This ambitious transnational history considers Haitian women's political life during and after the United States occupation of Haiti (1915–34). The two decades following the occupation were some of the most politically dynamic and promising times in Haiti's modern history, but the history of women's political organizing in this period has received scant attention.

On August 9, 1946, a femme du peuple (woman of the people) walked into the Legislative Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She entered the building as members of the National Constitutional Assembly deliberated women’s voting rights. She pressed through the crowd of politicians and curious onlookers, making her way toward a section reserved for women. There, the elite and middle-class members of Haiti’s first women’s rights organization, the Ligue Féminine d’Action Sociale (LFAS), were seated, listening to assembly representatives’ impassioned debate.