This program documents the historic New York City engagement of the first troupe from Haiti to perform dances of the Vodou religion in the United States. In early 1941, the government of Haiti was invited to send performers to appear at the Eighth Annual National Folk Festival in Washington, D.C., scheduled for that May. Élie Lescot, then Haitian Minister to the U.S. and soon-to-be President-elect of Haiti, turned to Lina Fussman-Mathon a pianist, choral director, and educator who since 1939 had been working with a group of young people on a Haitian folk music repertory, performing at venues in and around the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. In preparing to represent Haiti at the festival in Washington, D.C., Fussman-Mathon arranged for her young troupe to learn ritual dances of the Vodou religion, which they stylized for stage performance. Accompanied by three drummers, they performed over a three-day engagement at Constitution Hall, and thereafter at Howard University, and in Wilmington, Delaware, in Boston, and, as this program reflects, in New York City. On Sunday May 4, 1941, John Martin, dance critic for the New York Times, announced their upcoming performance at the Washington Irving High School Auditorium, noting, “[t]he outstanding novelty in this week’s schedule is the program of ritual and folk dance and song, by a Haitian group of fifteen from Port-au-Prince…. For a while it was feared that New York would not get to see the group, which will only be in this country for two weeks, but their appearance at the Washington Irving High School on Wednesday was arranged by the New York City Association of Teachers of Health and Physical Education. The company sails for home the following day.” The program in UM Libraries Special Collections is likely the only extant copy held by a research library. It is a particularly important and fascinating archival source in documenting how Fussman-Mathon and her company, under the sponsorship of the Haitian government, represented Haitian national culture through the music and dance of Haitian Vodou. At this time, practices of Vodou were technically prohibited under Haitian law, and the Roman Catholic Church was in the process of carrying out a so-called “anti-superstition campaign” against the religion. The document is significant, as well, in reflecting how Fussman-Mathon and the others involved in this troupe attempted through their performance, and the program itself, to demystify the religion for U.S. audiences. During the 1915-1934 U.S. occupation of Haiti, Vodou (constructed as “voodoo”) was subject to violent repression by U.S. marine forces and sensationalist representation outside of Haiti. As outlined in this program, the May 1941 performance in New York seemed designed to be educational and enlightening, as well as entertaining. This is an important source, as well, given the efflorescence of folklore performance groups in Haiti thereafter, and the great influence of Haitian dance on U.S. modern dance, particularly in mid-twentieth-century New York. One of the young performers in Fussman-Mathon’s company was Jean-Léon Destiné, who went on to dance with the Katherine Dunham Company, and thereafter to found and lead his own New York City-based company for decades. Invited by President Dumarsais Estimé, Destiné also formed, trained, and directed the Haitian Troupe Folklorique Nationale in 1949-1950. The handwritten name on the top of the program seems to refer to the photographer Albert Greenfield, whose photos of Haiti were exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum in June-July 1942. - Kate Ramsey, Associate Professor, University of Miami Department of History - November 25, 2019. Project funded thanks to the Andrew W. Mellon CREATE Grant.
