By the end of the 19th century, Sephardic Jews began arriving in Haiti from Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. Bigio’s uncle came here from Aleppo, Syria, in 1896, and his father arrived 20 years later.

The "19th Annual Unity Day" event was held in Englewood, where the island nation's impact on the birth of Chicago was explained. January 1, 1804 was the day Haiti's first president Jean-Jacques ...