The book Blood Relations by Irma Watkins-Owens, told the history of the Harlem community created in the early 1900s. It was a community raised by the native black Americans and the immigrating Caribbean people. It was an area that had an influx of foreigners from around the world. The ethnic relations amongst these people were integral to the formation of Harlem. It was interesting to see that it was not only a uniting factor, but in certain aspects of their lives, it was a dividing factor.
The creation of the Panama Canal was a significant source of Caribbean immigrants to the United States. I learned that during their time working in Panama, there was segregation. Similar to the “white only” and “black only” concepts, they had “gold” and “silver” areas. Gold was also the form of payment to Americans while blacks got paid in silver, and only some were paid in large amounts of silver. The low pay was made worse with the fact that they had to pay for housing, leaving them with very little money to spend and to send back to their families. After the end of the project some moved to other Latin American countries, while others went to America. This all depended on how much “Panama money” they had to finance the trip.
The 131st street block was a diverse beginning to the Harlem community. It had people of many different backgrounds: intellectuals, musicians, craftsman, skilled laborers, and agricultural workers. What surprised me was that only 14% of the Caribbean’s were agricultural workers, most of the one’s who were able to emigrate were skilled laborers or educated. The educated and the one’s who were able to work in their skilled area were able to gain some social mobility, if not for them, for their children.
The wave of Caribbean immigrants had a majority that spoke English, which was contrary to what I originally thought. Native black leaders saw these men as having the qualities of a “representative Negro” that all should follow. Despite having these good qualities, they were still discriminated against by the native white community. That initial treatment changed when the Caribbean immigrants revealed that they spoke either English, Spanish, or French. Being of the Caribbean background resulted them in receiving better treatment. Being treated better by the native white community resulted in resentment and hostility from the native blacks. However others decided to use this as a means to be treated better themselves, so they learned a foreign language, mostly Spanish. In a way, it seems as a way to improve their lives, but it also means letting go of your culture, something that I believe shouldn’t be done just to fit in.
What amazed me the most from these initial chapters were the accounts of people like Tyrell Wilson, who, despise being an immigrant without a stable job, was able to go through law school and become an activist and a founder of a community. People that were capable of doing so much should not be put down just because they are black. Skin color should not stop them from doing the job that they spent their teenage years training to do. The struggle that the Harlem community faced for civil rights is the same struggle that the colonists faced for independence. There should be an understanding of what they go through, but being on the other side of the situation has changed their beliefs.
