Why Sylvain family is significant in Haitian history may be to many a mystery but it is not to those ‘students of history’ who are conversant with the influence of Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain on the historical development of Haiti. It is no news that this amazon was the first woman Haitian anthropologist.
She was a student of Bronislaw Malinowski who worked in 1949 with Alfred Métraux, and participated in a UNESCO project in Haiti.
Her Birth
Technically, she was born on 6 November 1898 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and was the daughter of Georges Sylvain, Haitian activist and symbol of the resistance against the American Occupation, and of Eugénie Malbranche.
She studied in Kingston and Port-au-Prince before she obtained her bachelor’s degree and Doctorate in Paris. Besides her interest in Haitian folklore and social issues of the condition of women in Haiti and Africa, her research focused on the origins of Creole language, an idiom considered juvenile and worthless at that time.
She had chosen a difficult path but her work, disregarded by her peers, sparked the interest of famous Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. The latter invited her in London where she became her research assistant while studying at London University and later at the London School of Economics.
She also conducted successful research at the British Museum that resulted in her major work regarding the African roots of Haitian Creole.
Family and Sylvain’s Death
Comhaire-Sylvain was the oldest of a family of seven. Her sister Yvonne Sylvain (1907–1989) was the first Haitian woman physician and the first gynecologist-obstetrician of the country. Many of her articles were published in the magazine Voix des femmes (Women’s Voices).
Their brother Normil Sylvain (1900–1929) was a poet and co-founder in 1927 of La Revue indigène. Comhaire-Sylvain’s sister
Madeleine Sylvain (1905–1970) was one of the founders of the Ligue Feminine d’Action Sociale (Feminine League for Social Action) which fought for women’s legal rights such as equality for married women. Finally, her youngest brother Pierre Sylvain (1910–1991) was a botanist who published several reports on coffee production in Ethiopia.[2]
She died in a car accident in Nigeria on 20 June 1975. As of 2014, her papers had been catalogued and made available through Stanford University Libraries.
Why Sylvain Family is Significant in Haitian History
Given this precedent, the discourse over why Sylvain family is significant in Haitian history has been half-solved and so, the subsequent response shall be a trail of the rest of that part of information that you have not yet known:
Suzanne as a Renowned Anthropologist
Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain (1898-1975) was Haiti’s first black female anthropologist. She studied in Kingston and Port-au-Prince before she obtained her Bachelor’s degree and Doctorate in Paris.
Besides her interest in Haitian folklore and social issues of the condition of women in Haiti and Africa, her research focused on the origins of Creole language; an idiom considered juvenile and unworthy of study at the time.
Although disregarded by her peers, her work sparked the interest of Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski, who invited her to London where she became his research assistant while studying at London University and later at the London School of Economics.
She also conducted research at the British Museum that resulted in her major work regarding the African roots of Haitian Creole.
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Suzanne Traveled the World
Suzanne traveled the world and conducted field research in Kenscoff and Marbial (Haiti), Kinshasa (Congo), Lomé (Togo) and Nsukka (Nigeria) worked with renowned anthropologists such as Melville Herskovits and Alfred Metraux who entrusted her and her husband Jean Comhaire with a mission of the UNESCO in Haiti.
Suzanne also taught at the New School for Social Research in New York and was appointed member of the United Nations trusteeship council for Togo and Cameroon under French administration.
The Sylvain’s Uncle as a Political leader
Suzanne came from a very special family, her uncle Benito Sylvain was one of the founding fathers of the Pan African movement and her father George Sylvain (1866-1925) was an important figure of the resistance against the American occupation in Haiti.
Sylvain Family Greatness
Suzanne was the oldest of a family of seven who impacted Haiti in a positive way. Her sister Yvonne Sylvain (1907-1989) was the first female gynecologist and obstetrician of Haiti.
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Madeleine and Normil Sylvain
Madeleine Sylvain Bouchereau (1905-1970) was one of the founders of the Feminine League for Social Action (Ligue Feminine d ’Action Sociale) which fought for women’s legal rights such as education, equality for married women and suffrage) while her brother, the poet Normil Sylvain (1900-1929) was the founder of La Revue Indigène.
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Pierre Sylvain
Finally, her youngest brother Pierre Sylvain (1910-1991) was a botanist who published several reports on coffee production in Ethiopia. Tragically, she died from a car accident in Nigeria in June 1975.
Suzanne’s Oeuvre
It is impossible to list here the colossal work of this Haitian, guided by a single ideal: serving her country, to make known the folklore. This tireless activity (of more than 200 articles!) was rewarded by numerous distinctions:
- “Prix de l’Alliance Française” (The French Alliance Prize)
- “La Médaille de l’Académie Française” (The Medal of the French Academy)
- “La Grande Médaille de l’Alliance Française et La Médaille de la Société pour l’Encouragement du Progrès” (The French Alliance Medal and the Medal of the Society for Encouregemtn and Progress).
Comhaire-Sylvain wrote 10 monographs and over 200 scientific articles. WorldCat Identities (World Catalogue Database) lists 91 works in 261 publications in 5 languages and 1,541 library holdings associating with Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain.
