Jeanne Duval, Charles Baudelaire, Théophile Salnave, Emeline Michel

Jeanne Duval, a Haitian-born actress and dancer of mixed French and African ancestry, was the muse of French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire. 

The pair met in 1842, when Duval left Haiti for France, and remained together, albeit stormily, for the following two decades. Duval is said to have been the woman whom Baudelaire loved most in his life, after his mother.

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Ralph Delly is an award-winning music and entertainment journalist with extensive experience covering the Haitian Music Industry and the Haitian-American community. He has worked in Haiti and the United States at such media organizations as Radio Metropole, WNWK/107.5 FM, Radio Soleil d’Haïti and The Haitian Time – where he penned the popular “The Delly Dish” gossip column. Dellys has worked with numerous artists in the HMI, including Zin, Lakol, Phantoms, Zenglen, Sokute, Jam, See Well and 509 – to name a few. Delly graduated from Carlos Albizu University of Miami and City College of New York (CUNY)