Jacques Roumain was born in Port-au-Prince on 4 June 1907, the son of Auguste Roumain, a wealthy landowner, and his wife Émilie Auguste, whose father, Tancrède Auguste, had been a member of several administrations, was elected President of the Republic in 1912, and had died a few months later.

As was usual at the time for sons of the Haitian Mulatto aristocracy, who were the beneficiaries of practically all the country’s political, economic and social power, Roumain attended the best congregational school in Port-au-Prince and was sent to boarding school abroad. He completed his secondary education in Switzerland, first in Bern and later at the Zurich Polytechnic Institute, where he perfected his knowledge of the German language. He was then sent to Spain to study agronomy so that he

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Citation: Hoffmann, Léon-François. "Jacques Roumain". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 November 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12867, accessed 29 March 2024.]

12867 Jacques Roumain 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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