Haitian Heritage Museum — Attraction in Miami

My husband is the first generation Haitian American (born in the states). My mother-in-love & members of our family were born & raised in Jacmel Haiti. It has always been important for us to teach our children about this part of their heritage. We wanted to immerse our children in the museum yet, when we arrived, there is NO WHERE to park for large vehicles unless there is a spot open on the street beside the building. So, my husband had to drop us off once we FINALLY figured out where the museum was! (Strike number one). Strike two "tour guide" (TG) explained that she grew up close by in Little Haiti. Then, she had my children read the information on the first poster. Our daughter, 10yo, stumbled across several words. TG took this time to ask her when the last time her glasses were checked! Our daughter told her recently. TG then said, "well you might wanna get them checked again." I was handling paying for parking & not truly checked in at that moment. Then TG had our son read the bottom paragraph. He read it well and quickly. TG took this opportunity to critique him as well & told him to "slow down! You were all da dada...that's too fast!" By this point my husband was on his way to join us. My MIL kept quiet because she is a true JEM! My daughter looked at me & I could read the sadness all over her! She felt belittled & unfairly judged. I texted my MIL & told her I needed her to take the kids after the tour because I was going to address the issue & did not want them to see me act out of the character they know me to have. My husband arrived, read the message & stopped everything. He asked our daughter what happened & she told him. He then gave TG only a portion of what she deserved! He advised her that she had no business critiquing a child that she doesn't know! Let alone not knowing anything about our family! I believe that it bears weight to point out: our daughter has a medical condition w/her eyes & was recently hospitalized for it! Our son, a gifted student, has terrible social anxiety yet still participated! She even in conversation asked my MIL if she had taught the children Creole. My MIL said that she hadn't & TG said, "WHY WOULDN'T YOU?" For her information...We don't live in FL any longer & left before the kids were old enough to learn the language! I have never understood why someone feels as though their opinion of someone else's life matters!? Do you know us? Have we met before? Are we paying you for your opinion? NOPE! We are paying for the cultural experience & education. How dare you shame our children! TG even had the nerve to say, "if you want to eat some REAL Haitian food, you can go on this walking path to this restaurant." AS IF my MIL doesn't cook Traditional Haitian dishes & invests in her grandkids w/all the knowledge & experiences she LIVED! TG is a horrible example of the Haitian culture, this museum, & a person in general. Once my husband spoke on the issue he advised her that we would tour on our own. She ONLY apologized to our daughter because she got told about her behavior. The museum itself was more of a gallery. GORGEOUS paintings, but only paintings and a drum. The artist is amazingly talented. TG is a DISGRACE & if I was any less of a lady, she would have had a problem! She is the very reason that stereotypes exist for Haitian people! RUDE, CONDESCENDING, HOLIER THAN THOU ATTITUDE, DISINGENUOUS & JUDGMENTAL. When that is not all Haitian people! Don't be the face of this beautiful exhibit if you can't behave as a professional! Don't call it a museum if it is a gallery. As we took ourselves through & discussed the paintings w/our kids & my MIL gave them MUCH more knowledge than TG ever could have because my MIL LIVED it not just visited & grew up in the area of Miami dubbed "Little Haiti". Overall, our experience was tarnished. TG doesn't fear consequences as demonstrated by her loose tongue! Hopefully someone that has the power to make things better will fire her & show her that actions DO have...

The contents of museum were very powerful and taught me a lot. The space was inviting and clean, however, the co-founder Eveline was not. From the beginning, she was was waving my husband off covering her face as he was taking a picture of me and the front of the museum. I informed her that he was taking a photo of me and her response was "Oh it must be a wide view." I ignored her and continued in. She never greeted me and my family where as the young gentlemen working in the front was pleasant and greeted us well. I asked to plug in my laptop as I enjoyed the museum and the young man happily obliged. Almost one second later Eveline was against it and said the museum didn't have space for that. After explaining to her that I was just plugging in my laptop and not actually working on it, she begrudgingly agreed. I appreciated that gesture. As a co-founder I would expect some form of greeting and overall review of the museum before we began exploring, but nothing. We made our way through the museum and were captivated by the content. It was about 3:15pm at this time and Eveline questioned how long we were going to take. I asked her what time they closed and her response was 5pm. I was confused at her question because we had an hour and 45mins left to look. She then said she had a few emergencies come up and she had to close early. We had only been in the museum 30 mins. I asked how long we had, which she answered by asking me how long I was going to stay. I mentioned our parking was up at 3:45pm and she agreed to allow us to stay until then. Mind you, we have paid to enter. We did not come here for free, so to be rushed was terrible. Ever since then I felt I was on a timer. Around 3:40pm Eveline starts singing gospel. It wasn't loud in the beginning but then she got louder and louder. As the museum is based on photos and writing, I am not sure how she expected the only 3 people in the museum to read the information posted with loud singing in the background. The singing got louder as time went on. It was as if she was making it impossible for us to stay longer and take in the content. I would of have extended my parking time if I felt welcomed and finished the tour but I left before I asked her to stop singing. I didn't get a chance to take in the whole other side of the museum and regret that as I no longer live in the state. The content was amazing, the customer service by Eveline,...

This was probably the worst experience I've ever had at a museum and something which could scathe my two sons for life.

Being a proud Haitian American, I wanted to visit the museum with my children, husband, and mother to see the beautiful heritage art. The artwork and messages therein were inspirational to us all.

However our tour guide Eveline, decided to offer her ignorant opinion on how she thought my children and I were "diluted Haitians and not really Haitian". I was appalled and then hurt for my children... This was towards the end of our tour and I had no idea where that came from. To be quite honest, I felt embarrassed for her to say the least.

Unfortunately, our visit was the first and last. Hopefully, such treatment isn't reflective of the attitudes of the proprietor of the museum. My family and I came to celebrate Haitian culture and heritage. We should be lifting each other, but instead I now travel home upset that such a vile woman is a spokesperson for our culture and in my honest opinion, I am...