Life in haiti

Leslie Poisson was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti on October 4, 1949. She was the daughter of Marianne and Louverture Poisson, and had three brothers at the time (Bob, Patrick, Jean-Marie, later on would come Christopher). She spent the first thirteen years of her life living in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, which is right on the ocean. Growing up, Leslie went to school, and finished what she estimates as the equivalent of middle school in the US. Schools in Haiti were almost entirely comprised of black individuals. Outside of school activities often included playing in the street, spending time at the beach and picking sugar cane (which was incredibly dangerous, as sugar cane was often situated by train tracks). Leslie notes that overall “Us kids, we were usually on our own.”

In 1960, Marianne (Leslie's mother) immigrated to the US (Weston, MA) in search of more promising economic opportunities, with the intention of bringing the rest of her family. Louverture (Leslie's father) was a soldier in the army, as well as an artist. Louverture made connections through artwork, namely through painting portraits of President François Duvalier and his wife. His connection to Duvalier proved vital when Louverture fell and broke his arm, and was in a military hospital, which was soon the site of a coup against Duvalier. Duvalier thought nothing of Louverture's possible involvement, but the law forced Louverture into a government surveillance home. As a result, Marianne felt it necessary to take her daughter out of Haiti, as civil unrest was becoming much too prevalent, and Louverture was under a considerable level of government scrutiny.

Art from Louverture Poisson

Push and Pull From Haiti to America

Push Away From Haiti

Civil unrest --> revolts against President Duvalier
Economic hardships
Poor general safety

Pull Towards America

Promising economic opportunities
Strong sense of safety
America is spoken very highly of in Haiti, with respect to quality of life

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