Balancing Stigma and Status: Racial and Class Identities among Middle Class Haitian Youth

This article examines the identity formation of the Haitians in a middle class black neighborhood in New York. Segmented assimilation theory predicts that the Haitian second generation will integrate into the black American underclass or maintain strong ethnic group identities. The black middle class, however, is an unexplored pathway of cultural assimilation for black immigrants in general and Haitians in particular. This paper uses the literature on the racial and class experiences of the black American middle class as a departure point for understanding the boundary work of middle class Haitian youth. Based on qualitative interviews with 43 participants, we uncover the mechanisms of identity formation for this invisible population. Racial, ethnic and class boundaries compel them Haitian youth to create strategies of either empowerment or distancing in order to negotiate between their middle class status and ethnoracial exclusion. Haitian middle class youth performed different identities in their racially-segregated neighborhood, ethnically-homogenous religious setting and mixed-race schools. This study’s findings contributes to our theoretical understanding of the identity work of middle class immigrants.