How Haitian Voodoo impacted the region

  • 4019 BCE

    Voodoo's roots in Benin, West Africa

    go back 6,000 years ago
  • Haitian Voodoo began as underground activity

    Thousands of West Africa slaves were shipped to Haiti
  • The slaves traditional African Religious Practices were forbidden.

    "The slaves were baptized as Roman Catholic upon their arrival in West Indies. Their traditional African religious practices were viewed as a threat to the colonial system and were forbidden. Practitioners were imprisoned, whipped, or hung." During 1700s
  • After Black Military ejected French from Haiti they also tried to suppress faith

    "The black military leaders and elites who led Haiti after they ejected the French in late 1803 also tried to suppress the faith, mandating imprisonment and fines for participating in Vodou ceremonies and working at times with the Catholic Church to eradicate “superstition.”
  • Voodoo punishable

    “Vodou was not recognised as an official religion by the Haitian state. In 1835 the practising of Voodoo was made punishable”.
  • 1972, free to practice voodoo

    “Since 1972 it has been possible to practise Vodou freely in Haiti.“
  • Sanctioned Voodoo as an officially recognized religion

  • New York Times columnist David Brooks blamed the voodoo religion

    In 2010, two days after earthquake that killed about 316,000 people a new york times columnist blamed voodoo religion