A Haitian-born, Boston-based poet explores the personal and political stories of the Haitians who were part of Congo’s 1960s decolonization movement
Between 1960 and 1975, thousands of Haitian professionals emigrated to Congo, a fellow Black francophone nation that emerged under the revolutionary new leadership of Patrice Lumumba. As Danielle Legros Georges writes in the introduction to this collection, these émigrés sought to “escape repression in Haiti, start new lives in Africa, and participate in a decolonizing Congo.” Among them were her parents.
Grounded in these personal and social histories, Three Leaves, Three Roots is a collection of Legros Georges’s creative reconstructions of the Haiti-Congo experience. She interweaves her verses with excerpts from primary sources such as the interviews she conducted with the Congo émigrés and letters written by people both famous and obscure, including Lumumba, Fidel Castro, and members of Legros Georges’s family.
The result is a richly layered portrayal of an era of decolonization and rebuilding, a time that sparked with both promise and vulnerability for the Pan-Africanist and Black Power movements. This collection is an important work of Haitian American poetry and of Black history: it reminds us, artfully, that movements of solidarity among people of color have always existed and always will exist.
“A brilliant achievement. Danielle Legros Georges’s Three Leaves, Three Roots makes a compelling case for the role of poet as custodian of what once was lost and now is found. In these times of voluntary and forced migrations, these poems are shining testaments and urgent exposés of historical injustice and tender lyrics. This collection places this poet where she belongs, in the front ranks of poets writing today.” —Lorna Goodison, author of Mother Muse
“As the poet moves us through landscapes lost, discovered, and found again, from Port-au-Prince, Kinshasa, to the banks of the Rio Grande, we discover voices displaced, exiled, and scorned, with love for their shared African roots even as these move from one geography to another. Sweeping in its breadth and historical coverage, Three Leaves, Three Roots is a triumph of poetic quietude in the midst of the chaos that surrounds depictions of Haiti today.” —Myriam J. A. Chancy, author of What Storm, What Thunder
Danielle Legros Georges is a Haitian-born professor emerita of creative writing at Lesley University. She served as poetry laureate of Boston from 2014 to 2019 and is the author and translator of several books of poetry. Her work has been supported by fellowships and grants from the American Antiquarian Society, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Boston Foundation, and the Black Metropolis Research Consortium.
A Haitian-born, Boston-based poet explores the personal and political stories of the Haitians who were part of Congo’s 1960s decolonization movement
Between 1960 and 1975, thousands of Haitian professionals emigrated to Congo, a fellow Black francophone nation that emerged under the revolutionary new leadership of Patrice Lumumba. As Danielle Legros Georges writes in the introduction to this collection, these émigrés sought to “escape repression in Haiti, start new lives in Africa, and participate in a decolonizing Congo.” Among them were her parents.
Grounded in these personal and social histories, Three Leaves, Three Roots is a collection of Legros Georges’s creative reconstructions of the Haiti-Congo experience. She interweaves her verses with excerpts from primary sources such as the interviews she conducted with the Congo émigrés and letters written by people both famous and obscure, including Lumumba, Fidel Castro, and members of Legros Georges’s family.
The result is a richly layered portrayal of an era of decolonization and rebuilding, a time that sparked with both promise and vulnerability for the Pan-Africanist and Black Power movements. This collection is an important work of Haitian American poetry and of Black history: it reminds us, artfully, that movements of solidarity among people of color have always existed and always will exist.
Praise
“A brilliant achievement. Danielle Legros Georges’s Three Leaves, Three Roots makes a compelling case for the role of poet as custodian of what once was lost and now is found. In these times of voluntary and forced migrations, these poems are shining testaments and urgent exposés of historical injustice and tender lyrics. This collection places this poet where she belongs, in the front ranks of poets writing today.” —Lorna Goodison, author of Mother Muse
“As the poet moves us through landscapes lost, discovered, and found again, from Port-au-Prince, Kinshasa, to the banks of the Rio Grande, we discover voices displaced, exiled, and scorned, with love for their shared African roots even as these move from one geography to another. Sweeping in its breadth and historical coverage, Three Leaves, Three Roots is a triumph of poetic quietude in the midst of the chaos that surrounds depictions of Haiti today.” —Myriam J. A. Chancy, author of What Storm, What Thunder
Author
Danielle Legros Georges is a Haitian-born professor emerita of creative writing at Lesley University. She served as poetry laureate of Boston from 2014 to 2019 and is the author and translator of several books of poetry. Her work has been supported by fellowships and grants from the American Antiquarian Society, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Boston Foundation, and the Black Metropolis Research Consortium.
