1915–1955: White Gloves, Black Nation: Book Structure

1915–1955: (Book Structure and Chapter 1 Preview — The Book Organized by Moments of Women Recording and Reconciling Their Politics Through Archival and Reflexive Practices, Each Chapter Taking the Women’s Theories of the Historical Moment as a Launching Point, Set Outside the US Occupation in the 1930s and 1940s but Spanning the Period Through the Mid-1950s, Chapter 1 Beginning During the US Occupation When Many Leaders of the Women’s Movement Were Children or Young Adults, Sylvain-Bouchereau’s Assertion That the Haitian Woman Was Literally Transformed During the US Occupation, the Mutilation of Haitian Women’s Flesh During the Occupation Marking the Nation’s Nonsovereignty and Relocating Women Outside of Haitian Citizenship, Propelling a Postoccupation Feminist Politics Focused on Physical Safety Social Inclusion and State Rights): The book is organized by moments of women recording and reconciling their politics through archival and reflexive practices, each chapter moving between LFAS women’s published and unpublished writing about their practice and the historical record of those moments. Led by the women’s political wayfaring, the book is set outside of the US occupation in the 1930s and ’40s but spans the period of the US occupation through the mid-1950s. Chapter 1 begins during the US occupation, when many of the leaders of the women’s movement were children or young adults. Their narratives are drawn together by Sylvain-Bouchereau’s assertion that “the Haitian woman was literally transformed” during the US occupation. Using oral histories, writings of Haitian politicians, US military records, newspapers from the US Black press, and US congressional reports, the chapter traces that literal transformation and demonstrates how differently classed women were drawn toward and stood in for one another in both anti-Black and antioccupation political actions, and in everyday moments of change. Sanders Johnson argues that the mutilation of Haitian women’s flesh during the occupation marked the nation’s nonsovereignty, relocated women outside of Haitian citizenship, and propelled a postoccupation feminist politics focused on physical safety, social inclusion, and state rights. The historical labor of seeking, cross-referencing, and still not finding Black women’s names in the twentieth century while adopting archival techniques of scholars who study enslaved African women in earlier centuries is indicative of the matrices of erasure regarding Haitian women’s lives.