1934: (The LFAS Leadership and the Class Question — After Establishing Their Mission the First Priority Being to Expand Membership and Strategically Situate …

1934: (The LFAS Leadership and the Class Question — After Establishing Their Mission the First Priority Being to Expand Membership and Strategically Situate Themselves in National Political Discourse, Seeking to Disseminate a Message of Multiclass Women’s Activism and Unified Haitian Womanhood — Simple in Theory but the Leadership Makeup Suggesting at Least a Social Club for Elite Women, Sylvain the New President an Attorney Garoute the Vice President an Intellectual and Wife of a High Court Justice Hudicourt a Social Worker from a Prominent Family Bellegarde the Secretary General Daughter of the Former Ambassador, the Sylvain Sisters Respectively the First Female Doctor Certified Social Worker and Anthropologist — Yet Historian Verna Arguing They Were Part of “a More Ordinary Professional Class” Whose Privileged Status Was Tied to Knowledge Skills or Contacts): After establishing their mission, the LFAS leadership’s first priority was to expand the membership and strategically situate themselves within the national political discourse in order to advance their social agenda. To draw support, they sought to disseminate a message of multiclass women’s activism and unified Haitian womanhood. It was a simple concept in theory, but the leadership makeup suggested that the organization was at least a social club for elite women and at most a philanthropic organization with little understanding of the majority of women. Sylvain, the new president, was an attorney. Garoute, the vice president, was an intellectual and the wife of a high court justice. Thérèse Hudicourt, former president and treasurer, was a social worker from a prominent family. Fernande Bellegarde, the secretary general, was the daughter of former ambassador Dantès Bellegarde. Sylvain’s sisters — Yvonne, Jeanne, and Suzanne — were also prominent members, respectively the first female doctor, certified social worker, and anthropologist in the country. Yet as historian Chantalle Verna suggests, given the economic surge, global networks, and steady rise of the educated population in the immediate postoccupation period, this group was part of a more ordinary professional class, whose privileged status was less a function of the wealth they accumulated than tied to knowledge, skills, or contacts they acquired. The women repeatedly articulated that the LFAS was for Haitian women of all social classes, and positioned the organization as a research unit to collect information about women — seven years before the Institut d’Ethnologie was established to study Haitian culture, the LFAS positioned itself as an institution to study women.