Storyteller introduces youth to Haitian superheroes
Feb 23, 2024
Charlot Lucien holds Alicia while telling stories. Photos by Emma Rindlisbacher
Multiple generations of leaders: Charlot Lucien gives Anaia the microphone
Enzo next to two globes.
A group photo of many of the families who attended the storytelling event.
MIDDLEBORO — Krik? Krak! The stacks of the Middleboro Library were filled with facts about Haiti, thanks to storyteller and UMass Lecturer Charlot Lucien.
Lucien visited the library on Wednesday, Feb. 21 and conducted a storytelling event attended by several families. Lucien explained that Haitian storytelling is very interactive, and that when he tells stories he asks the audience to answer various riddles. He also starts his stories by saying the word “krik,” after which the audience says the word “krak” in response.
“It's interactive [and] it's engaging,” Lucien said.
The Haitian riddles that Lucien tells require the audience to “use their creativity,” he explained. One riddle — “I have four feet. You serve me food morning night and day but I never eat” — stumped this writer, but other members of the audience quickly realized that the answer was a table.
Storytelling, Lucien said, is also an important way to teach people about Haitian history. Lucien brought a poster of Toussaint Louverture, who was a leader during the Haitian revolution and is a Haitian equivalent of the founding fathers of America.
One of Louverture’s many accomplishments is that he abolished slavery in Haiti, Lucien explained. “That was the first abolition of slavery in the world.”
Lucien said that telling Louverture’s story was important for many reasons, including as a way to show people the power of reading.
Louverture “found books and magazines in the master’s house,” Lucien said. “He started to read and learned about Julius Caesar and about Sparticus. Spartacus was this white slave who had fled the roman troops and resisted slavery. So he dreamed of being the Black Spartacus.”
“Libraries are spaces where both minds and generations can get together,” Lucien explained. “Libraries are essential.”
“The kids know about Superman and Batman,” Lucien said. “We happen to have superheroes in Haiti.”
“I invite them to get excited about Spider-Man and other superheroes, but also to know about Haitian superheroes that you can pull from our history.”
