As the book progressed, Blood Relations begins to take a deeper look into the political, economic and social status of African-Americans and Caribbean people living in Harlem. Ch 4 showed the power that churches, benevolent societies and fraternal orders had. Political mobility began with the church because at the time darker skinned men and especially women were not allowed to have a large say in politics. I thought it was interesting to see the development of the residents in Harlem as they came together to push for having a political voice to represent their interests. Amongst the differences they faced, it marked a transition and represented the growing power of the community.
Marcus Garvey emerged as a great voice in the ’20’s in Harlem. I personally don’t recall learning about him previously, but I found his ideas (even though a bit radical) to be very interesting. Ch 7 explored his push for this “back to Africa” idea, which in my opinion made sense logically but would fail practically speaking. The idea of bringing everyone of African decent back together to live on their own terms and rise as a powerful country is great and very gripping but I think it divided the people. Such a radical movement will get strong agreement or disagreement and in his case, along with the influence from the government, Garvey was not able to get enough momentum. As we discussed in class, Africa-Americans and West Indians, for example, had different connections to Africa and generally it was distant and greatly a part of the past. That is where his plan generally failed, in my opinion. I think a lot of people would not be so willing to immigrate again, especially to a place that was not as industrialized and could have resulted in no job opportunities. Many people wouldn’t want to leave, unless they had been greatly motivated in being pioneers and starting a great change, or if their situation was extremely poor in NYC.
Chapter 9, as the title “The Underground Entrepreneur” suggests, discusses the “numbers playing game” which I thought was interesting. I found it to be a small uniting force amongst the residents of Harlem and later on others who played the game. I liked how the author introduced the big name bankers and entrepreneurs such as Pompez, and St.Clair. I thought it unified people by finding a common ground regardless of class and status. It was also a clever way to make money for the bankers, which led to their accumulation of thousands of dollars, and even millions, which led to issues with gangs but also led to charitable donations.
The issue of separation amongst different black immigrants, which was mentioned earlier in the book, was further developed in Ch 10. I found it a little sad that different ethnic groups used propaganda and others were taught to discriminate. However, the differences did contribute to great literature and the Harlem Renaissance.
