1926: (The Jean Joseph Industrial School and the Uplift Ethos — Between March and September 1926 L’Oeuvre des Femmes Opening the Jean Joseph Industrial Schoo…

1926: (The Jean Joseph Industrial School and the Uplift Ethos — Between March and September 1926 L’Oeuvre des Femmes Opening the Jean Joseph Industrial School with Support from Haitian and US Black American Benefactors Including Bethune Eva T. Bowles and Layle Lane, Founded to Develop Native Industries and Afford Practical Education for the Masses, Harriet Gibbs Marshall Writing to Theodore Roosevelt That While There Are Many Gentleman Members They Deemed It Wise to Have Women Officers to Awaken Them to Civic Obligations, the Women Mobilizing a Self-Help Ethos Seeking to Mold Girls into Good Housekeepers and Wives Producing “Beautiful Children in the Streets” — the Uplift Agenda Lacking Critical Gender Analysis but Establishing Important Connections Between Haitian and African American Women): Between its inaugural meeting on March 2, 1926, and September of that same year, L’Oeuvre des Femmes Haitiennes opened the Jean Joseph Industrial School and gained the support of wealthy and politically influential Haitians and US Black Americans, including Mme. Dantès Bellegarde, Mme. François Dalencour, Mme. Pascal Elie, Eugénie Jean Joseph, Mary McLeod Bethune, Eva T. Bowles, and socialist activist and teacher Layle Lane. The school was founded to develop native industries and afford a practical education for the masses. In a fundraising letter to Theodore Roosevelt, Harriet Gibbs Marshall, African American educator and pianist, thanked the former president for his financial support but emphasized that while there were many gentleman members, they deemed it wise to have women officers to awaken them to civic obligations and activity. Through the economic strategy of balancing the nation’s import-dependence with production and export of local goods and crafts, the women mobilized a self-help and uplift ethos. L’Oeuvre des Femmes specifically sought to mold girls and women into good housekeepers and wives, producing beautiful children in the streets. The uplift agenda lacked a critical analysis of gender roles and power, but these late-occupation alliances established important connections between Haitian activists and African American women that would be drawn out over the decades of the twentieth century.