The 1937 massacre of Dominicans of Haitian descent is arguably the largest mass murder in the Americas that targeted people of African descent in the 20th century. Historian Edward Paulino exposes the history of this event and his responsibility to respond to it as part of the Dominican diaspora.
From late September through October 1937, an estimated 15,000 Haitian men, women, and children were systematically murdered in the Dominican Republic on the orders of the country’s dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina. Most of the killings occurred in and around the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola. With such a high number of casualties in such a limited time, the Haitian Massacre, as it is known today, was arguably the largest mass murder in the Americas targeting people of African descent in the 20th century...
