Ertha Pascal-Trouillot

During the Duvalier dynasty, Pascal-Trouillot became the first female judge in Haiti upon becoming serving on the Court of First Instance. Her husband served as counsel to the National Bank, from which the dictators are said to have obtained a fortune (though they were not supporters of the Duvaliers). She eventually became the first woman justice in the Supreme Court of Haiti. While serving as Chief Justice, she became the country's provisional president on March 13, 1990, and was made responsible to organize a general election. It was to her credit that she could bring about violence-free elections which brought Jean Bertrand Aristide to the post of president with a 67% win.

Mrs. Pascal-Trouillot's brother Alix was paralyzed from the waist down by a bullet from one of the Duvalier soldiers. Another brother, Andre, was arrested and threatened with execution. In 1986, Minister of Justice Francois Latortue appointed Mrs. Pascal-Trouillot to the Supreme Court. She was the first woman to serve on the court. Mr. La Tordue said that he "knew she was one of the most outstanding women lawyers in Haiti." Mrs. Pascal trouillot was a very intelligent woman. She exceeded the expectations the people had of her and used her confidence to rule in the palace. She had the determination to rebuild Haiti after the reign of the Duvaliers were over. She reopened schools because she believed that education was the most important tool for every student.

When she started university, she wanted to pursue a career in science but she met her mentor who convinced her to pursue it in law and later in politics. In 1971, she received her law degree from the École de Droit des Gonaïves in Port-au-Prince.

One of the major forces in shaping her life was a man more than 20 years her senior, Ernst Trouillot, a journalist, lawyer, and teacher, and father of her step-son, the anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot. She met Mr. Trouillot when she was a teenage girl in one of his social classes and due to her intelligence, he encouraged her to go to law school. As president of the Bar Association, he watched her being sworn in at the Palace of Justice in 1971 and swooned. Less than four months later they were married. He later died of a stroke 3 years ago. Mrs. Pascal-Trouillot now lives with their 15-year-old daughter, Yantha.

Ertha Pascal-Trouillot (born 13 August 1943) is a Haitian politician who served as the provisional President of Haiti for 11 months in 1990 and 1991. She was the first woman in Haitian history to hold that office and the first female president of African descent in the Americas.

Ertha Pascal-Trouillot was born on Aug. 13, 1943, in the well-to-do suburb of Pétion-Ville in the cool hills above the crowded capital. Her father, Thimbles, was an iron worker and died when she was young. Her mother Louise (née Dumornay) was a seamstress and embroiderer. Pascal-Trouillot was the ninth of ten children. When she was 10 years old, she and one of her brothers went to the Lycée François Duvalier and was mentored by her future husband, Ernst Trouillot, who was 21 years her senior.