Haiti and UNESCO Mark 150th Anniversary of Jean Price-Mars' Birth
Officials plan a commemorative day on October 30, 2026, honoring the ethnologist, writer and diplomat born on October 15, 1876.
Haiti is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jean Price-Mars, born October 15, 1876, in Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, according to Le Nouvelliste and iciHaiti. A physician, diplomat and politician, Price-Mars is best remembered as a writer and ethnologist. He died in Pétion-Ville on March 1, 1969, after publishing essays on history, anthropology and literary criticism, along with more than a hundred articles, speeches and lectures that have been studied and translated into several languages. His major work, 'Ainsi parla l'Oncle' (1928), contributed to the rehabilitation of popular traditions and African heritage within Haitian national identity. A precursor of the indigenist movement, he influenced the thought of the Négritude movement and in 1956 was elected president of the first Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris. According to iciHaiti, UNESCO's 43rd General Conference approved including the anniversary in its 2026-2027 calendar of commemorations. The Haitian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO, under the Ministry of Education and in coordination with ANESRS, will hold a hybrid commemorative day on Friday, October 30, 2026, under the theme 'Ainsi parla l'oncle: memory, identity and national pride.' Culture Minister Emmanuel Ménard announced the creation of a National Jean Price-Mars Prize for Haitian Thought.