The Emperor departed Montego Bay on April 24, 1966 for Haiti, a small country located in the western third of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. Formerly a French colony called Saint Dominique (or San Domingo), Haiti was also referred to as the "Pearl De Antilles" because it was at one time the richest colony in the new world exporting sugar, cotton and coffee in quantities that surpassed the total amount of exports from other Caribbean islands. The vast production of these crops, however, was dependent on a labor force of slaves who worked under the most oppressive conditions.
In August 1791, inspired by the Jacobin Revolution in France, where the white slaves joined forces and killed their masters, enslaved Africans in Saint Dominique, led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, revolted in a struggle that lasted for twelve years. The slave army won a series of victories, defeating the local whites, French soldiers, a Spanish invasion, a 60,000 strong British expedition and Napolean's smaller army. L'Ouverture went on to control the island in 1801 but he was captured by French troops in August 1802 and died six months later. Despite L'Ouverture's death, the slaves triumphed: they drove the French out and in 1804 Haiti became the first free Black republic in the western hemisphere, an event often cited as among the most important in Caribbean history.
France, however, demanded payment of 150 million francs for Haiti to be recognized as an independent nation, which strained the burgeoning republic's resources. Moreover, the rest of the world ostracized Haiti, which further constrained her ability to trade and build a stable economy. By the end of the 19th Century, 80% of Haiti's national budget was depleted as a result of her ongoing debt to France. In more recent times, the dictatorships of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier pillaged the country's limited resources, further exacerbating Haiti's dire economic situation.
Despite Haiti's financial hardships, Papa Doc Duvalier was determined to give Haile Selassie a proper reception on his one-day visit. The Duvalier government delved into its depleted treasury and came up with $100,000 which was used to place flagpoles along the two-mile stretch of road from the airport to the capital Port-au-Prince. Colorful flags waved throughout the city and fresh concrete was poured along part of the route so that the Emperor would not be overwhelmed by dust. The apex of His Majesty's hectic visit was the naming of the recently completed airport road as "Boulevard Haile Selassie" which has since been expanded into a four-lane highway.
In addition to meeting with government officials and attending various functions, His Majesty also visited a Haitian school. In 1966 Maire Maignan was a student at Lycee Francois Duvalier in Petion-ville, a Port Au Prince suburb, and she recalls the Emperor's arrival. "The school director announced that he would be there during the day and that we would meet him and they explained to us who he was," Maignan reminisces. "Our secondary school had six years and there were four classes in each year and they made sure to put him somewhere so every child could shake his hand. It was a huge crowd. I remember he was wearing a dark green military suit with a lot of badges; we wanted to touch the badges but we couldn't. It was very moving, a once in a lifetime thing that you will never forget, that is the way he was presented to us. We knew it was a special day but we didn't document it."
Maignan's son, Anthony S. Calypso is a New York based writer and although he wasn't born at the time of Selassie's visit, he feels the Emperor's trip didn't have too much of an impact on the Haitian people. However, the popularity of Bob Marley music just a few years later throughout Haiti placed Selassie's visit into a broader cultural, although not necessarily religious, context. "Although Bob Marley never visited Haiti, his influence there was phenomenal," Calypso explains. "Haitians speak Creole not English yet they can sing Marley's songs. People began to wear dreadlocks because of Marley; they embraced him, but not necessarily Rastafari. Because Catholicism is so deeply ingrained in Haiti due to the French colonization, they didn't worship Haile Selassie the way (Jamaican) Rastafarians do so his visit didn't have that component to it. Haiti's intellectual class was probably most affected by his visit although I am sure people knew that as an African monarch he represented something very important to people across the Diaspora."