Restavec : From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American /
Cadet, Jean-Robert
Restavec : From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American / Jean-Robert Cadet. - 1 online resource (200 p.)
Frontmatter -- FOREWORD -- Note to the Reader -- 1. -- 2. -- 3. -- 4. -- 5. -- 6. -- 7. -- 8. -- 9. -- 10. -- 11. -- 12. -- 13. -- 14. -- 15. -- 16. -- 17. -- 18. -- 19. -- AFTERWORD
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
African slaves in Haiti emancipated themselves from French rule in 1804 and created the first independent black republic in the Western Hemisphere. But they reinstituted slavery for the most vulnerable members of Haitian society—the children of the poor—by using them as unpaid servants to the wealthy. These children were—and still are—restavecs, a French term whose literal meaning of "staying with" disguises the unremitting labor, abuse, and denial of education that characterizes the children's lives. In this memoir, Jean-Robert Cadet recounts the harrowing story of his youth as a restavec, as well as his inspiring climb to middle-class American life. He vividly describes what it was like to be an unwanted illegitimate child "staying with" a well-to-do family whose physical and emotional abuse was sanctioned by Haitian society. He also details his subsequent life in the United States, where, despite American racism, he put himself through college and found success in the Army, in business, and finally in teaching.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9780292795327
10.7560/712027 doi
Children--Social conditions.--Haiti
Haitian Americans--Biography.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General.
E184.H27 / C34 1998eb
973/.049697294
Restavec : From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American / Jean-Robert Cadet. - 1 online resource (200 p.)
Frontmatter -- FOREWORD -- Note to the Reader -- 1. -- 2. -- 3. -- 4. -- 5. -- 6. -- 7. -- 8. -- 9. -- 10. -- 11. -- 12. -- 13. -- 14. -- 15. -- 16. -- 17. -- 18. -- 19. -- AFTERWORD
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
African slaves in Haiti emancipated themselves from French rule in 1804 and created the first independent black republic in the Western Hemisphere. But they reinstituted slavery for the most vulnerable members of Haitian society—the children of the poor—by using them as unpaid servants to the wealthy. These children were—and still are—restavecs, a French term whose literal meaning of "staying with" disguises the unremitting labor, abuse, and denial of education that characterizes the children's lives. In this memoir, Jean-Robert Cadet recounts the harrowing story of his youth as a restavec, as well as his inspiring climb to middle-class American life. He vividly describes what it was like to be an unwanted illegitimate child "staying with" a well-to-do family whose physical and emotional abuse was sanctioned by Haitian society. He also details his subsequent life in the United States, where, despite American racism, he put himself through college and found success in the Army, in business, and finally in teaching.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9780292795327
10.7560/712027 doi
Children--Social conditions.--Haiti
Haitian Americans--Biography.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General.
E184.H27 / C34 1998eb
973/.049697294