Jean Robert Cadet

Haitian Writer Jean Robert Cadet is the author of "Restavec"

After realizing how little is known about the restavec system, Cadet said he wanted to make his story known, especially to his family.

"I wanted to let my son know something about myself," Cadet said. "I started writing a letter to my son, and the letter became a book."

In his memoir, From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American, Cadet recounts his youth as a restavec and his escape to and survival in the United States.

It was his father who sent Cadet to a former mistress to become a child slave.

Cadet, who slept under the kitchen table, ate scraps and was frequently beaten, soon realized the opportunity when his masters repatriated to the United States.

He escaped them in New York and worked to put himself through school.

Cadet then joined the U.S. Army and used the GI bill to attend USF. He graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in International Relations and a minor in French literature.

Read more here:
usforacle.com

Leave a Reply

» »