AP/Wide World Photos

Daniel Portnoy

With the 1965 Immigration Act that allowed family reunification, more Haitians entered the United States than ever before. By the late 1960s, close to 7,000 Haitians each year became permanent immigrants and another 20,000 came with temporary visas. Although this legal movement brought thousands of people into the country, it is only when refugees started to arrive in South Florida by ship that Haitian immigration entered American consciousness.