Haitian-Americans
Numerous Haitians have settled in Rockland and Clarkstown over the years, with the first wave of immigrants coming in the 1920s through the early 1950s to places like Nanuet. The construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge and the Palisades Interstate Parkway in the 1950s allowed many Haitian workers to commute from New York City to work in Rockland factories, with many choosing to move to Rockland to be closer to their jobs. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Nyack was the center of the expanding Haitian community in Rockland. As Haitian immigration increased, however, in the 1970s with the continued oppression of the Duvalier regime, Spring Valley started to become the center of Rockland’s Haitian community, and several Haitian owned businesses were established in the village. The Catholic Church has played a vital role in the development of Rockland’s Haitian community, with churches such as St. Ann’s in Nyack and St. Joseph’s in Spring Valley providing French and Creole masses, sponsoring immigrants’ arrivals and offering classes to teach new immigrants English. Many Haitians in Rockland have become successful painters, musicians, and writers, preserving the culture of their motherland while adapting it with influences from their new home.
Significant People
Dr. Edgar Milford, Sr. was born in 1895 in Haiti, where he became a laboratory chief at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. He came to the U.S. in 1922, eventually becoming one of the first black members of the Cornell University Medical School medical staff. He came to Rockland in 1929 to form an allergenic department at Lederle Laboratories in Pearl River, and he ended up leading groundbreaking work in the field, such as the development of the first human immune globulin. After retiring Milford became a dedicated board of trustees member at the Nanuet Public Library, where a community room was named in his honor in 1990.
Germaine Sorel was an author, educator, and community organizer who came to the U.S. from Haiti in 1955. After settling in Central Nyack, Sorel worked to organize the first Catholic mass in Creole at Nyack’s St. Ann Church, established a child-care program in Central Nyack and taught Creole and French. She belonged to several community organizations and worked as a teacher’s aid and case worker at the Department of Social Services in Ramapo. As an author she wrote about Haiti’s village life and history. Sorel inspired many of her Haitian friends to come to Rockland, and she was the first grand marshal of the Haitian Flag Day Parade in 1992.
Bibliography
Clarke, Suzan. “Haitian Community Pioneer Sorel dies at 79.” The Journal News, April 12, 2007, accessed on July 25, 2016. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5999012/haitian_community_pioneer_sorel_dies_at/.
Marks, Morton. Haiti on the Hudson: the Formation of the Haitian communities of Rockland County. New City, New York: Historical Society of Rockland County, 1993.