By Isiah Christie
The International Center for Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma (ICMGLT) will be holding a webinar focused on the Haitian independence debt of 1825, which was a deal between Haiti and France that involved the former dishing out a huge amount of money (about 112 million francs or 560 million present-day dollars, by consensus research) to secure recognition as an independent entity.
The program will be hosted on Monday, September 15, 2025 from 1:00PM to 3:00PM Eastern Standard Time (EST).
ICMGLT’s goal is to host a panel that will dissect the subject and identify its impact on succeeding generations of Haitians, as well as what the independence debt did to fundamentally, adversely affect the country’s growth and development. It is largely believed that due to Haiti being compelled to pay France the staggering ransom, they missed out on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of development. More specifically, the country is believed to have missed out on estimated investment totals of about 115 billion dollars.
Discussions on the panel will not only touch upon this reality, but also the principles of political sovereignty and social fabric in regards to the country. The aspect of healing – which ICMGLT specializes in with cross-generational studies – will also be emphasized as they look to aid Haitians in their quest of recovering from an incident that still hurts them two-hundred years later. “The mission of the international center is to … raise awareness of the universal importance and the ubiquitous suffering incurred through multigenerational legacies of trauma,” ICMGLT explained in an official statement.
This webinar will extrapolate that philosophy into encouraging justice for the people of Haiti that are impacted – or will be – in the present, past, and future. The panel will feature a total of seven educated speakers with varying information and perspectives, with the ultimate goal being to educate viewers thoroughly on the subject.
Among the speakers are Dr. Alex Dupuy, an internationally recognized specialist on Haitian history and Sociology Professor at Wesleyan University; Marlene L. Daut, a Professor of French, Black Studies, and History at Yale University; Dr. Jean Marie Théodat, a Doctor in Geography known for his specialization in studying the globalization and geopolitics of Haiti and the Caribbean; Professor Jean Cassimir, who formerly served as Haiti’s Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States; Professor Robert Fatton Jr., a Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia; Frantz Voltaire, a Haitian scholar, filmmaker, author, and international teacher; and Dr. Yael Danieli, the Founder, Executive Director and Senior Representative of ICMGLT.
ICMGLT has confirmed that simultaneous interpretation for the panel will be available in French and Haitian Creole.
