Elsie Etheart

Elsie Etheart (born c. 1943)[1] is a Haitian journalist known for founding the newspaper Haïti en Marche.

Etheart was born in Haiti in the early 1940s.[1] She had initially planned to become a doctor but instead studied journalism in Germany.[1][2][3] While there, she worked for Voice of Germany in Cologne.[3][4]

She then returned to Haiti, where the news environment was opening slightly after the death of dictator François Duvalier[4] She spent ten years reporting for Radio Métropole in Port-au-Prince.[3][4][5]

In 1980, Etheart was detained and then expelled by the government of Jean-Claude Duvalier along with many of her journalist colleagues.[2][4] She settled in Miami and continued her work as a journalist there.[4] Beginning in 1982, she and her longtime collaborator Marcus Garcia broadcast the news show "Chita Tande" in Haitian Creole on WLRN-FM.[4][6] Also with Garcia, in 1986, she co-founded the newspaper Haïti en Marche, which became a trusted source for members of the Haitian diaspora.[4] Etheart served as co-editor of the publication.[7][8] Due to this work, she was described as one of the "most trusted Haitian journalists in the diaspora."[4] In 1990, she was awarded a Maria Moors Cabot Prize.[4]

In the late 1990s, Etheart was able to return to Haiti and work as a journalist in Port-au-Prince.[4][9] While there, she helped establish the station Radio Mélodie.[10][11]

Until his death in 2024, she was married to the sociologist Emmanuel Bernard Etheart, with whom she had two children.[4][11]

  1. ^ a b c Miller, Jill Young (1990-08-12). "Radio Free Haiti". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  2. ^ a b Winerip, Mike (1982-06-28). "A radio reporter's Haitian hot line". The Miami Herald.
  3. ^ a b c "Marcus Garcia and Elsie Etheart: Chita Tande, Creole radio show". The Miami Herald. 1986-04-13.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ackerman, Elise (1997-07-10). "Cause For Return". Miami New Times. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  5. ^ McCarthy, Kathy (1985-03-07). "Lack of funding may force Haitian newscasts off radio". The Miami Herald.
  6. ^ Mardy, Hans (1999-07-08). "Creole radio grows in South Florida". The Miami Herald.
  7. ^ "Guillermoprieto, Miami Editors Win Prizes". The Washington Post. 2024-01-02. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  8. ^ Colon, Yves (1998-09-25). "U.S. and Haiti squabble over ownership of rocky outpost". The Miami Herald.
  9. ^ "The Sound of Freedom". Sun Sentinel. 1999-09-18. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  10. ^ "Una voz solidaria en medio del desastre". El Mercurio (in Spanish). 2010-01-18.
  11. ^ a b "Deuil : décès d'une figure emblématique du secteur agricole, l'Agronome et sociologue Bernard, ETHEART". Promodev (in French). 2024-01-21. Retrieved 2024-05-07.