After 1804, Haiti’s prestige was so great that many people left other Caribbean islands and came to live in the country.
Among them were Florestal Duvalier, François Duvalier’s grandfather, and Duval Duvalier, his father. Both men left Martinique and settled in Haiti.
François Duvalier was born near Rivière Froide, close to Carrefour in Port-au-Prince, on April 14, 1907. He was a thin and undersized child.
Family Origins
Mémoires d’un leader du tiers monde was the title of one of Dr. Duvalier’s final books. Published in 1969, it served as a kind of political testament left before his death.
On the book’s first page, Duvalier praised his grandfather, master tailor Florestal Duvalier, who had taught him from childhood to understand the history of Haiti.
He then wrote warmly about his father, Duval Duvalier, whom he first described as a teacher and later as an honest justice of the peace. Duvalier continued praising his father, explaining that the Psalms his father read to him from the Bible taught him to appreciate the beauty of the French language.
Several accounts have been given concerning the identity of François Duvalier’s mother. After extensive research, documents were found identifying her as Ulyssia Abraham.
Her financial circumstances were difficult. She spent a considerable period working in a bakery before finding employment in the home of Jean-Marie Moïse, a prominent man in Port-au-Prince.
Ulyssia often took François with her to Jean-Marie Moïse’s home. There, François played with another young boy, Lascaze Bernardin, a stepson of Jean-Marie Moïse.
During his presidential campaign, Duvalier would recall this connection with great pleasure. He would say, “J’ai grandi sur les genoux de Jean-Marie Moïse,” meaning that as a child, he often sat on Jean-Marie Moïse’s lap.
Ulyssia Abraham did not live much longer. After suffering a serious mental crisis, she was committed to a hospital, where she died. François Duvalier was not yet five years old.
Childhood and Education
Duvalier was a reserved child. He had few friends and did not play in the street with the other children in his neighborhood. As a result, he was often alone.
He performed well in school and enjoyed reading serious books. At Lycée Pétion, he had the good fortune to study under two distinguished scholars: Dr. Jean Price-Mars, who taught social science, and Dumarsais Estimé, who taught mathematics. Both men played important roles in Duvalier’s intellectual and political development.
After completing his studies at Lycée Pétion in 1928, Duvalier took the entrance examination for the Military Academy, hoping to become an officer in the Haitian Army. He did not pass the examination.
Duvalier subsequently entered medical school and graduated as a physician in 1934.
Marriage and Family
Because Duvalier had such a reserved personality, friends eventually introduced him to a beautiful light-skinned woman named Simone Ovide. She worked as a nurse at the same hospital where Duvalier practiced medicine.
They were married at Saint-Pierre Church in Pétion-Ville on December 23, 1939. Together, they had four children: Marie-Denise, Nicole, Simone, and Jean-Claude.
Duvalier was reputed to be a good family man. At home, he insisted that his children speak French. He was also said to show particular affection and preference for Marie-Denise, his eldest daughter.
Medical and Public-Health Career
From 1943 through 1946, Duvalier directed the rural clinic in Gressier, a major facility established by Americans in Haiti to combat yaws.
Yaws caused large, pus-filled sores to develop across the body and on the soles of the feet. The disease caused extensive suffering among Haiti’s rural population.
While treating peasants affected by yaws, Duvalier operated clinics in several rural communities. He was the first physician to use penicillin in Haiti to treat the disease. The treatment produced strong results among his patients.
Duvalier received a scholarship from the United States government to study public health at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He left Haiti in 1944 and returned in 1945.
From 1945 to 1946, he directed the Malaria Control Section of an American public-health mission operating in Haiti. In 1946, he became director of the National Public Health Service.
From 1946 through 1948, Duvalier directed a national campaign to treat people suffering from yaws.
Between 1948 and 1950, under President Dumarsais Estimé, Duvalier first served as undersecretary of state for labor. He later became minister of labor and public health.
Finally, from 1951 through 1954, he worked as a consulting physician for the Service Coopératif Interaméricain de Santé Publique.
Papa Doc and His Intellectual Work
Duvalier developed strong relationships with the peasants he treated. Because of the care he provided and his close contact with rural communities, they gave him the nickname Papa Doc.
As an intellectual, Dr. François Duvalier was among the founders of the journal Les Griots. He was also a member of several learned societies and academies.
From 1934 through 1969, Duvalier collaborated with other writers and published in Haiti and abroad. His work presented the results of extensive research into history, medicine, culture, and politics.