Why this exists

Pa konnen se tankou pa gen je.

Every day, Haitian people are targeted online. The attacks come as memes, as policy proposals, as casual cruelty in comment sections. They come from people who know nothing about Haiti and from systems designed to keep it that way.

Most of the time, we cannot respond. Not because we lack conviction, but because we were never taught the history that would let us. The schools did not teach it. The textbooks left it out. And so we are left defending a country, a people, a civilization we were never given the tools to fully understand.

What we teach

Istwanou Academy offers structured, trilingual courses in English, French, and Haitian Kreyòl. Every lesson is built from over 1,000 authoritative, academic sources, with a timeline that begins where the real story begins: not in 1492, but thousands of years earlier, with the civilizations of West Africa and the Taíno people of Ayiti.

Each course includes narrated lessons, interactive maps, visual aids, and quizzes. The goal is 1,000 courses. We are building the most comprehensive digital library of Haitian history ever assembled.

Who this is for

This platform is for diaspora Haitians who want to reconnect with their history. It is for second-generation kids who grew up hearing fragments and want the full picture. It is for genealogy researchers tracing family lines across centuries and oceans. And it is for anyone, of any background, who believes that understanding Haiti means understanding the modern world.

Who built this

Istwanou Academy is a project of Rasanblaj Media Group. It was created by Patrick Jean-Baptiste, a world historian, researcher, former host of the Nèg Mawon podcast, and a member of the Haitian diaspora. The name Istwanou comes from the Kreyòl Istwa Nou, meaning "Our History."

The platform was built from scratch. No templates, no plugins, no shortcuts. Every line of code, every lesson plan, every source citation reflects a single commitment: that Haitian history deserves the same rigor and investment as any other civilization's story.