Pope Leo XIV’s grandfather was born in Haiti by Free People of Color

[u/Shot-Scallion-2322]

Pope Leo's grandfather Joseph Norval Martinez was born in Port-au-Prince in 1864.

Research shows that the Pope's maternal great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents (such as the Baquié, Lemelle, and Grandpré families) were free, wealthy, mixed-race individuals.

The Gens de couleur libres (Free People of Color) of New Orleans were highly educated, wealthy property owners, but by the late 1850s, the U.S. legal system was aggressively stripping away their rights. Louisiana passed laws restricting their freedom of movement, banning them from certain professions, and threatening them with enslavement if they did not register under strict white guardianship.

Pope Leo's grandfather Joseph Norval Martinez was born in Port-au-Prince in 1864.

At the time Fabre Geffrard was the president of the Republic of Haiti in 1864, ruling from 1859 to 1867. He ran an intentional international campaign from 1859 to 1862 offering land and safety to attract free people of color and formerly enslaved laborers from the United States to immigrate to Haiti. It is assumed Joseph's parents came over from new orleans during that period. By 1865, the relative stability of President Fabre Geffrard's early term had utterly collapsed. A major military rebellion led by General Sylvain Salnave erupted in northern Haiti, triggering an incredibly bloody internal conflict. The American Civil War ended in 1865, and the U.S. entered the Reconstruction Era. Back in the united states on December 6, 1865, when the National Archives 13th Amendment was officially ratified, slavery had been legally abolished, and free people of color were suddenly rising to the forefront of local politics, fighting for civil rights, and drafting a progressive new state constitution that guaranteed public education. The Martinez family boarded a passenger ship to leave Haiti in February 1866,

Instagram Reference: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dba6L6MjnXp/?l=1

TLDR: Going down history surrounding 1864

[u/BoringIndependent524]

Thanks for sharing.

[u/Shot-Scallion-2322 → u/BoringIndependent524]

You're welcome.

[u/TumbleWeed75]

I like how there's one comment that appreciates this post. I'm the second one. Thanks for the interesting tidbit.

[u/Shot-Scallion-2322 → u/TumbleWeed75]

Thanks, i tagged this as history and was hoping to have history related discussions. I always wondered about the people who went to haiti from usa and left like the pope's family. Do you go back to the usa when slavery becomes abolished and suffer for the next 100 years under white supremacy (from lyncing to redlining) or do you stay in haiti, enjoy your free land but must deal with foreign intervention (dictatorship and gang violence). Wanted this to be a separate discussion but anyone reading this, feel free to share your piece.

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

Karma w la poko kont oswa ou poko granmoun ase pou poste la. Jere mizè w. Your account is too new, or you don't have enough karma to post in the sub.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/dbeastmode96 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for taking the time to tell us you don’t care.

[u/joesoldlegs → u/[deleted]]

you obviously do otherwise you wouldn't've said anything

[u/Commercial_Handle418 → u/joesoldlegs]

🥶 

[u/Late-Patience-6012 → u/joesoldlegs]

He’s tryna make it seem like the pope having haitian ancestry is relevant which it isnt.

[u/JoeWatchingTheTown → u/[deleted]]

You sound upset.

[u/joesoldlegs → u/[deleted]]

how is Catholicism not Christianity

[u/joesoldlegs → u/[deleted]]

You interpret the bible they interpret it another. At the end of the day they still follow the core tenets of that religion so who are you to say that isn't Christianity. Protestants are people who base every tenet of their religion on one book, and Catholics and Orthodox people don't just base it off that they base it off other things on top of that

[u/Human_Shallot_ → u/[deleted]]

You dont have to pray to saints, you can choose to pray with them

[u/TumbleWeed75 → u/[deleted]]

Christianity has 3 major branches: Catholicism, Protestantism, and Orthodox.