Léonie Coicou Madiou

Léonie Coicou Madiou (1891 – 1974) was a Haitian teacher, actress, political activist and feminist. In 1955, she was the first woman to be elected mayor of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.[1][2]

Early life

Léonie Coicou was born in Petion-Ville, Haiti, the daughter of Lisebonne Joseph and Masillon Coicou, a poet, playwright, author and diplomat. The latter was, for a time, chargé d'affaires of the Haitian embassy in Paris and so his daughter studied in France.[3][4] On their return to Haiti, her father and his two brothers, Horace and Pierre-Louis Coicou, were executed in 1908 for planning to overthrow the President Pierre Nord Alexis.[5]

Career

Teacher

After the death of her father and two uncles, Coicou Madiou became a teacher and, later, headmistress of the École des Filles (girls school), now renamed the Thomas Madiou School in memory of the Haitian historian.[3] [6]

Actress

Masillon Coicou wrote a play titled Liberté when he was a diplomat in Paris. In 1904, his daughter played the role of Petit Sim in it at the Cluny Theatre in Paris.[7] She also acted in plays in Haiti; in Torrent (May 18, 1940) which won the Grand Prize for Playwriting from the President of the Republic, and in La Famille des Petites-Caille, Triumph of the Earth, Sanite Bélair (August 10, 1942 ) Min Coyo (1943), Barrières<(1945) and Lococia[6]

Activist

Coicou Madiou was an active member of the Women's League of Social Action (LFAS), which was founded in 1934[8] and which is mentioned in Women in Haiti in the section on the history of the Haitian Women's Movement.[3] She also became the deputy secretary of the Comité d'Action Féminine (CAF), established in 1946.[2] In 1947, she was appointed to the Conciliation and Arbitration Division of the Haiti Labor Office and, with Denyse Guillaume, created a women's section for the protection of mothers and children. In 1950, she was arrested and beaten while demonstrating for women's political rights and was put in prison in January, 1946 and May, 1957.[9] In 1955, she was the first woman to be elected mayor of Port-au-Prince five years after Haitian women won the right to vote in municipal elections.[3][2]

Personal life

Coicou Madiou  was married to Justin Madiou. They had eight children.[3]

Awards

Léonie Coicou Madiou was awarded the National Order of Honour and Merit, the highest merit awarded by the Haitian president, by President Sténo Vincent for her contribution to the training of young people. She was also awarded the Order of Toussaint-Louverture by President François Duvalier.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Arthus, Wien Weibert (2021). Haïti et le monde: deux siècles de relations internationales. Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified. ISBN 978-99970-950-1-5.
  2. 1 2 3 "Léonie Coicou-Madiou, première femme maire d'Haïti | Loop Haiti". Loop News. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Memoire de femmes". Internet archive wayback machine. Archived from the original on 2021-12-08. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  4. ↑ Hillemand ., Constant (1908). "La vie et l'oeuvre de Auguste Comte et de Pierre Laffitte discours commémoratifs précédés d'un grand nombre d'aperçus sur le positivisme". Paris: Revue positiviste internationale. p. 108.
  5. ↑ "Massillon Coicou". Île en île (in French). 2008-05-21. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  6. 1 2 3 Español, Haití en (2021-09-03). "Léonie Coicou-Madiou, primera alcaldesa de Haití". Medium. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  7. ↑ Dougé-Prosper, Mamyrah (1 June 2016). "Coicou-Madiou, Léonie". Oxford African American Studies Center. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  8. ↑ Sylvain, Madeleine G. (1939). "The Feminist Movement in Haiti". Bulletin of the Pan American Union. 73: 315.
  9. ↑ Arthus, Wien Weibert (2021-09-01). Haiti et le monde. Deux siècles de relations internationales (in French). Wien Weibert Arthus. ISBN 978-99970-950-1-5.
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