Saida Callahan
Marilys Ewa, V.P International Affairs
Stephen Faleti, Financial Director
Tamara Josserand, V.P National Affairs
Serge JC Pierre-Louis, President

ADVISORY BOARD:

Jean Alexandre
Dougé Barthélémy
Ludovic Comeau Jr.
Daniel Fils-Aimé
(Florida)
Serge Fontaine
Colette Jeffries
Jean Martin
Janine Raymond
Antonio Senat
Reynold Sterlin
Franz Stuppard
(Maryland)

About Us

The DuSable Heritage Association was founded in August 2002 to honor the memory and promote the legacy of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable. The Association in cooperation with other Haitian organizations, is planning a series of events this year and throughout 2006 in celebration of his life and achievements. These events are intended to raise funds in order to maintain a Haitian presence in DuSable Park. On Saturday, November 5, 2005, DHA and the DuSable Park Fundraising Committee will be hosting a dinner dance "An Evening with DuSable: Remembering The Founder of Chicago" to kick-off this celebration.

In 2004 DuSable Heritage Association organized and participated in many events under the theme:

 “Triumph of the Human Spirit” in commemoration of the bicentennial of Haiti’s Independence (the ancestral home of Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable). Among these events was the collaboration of DHA with the greater Latino community in the Chicago area to participate in the 20th Annual Chicago Latino Film Festival. The Haitian Segment of the film festival included acclaimed films directed by Jonathan Demme (The Agronomist), and Haitian filmmaker, Raoul Peck (Man by the Shore). Attendance at each of these venues was high. The films served to increase the awareness within the Haitian community and beyond of the complex forces that shape Haiti today.

In addition to the film festival, DHA was instrumental in organizing a Haitian Classical Music Concert in collaboration with DePaul University School for New Learning and the School of Music. This celebration with musical performances by the DePaul University Choir and Orchestra, was in honor of the bicentennial of Haiti’s independence. The event displayed the rich heritage of Haitian classical and folkloric music. Among the composers showcased in the bicentennial celebration was Werner Jaegerhuber, a Haitian born composer trained in Germany, renown for his Messe Folklorique Haitienne (Haitian Folk Mass). The celebration was an overwhelming success.

DHA also sponsored Haitian Art In Schools, a project organized by teachers in Forest Park and Oak Park, Illinois. Haitian Art In Schools gathered over 200 artistic pieces made by school children in the eighth grade based on Haitian Mythology and Folklore. The exhibit was displayed at the Oak Park Public Library and Harold Washington Public Library in the summer of 2004. The exhibit intended to last only one month, lasted the entire summer due to popular demand.

In the spring of 2005, the DHA had the opportunity to work with elementary students in the fourth and fifth grades at the Lycée Français to discuss the role of early French explorers and Jean-Baptiste DuSable in the discovery and development of the American Midwest.