Adrian Horczak
People of New York
Professor Jennifer Lutton
February 25, 2015
Capital of the Caribbean and Brown Girl Brownstones
Capital of the Caribbean, written by Jason Parker, explains how the people of Harlem supported the movement for independences of colonies in the Caribbean. This information is often neglected since the Renaissance in Harlem is often stressed more than this event.
This program began because the British traded their outposts in the West Indies with battleships from the United States of America. This signified that the United States would be exerting control over the area. The Caribbean people found this as an opportunity to lessen foreign countries’ control over them. In addition, since the US did not know much about what was going on there, so it did encourage a gradual transformation of the West Indies into independent states. Therefore it formed the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission (AACC), but without any representation from the Caribbean. Nonetheless, it was able to improve the region’s economy and the residents’ standard of living. The commission also pressured the British government into granting universal suffrage to Jamaica. Once this occurred other nations in the Caribbean believed the same fate was possible for them.
Harlem, along with black communities in other large cities, was a major source of money and attention for West Indian independence. Harlem brought awareness of the Caribbean’s cause of gaining independence to white Americans, such as Taussig and White. Assistance from Americans was crucial to end white imperial rule in the Caribbean.
The main characters in Brown Girl, Brownstones, written by Paule Marshall, are the members of the Barbadian Boyce family: Selina, Ina, the father, and Silla. The book describes their struggle living in poverty in Brooklyn. They had to wear old, unwanted clothes Jews had given them. Moreover, they had to save every penny they made to save up money for land, so that they had a permanent place to stay. Like many West Indian people, sisters Selina and Ina and their mother, Silla, wished to live in a Brownstone, which used to be owned by white Americans, but now were being sold to mainly black owners.
Selina’s father gets a letter that reveals to him that since his sister died, her plot of land, in the West Indies is now his. When he tells Silla about this, she requests that he sell the lot he owns so that they can pay for a down payment on a brownstone home. However, her husband does not plan to sell it. Thus, the family will not be able to live in their ideal home.
Selina wants to spend time with boys in candy stores. Nevertheless, their mother fears that she may become a prostitute in the future if she continues these practices. She told Selina that at her age she was working hard from dawn to dusk in the West Indies, the place Selina’s father owns land. This is also one of the reasons Silla wants to sell that land to buy a Brownstone in New York City.
By reading Capital of the Caribbean I realized how important Harlem was in the process of independence for nations in the West Indies.
I believe everyone in Brown Girl, Brownstones is stubborn since Silla insists on buying a Brownstone, while her husband insists on keeping the land he has instead of selling it. Rather than disagreeing with one another, they should communicate more often with one another to find a compromise. In addition, the Boyce family should focus on working hard in New York City to make a good living with or without land. Eventually, all their hard work will make them enough money to buy a house in New York.
