OneBook "Why the Cocks Fight": Media

In the Dominican Republic, Professor Gates explores how race has been socially constructed in a society whose people reflect centuries of intermarriage, and how the country's troubled history with Haiti informs notions of racial classification. In Haiti, Professor Gates tells the story of the birth of the first-ever black republic, and finds out how the slaves' hard-fought liberation from Napoleon Bonaparte's French empire became a double-edged sword.

The river which forms the border between the thriving Dominican Republic and desperately poor Haiti is named the Massacre River. It is named for the terrible massacre of Haitians in 1937, ordered by the Dominican dictator Trujillo. This production documents the struggle for economic survival amid the severe and increasing tensions along the border, as Haitians risk mistreatment when they cross into the Dominican Republic to work or sell.

A look into gaga/rara. Afro-Hispaniola musical expressions that truly dig into the intertwined experience of the island.