TRAILER
Lifting the Weight of History is funded by National Science Foundation, Colorado State University, and Katherine E. Browne.
THE CHARACTERS:
The five female entrepreneurs profiled in this video represent varying ages, class backgrounds, and household arrangements. They live in different parts of the island, and their businesses span many sectors of the economy, including agriculture, retail, small industry, service, and medical. The women owners include the following:
- George Dijoux, created a reupholstery fabrication company (age 52, married with 2 teenage sons)
- Dominique Bonne, created two restaurants and an insurance franchise, (age 40, single mother of teenage daughter)
- Ghislaine Present, started a vegetable farming operation (age 44, married with two young adult children)
- Marie-Louise Lordinot, created a medical laboratory (age 57, married with 5 grown children)
- Janine Ozier-Lafontaine, creator of tropical consumer products export company (age 33, male partner, no children)
The supporting cast that helps tell this story includes:
- Justin Daniel, (Afro-Caribbean), political scientist and Director, Center for Caribbean Research at the Université des Antilles et de la Guyane.
- Roland Suvélor, (Afro-Caribbean), professor emeritus of literature and well-known local historian
- Madeleine de Grandmaison, (Afro-Caribbean), veteran politician, representative to France
- Marie-Claude Pastureau, (metropolitan French), Director of School of Management and Commerce, elite French business school with branch campus in Martinique
- Marie-Eugénie André, (Afro-Caribbean), Chief Assistant to President of the Retail and Industrial Businesses government ministry