The middle class also known as the bourgeois, was essentially nonexistent during the nineteenth century. But at about the time of the United States occupation (1915–34), it became more defined (see The United States Occupation, 1915–34, ch. 6). The creation of a professional military and the expansion of government services fostered the development of Haiti's middle class. Educational reform in the 1920s, an upsurge in black consciousness, and the wave of economic prosperity after World War II also contributed to the strengthening of the class. In the late 1980s, the middle class probably made up less than 5 percent of the total population, but it was growing, and it was becoming more politically powerful.