John Collins writes to add to the discussion:
"Very interesting to read the ongoing discussion on the dr1 message board regarding the long overdue recognition of the Samana blacks by NY Dominicans. Mistress Copeland & others told me so many different things.
It is not easy to recall them all since our conversations were in 1974. However, a couple of corrections or clarifications are in order: 1) the remark about "raising the color" had to be viewed in the context of the situation in the DR in 1824 when the Haitian occupation occurred under Boyer. There were less than an estimated 175,000 inhabitants in the eastern half of the island. Old timers in Samana said that Boyer was obsessed with how was Haiti ever going to hold on to this new land without "populating" it with blacks.
The Samanese recalled that the idea to bring American black ex-slaves down came about through coffee since the renowned Haitian coffee was already being exported to the US. One of the coffee merchants was said to have made contact with freed blacks in Philadelphia who were ex-slaves.
Boyer proposed that they be invited down to Hispaniola and provided with land and money to settle. Leaders of the Philadelphia blacks were cautious about the idea and asked to send a delegation to check out the offer. They returned to Philadelphia & described the DR as "a paradise" and everything that was promised.
Subsequently hundreds of them traveled to accept the offer but over the years 10 or 11 settlements around the country gradually fell apart for various reasons. These reasons included tropical diseases and difficulty in adjusting to the climate. They were not farmers but rather journeymen like carpenters, plumbers, etc etc.
Mentioned several times was their shock over the behavior of the Haitian military toward Dominican Catholics. They were black & Protestants but mentioned to me several times was the behavior of Haitian soldiers in cutting the heads off of white statues in the church. It was these references that I recalled when I went to the inauguration of Aristide in Port au Prince in 1991 because all of the statues in the cathedral had white heads.
The only community to survive was the one in Samana. It was interesting to note that successive US ambassadors in Santo Domingo favored the Samanese because they spoke English & were often described as a refined lot. Their names still are recalled & still prevail in Samana & elsewhere in the DR — Kelly, Johnson, Greene, Baret & others.
I first came in contact with them at La Romana where I met a young Samanese at the refinery who was quick to point out to me that he was NOT Cocolo (West Indian immigrant) explaining to me that he was a descendant of the American immigrants to Samana at the beginning of the 19th Century. Very refined and religious, he considered the Samanese blacks different from the Cocolos because of their religious tradition & behavior. He actually invited me to go to Samana in 1974 & that was my first contact with the community. It would have been 10 years or more before Valerie Smith did her doctoral thesis & was one of the reasons I was so fascinated with her research since I had had my earlier contact with the community.
It is true that President Andrew Johnson after the US Civil War proposed to lease a fueling station in Samana. It actually reached the US Senate & was defeated by one vote. As i recall the Secretary of State was Seward who had purchased Alaska. Fascinating recollections off the top of my hea.d Let's help keep alive their contributions to the DR!"
"Very interesting to read the ongoing discussion on the dr1 message board regarding the long overdue recognition of the Samana blacks by NY Dominicans. Mistress Copeland & others told me so many different things.
It is not easy to recall them all since our conversations were in 1974. However, a couple of corrections or clarifications are in order: 1) the remark about "raising the color" had to be viewed in the context of the situation in the DR in 1824 when the Haitian occupation occurred under Boyer. There were less than an estimated 175,000 inhabitants in the eastern half of the island. Old timers in Samana said that Boyer was obsessed with how was Haiti ever going to hold on to this new land without "populating" it with blacks.
The Samanese recalled that the idea to bring American black ex-slaves down came about through coffee since the renowned Haitian coffee was already being exported to the US. One of the coffee merchants was said to have made contact with freed blacks in Philadelphia who were ex-slaves.
Boyer proposed that they be invited down to Hispaniola and provided with land and money to settle. Leaders of the Philadelphia blacks were cautious about the idea and asked to send a delegation to check out the offer. They returned to Philadelphia & described the DR as "a paradise" and everything that was promised.
Subsequently hundreds of them traveled to accept the offer but over the years 10 or 11 settlements around the country gradually fell apart for various reasons. These reasons included tropical diseases and difficulty in adjusting to the climate. They were not farmers but rather journeymen like carpenters, plumbers, etc etc.
Mentioned several times was their shock over the behavior of the Haitian military toward Dominican Catholics. They were black & Protestants but mentioned to me several times was the behavior of Haitian soldiers in cutting the heads off of white statues in the church. It was these references that I recalled when I went to the inauguration of Aristide in Port au Prince in 1991 because all of the statues in the cathedral had white heads.
The only community to survive was the one in Samana. It was interesting to note that successive US ambassadors in Santo Domingo favored the Samanese because they spoke English & were often described as a refined lot. Their names still are recalled & still prevail in Samana & elsewhere in the DR — Kelly, Johnson, Greene, Baret & others.
I first came in contact with them at La Romana where I met a young Samanese at the refinery who was quick to point out to me that he was NOT Cocolo (West Indian immigrant) explaining to me that he was a descendant of the American immigrants to Samana at the beginning of the 19th Century. Very refined and religious, he considered the Samanese blacks different from the Cocolos because of their religious tradition & behavior. He actually invited me to go to Samana in 1974 & that was my first contact with the community. It would have been 10 years or more before Valerie Smith did her doctoral thesis & was one of the reasons I was so fascinated with her research since I had had my earlier contact with the community.
It is true that President Andrew Johnson after the US Civil War proposed to lease a fueling station in Samana. It actually reached the US Senate & was defeated by one vote. As i recall the Secretary of State was Seward who had purchased Alaska. Fascinating recollections off the top of my hea.d Let's help keep alive their contributions to the DR!"