Also known as: Red and Black in Haiti, Smith Red and Black, Matthew J. Smith Red and Black
Last updated: April 16, 2026
A political history of Haiti from the end of the U.S. occupation to the rise of François Duvalier, reconstructing 1934–1957 as a field of real contest among labor radicalism, Marxist organization, noiriste thought, student revolt, elite reaction, and military intervention. Smith's central argument is that the period was not a predetermined slide toward dictatorship: the same world produced Jacques Roumain, the Revolution of 1946, and serious possibilities of democratic change before noirisme was captured by Duvalierist authoritarianism.
Smith's Red and Black in Haiti documents Vincent's rise, his transformation of anti-occupation legitimacy into an authoritarian governing style, and the ideological contention of the Vincent years (1934–1941).
If you use rasin.ai data or findings in your research, please cite us:
Chicago
Matthew J. Smith. "Red and Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934–1957." University of North Carolina Press, 2009. Rasin.ai, https://rasin.ai/connections/sources/smith-red-black. Accessed 2026-05-05.