In Nancy Foner’s article, “West Indian Migration to New York”, the many consequences of black Caribbean immigrants moving into the city are discussed and analyzed. Why are these immigrants coming in large numbers to New York City and how are they impacting and altering the city? How are the second-generation families being affected by their community surroundings? As Foner explains, the Caribbean immigrants who came from the British colonies left their native countries for many reasons. Slavery and colonial rule were the main reasons why the Caribbean families still faced economic instability and financial crisis. Overpopulation and the influence and dependence on world powers led high unemployment rates to force the young Caribbean population to New York and other port cities. New York was an especially popular port city since many cargos would drop off fruits and other goods to the main port cities. This created a trade network and route that Caribbean immigrants could take to reach their new destinations.
The establishment of transnational networks vastly impacted the Caribbean families and the community of New York City. Many of the immigrants would write letters to their families and send them on the cargo ships, they would send money back home to their families in the native countries, they would bring other family members from the native countries to the city with opportunities of job employment, etc. These connections helped establish many cultural businesses that impacted the community, such as transcontinental banks and information centers to help the influx of immigrants. The women were the main key in keeping these networks alive and strong. They were responsible for writing letters home and bringing more family members from their native countries to New York City. This helped create financial stability in the city; all the family members lived in close proximity with each other and this allowed them to help each other during harsh times. Families would send their kids back to the native countries at certain times during their childhood to remind the kids of their cultural history and heritage, thus strengthening the ties that these Caribbean immigrants kept to their native countries. As the years went on, technological advances also aided and strengthened these transcontinental ties. Telephone lines allowed immigrants and families to directly talk to one another, thus informing each other about politics and other worldly affairs. Once the native countries formed stabilized political systems, politicians focused their attentions on Caribbean immigrants for political support back in the country. Some families even moved on to other countries, such as Britain or Canada, from New York City and still kept ties to people in each of these countries.
As time went on, racial equality started to develop as the United States government banned racism. However, black West Indians were still forced to live in the poor communities as the white families left the area. The Caribbean people were provided horrible government services; low budget schools, small houses, etc. This push to make all the black people live together in the same area caused many racial tensions between the black West Indians and the native African Americans. These people all tended to view themselves as different from each other. However, with their arrival to New York City, they were categorized into one large group of blacks and this created more racial hierarchies within the community. They started to form their own organizations as they tried to compete with each other for jobs and other resources. It is interesting to note that Foner explains a certain scenario that tended to happen as the second generation formed their own cultural differences. With their less prominent accent, it was hard for community members to differentiate between Caribbean immigrants and black natives. This tended to harm the second-generation Caribbean people because their ethnic status was considered higher than the native blacks in the community at that time. Without the accents, these Caribbean second-generation kids were sometimes mistaken for native blacks, which fueled their anger and resentment. The Caribbean population has come a long way as they influenced many of the neighborhoods in New York City, such as Harlem, Flatbush, Crown Heights, etc.
In Karen Fog Olwig’s article “New York as a Locality in a Global Family Network” shows perspectives of how the Caribbean immigrants are integrated into society. One perspective claims that certain immigrants become integrated into separate subcultures of the community rather than the mainstream American society. Another critical approach explains the wide range of connections that Caribbean immigrants tend to keep over their lifetime. They keep their connections to the native country they come from and to many other countries that they probably lived in for a while, such as Britain or Canada.
In the first family that the author interviewed, the family was a middle class fishing family who lived in the Jamaican society. Marie, who was the mother of 8 children, raised her kids in a European fashioned house; they had to speak proper English grammar, they had proper names, and a nice educational background. This family was driven to migrate due to their drive for proper education for their kids. This interview showed how family connections worked overseas. Uncles that were present in America would help the kids receive the papers to come to America in order to receive their education. The family placed pressure on some of the children to become doctors and lawyers; all their earnings went into funding this education because they wanted their children to have a nice profession. The older brother Bill helped his younger siblings to come to New York. The whole family started working in the same corporation that Bill was working at. This showed how transcontinental family ties helped provide job opportunities for many of the other family members.
The communities that these Caribbean immigrants lived in were friendly and close knit; everyone knew each other. However, the surrounding white neighborhoods around the Caribbean neighborhoods were more foreboding and unwelcoming. The children faced racism in school and it was hard for them to comprehend the fact that it was hard for them to gain high wage jobs. White families started to leave the communities as more black people moved into the area. The white families were concerned that their house values would go down and that they were threatened by the presence of blacks in their community. However, the younger generations in the 1970s started to move to other states in the Americas. These younger people never were able to identify with their American culture or their Caribbean culture, putting them at crossroads in their lives.
In Charles Tilly’s article “Trust Networks in Transnational Migration”, many prior notions about immigrants are debuted. Many people believe that immigrants cut off ties with their native countries when they move to a new country. However, statistics show that large amounts of remittances are passed along the routes between the United States of America and to the poor developing countries. These “trust networks” influence the politics and economics of many areas. They are networks in which immigrants place their resources at a risk for the long-term benefit for the whole family. These resources can include exchanging of money, goods, and services. In New York, the Salvadoran immigrants, for example, send their money and goods between the native country and their current country through the viajeros. Viajeros are people who frequently travel between two countries and help insure social control over the area. Wire services were very important to Latin American migrants in the United States of America. These trust networks came with a price. If you failed or refused to help out family or community members, you were ostracized and shunned from the community for being a deserter. Transcontinental ties had lasting impacts as they brought more families to the Americas and affected how the immigrant communities in New York City developed.
