1935–1957: (Chapter Previews — The Sylvain Sisters and the Architecture of the Book, Chapter 2 Told Through the Lives and Research of Madeleine Suzanne Jeann…

1935–1957: (Chapter Previews — The Sylvain Sisters and the Architecture of the Book, Chapter 2 Told Through the Lives and Research of Madeleine Suzanne Jeanne and Yvonne Sylvain Who Used the LFAS as a Platform for Interdisciplinary Feminist Scholarship Through the Study of Urban and Rural Working-Class Women, Chapter 3 Starting in 1944 and Returning to the 1946 Revolutionary Moment Considering the LFAS Assertion That the Woman Is a Slave Alongside Their Platform on Parental Rights and the Condition of Plasaj, Chapter 4 Examining International Travel and Politics Including Memberships in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Pan-American Women’s Congresses the UN Council on Women and the International Council of Women of Darker Races, Chapter 5 Covering the 1956–57 Election and the Rise of Duvalier): Chapter 2 begins at the end of the occupation and discusses the early organizational structure, workshops, and research projects of the LFAS, told through the lives and research of the Sylvain sisters: Madeleine, Suzanne, Jeanne, and Yvonne. They used the LFAS as a platform for their respective intellectual interests and encouraged the production of interdisciplinary feminist scholarship through the study of urban and rural working-class women and girls. Chapter 3 starts in 1944 and returns to the 1946 revolutionary moment, considering the LFAS women’s assertion of social and political enslavement — “the woman is a slave” — alongside their platform on parental rights and the condition of the Haitian family structure, particularly the practice of plasaj (a Haitian common-law marriage that can include multiple sexual and romantic partnerships with a shared financial arrangement). Chapter 4 examines how local and national debates took on unique meanings in the women’s international travel and politics. The LFAS held memberships in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Pan-American Women’s Congresses, the United Nations Council on Women, and the International Council of Women of Darker Races. Days before the August 9, 1946 assembly, attorney Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander wrote to NACW president Mary McLeod Bethune requesting a letter of support for Sylvain-Bouchereau. Over the postoccupation period, Haitian women collaborated with Black American women like Bethune and Eslanda Robeson, cheered on Ethiopian women’s efforts against the Italians, shared strategies with Puerto Rican mayor Felisa Rincón de Gautier and Argentinian first lady Eva Perón, and sought advice from Indian activist Lakshmi N. Menon. Chapter 5 shows how LFAS women strategically communicated political unity among women by declaring a shared nègre identity, colliding into the rise and presidency of François Duvalier (1957–71).