Madeleine Sylvain-Bouchereau (July 5, 1905 –1970) was a pioneering

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an sociologist and educator. In 1934, she was one of the principal founders of the ''

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'' (Women's Social Action League), the first feminist organization registered in Haiti.

Biography

Born on 5 July 1905 in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

, she was the daughter of the poet and diplomat Georges Sylvain and his wife Eugénie Mallebranche. A brilliant student, she was educated in Haiti,

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and the

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, graduating in law at the

University of Haiti The State University of Haiti (, ) is one of Haiti's most prestigious institutions of higher education. It is located in Port-au-Prince. Its origins date to the 1820s, when colleges of medicine and law were established. In 1942, the various facu ...

in 1933, studying education and sociology at the University of Puerto-Rico (1936–38) and at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

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, where she earned a doctorate in sociology in 1941. Her thesis ''Haïti et ses femmes. Une étude d’évolution culturelle'' (Haiti and its Women. A Study of Cultural Evolution) was published in 1957. Her academic career began in 1941 when she taught at Haiti's Ethnology Institute, continuing in 1945 at the National Agricultural School and at

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

. She was an Honorary Member of

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emp ...

sorority. She received the Susan B. Anthony prize for her work ''L'Éducation des Femmes en Haïti'' (The Education of Women in Haiti). With a view to improving social and economic conditions for women, together with several other women from the upper and middle classes, she established the ''Ligue Féminine d'Action Sociale'' (

Feminine League for Social Action Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered f ...

). Sylvain-Bouchereau played an important part in contributing to ''La Voix des Femmes'', the organization's journal.

International participation

Sylvain-Bouchereau's international career began in 1937 when she was the Haitian delegate at the Third Inter-American Conference on Education. She was an early participant in the work of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, arranging social services for Polish political prisoners in 1944. She sat on the first committee for women's rights and, from 1952 to 1956, assisted the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

in giving educational courses in

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and

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. From 1966 to 1968, Sylvain-Bouchereau was an advisor to the

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on community development. Sylvain-Bouchereau was one of seven notable brothers and sisters. Her elder sister, Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain (1898-1975), was Haiti's first female anthropologist, while her younger sister, Yvonne Sylvain (1907-1989), was the country's first female doctor. Her brother, Normil Sylvain (1900-1929), founded ''La Revue indigène'' which published native Haitian poetry and Haitian literature. Her youngest brother, Pierre Sylvain (1910–1991), a botanist, reported on coffee production in Ethiopia. Madeleine Sylvain-Bouchereau died in 1970 in

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Selected works

*Sylvain-Bouchereau, Madeleine (1944), Education des femmes en Haïti, Port-au-Prince, Imp. de l’Etat. *Sylvain-Bouchereau, Madeleine (1944), Lecture Haïtienne : La Famille Renaud, Port-au-Prince, Editions Henri Deschamps. *Sylvain-Bouchereau, Madeleine (1946), "Les Droits des femmes et la nouvelle Constitution", in La Femme haïtienne répond aux attaques formulées contre elle à l’Assemblée constituante, Port-au-Prince, Société d’Editions et de Librairie. *Sylvain-Bouchereau, Madeleine (1950), "La Classe moyenne en Haïti", in Matériaux pour l’étude de la classe moyenne en Amérique Latine, Washington, Département des Sciences sociales de l’union panaméricaine. *Sylvain-Bouchereau, Madeleine (1957), Haïti et ses femmes. Une étude d’évolution culturelle, Port-au-Prince, Les Presses Libres.

Biography

International participation

Selected works

References

Further reading