This chapter describes various social factors in the lives of Haitian women that intersect with the experience of depression. It presents an overview of socio-political influences on the health and well-being of Haitian women, as well as an examination of various health-related beliefs and practices that shape the ways in which their physical and emotional problems are understood. The chapter traces the history of Haitian culture with a particular emphasis on the roles of women in social and political movements.

By 1791, the French Revolution had spread to Haïti, where slaves and free blacks alike had begun demanding civil rights guaranteed in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man. Enter Romaine-la-Prophétesse, a free black Dominican coffee farmer who dressed in women's clothes and claimed that the Virgin Mary was his godmother. Inspired by mystical revelations from the Holy Mother, he amassed a large and volatile following of insurgents who would go on to sack countless plantations and conquer the coastal cities of Jacmel and Léogâne.

This chapter of Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography briefly covers the life of Myriam Merlet describing her academic career in Canada and Haiti during the years she lived under the Duvalier regime. It describes her research on the living conditions of Haitian women, highlighting her academic and activist accomplishments as well as the various feminist groups and people she collaborated with in her research and collective actions. (Summary by Mouka)