, multilingual, and mixed-race Haitian educator, Parque spoke at courthouses, black churches, and black schools throughout the United States, mocking racism and sexism and celebrating Afro-diasporic history and black identity.

In 1915, United States marines arrived in Haiti. Their landing signaled the beginning of an occupation that would cripple Haiti long after it ended in 1934. Scholars have offered compelling insights into African American opposition to the erosion of Haitian sovereignty. But this scholarship has prioritized the activism of Black men and male-dominated institutions while deemphasizing the complex reaction of Black women to the occupation. This article highlights that overlooked reaction. It shows that some leading Black women continued to speak of the need to civilize Haiti.

This text delves into the reformation of Haiti from 1874-1950 with a focus on African American women. Byrd explores how Black women used the African diaspora as a resource in the struggle for racial and gender equality and the conflict between elite and middle-class Black women abroad and Haitian women during Haiti’s reconstruction period. The essay draws attention to important questions in Black intellectual history by examining evolutions in the relationship between elite and middle-class Black women and Haitians from Reconstruction through the mid-twentieth century.