Marguerite "Èzili Dantò" Laurent

Èzili Dantò/Marguerite Laurent is a performance poet, award-winning playwright, and cultural activist. She is the author/performer of the one-woman performance series - Red, Black & Moonlight. She is also a well-known human rights and international law attorney, founder and president of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, and runs the Haitian Perspectives online journal and the Èzili Dantò Newsletter. Èzili is the founder/creator of Zili Designs and Executive Director of the Zili Dlo: Clean Water, Renewable Power and Skills Transfer for Haiti which won the Energy Globe Award in 2013 after the earthquake. She's a Haiti scholar who runs the Free Haiti Movement. Èzili is the author of 10 plays and two book series. She regularly conducts Haiti teach-ins on the non-colonial narrative on Haiti centering on Haiti’s wealth, natural resources, revolutionary culture, Vodun spirituality, and her expression of this through the VodunJazzoetry performance productions. Èzili was featured as a Haiti scholar and historian in the documentary: 1804 – The Hidden History of Haiti. In 2018, Èzili was honored at the Connecticut Women Hall of Fame for her lifetime of justice and cultural advocacy works.