During WWII, the United States and Great Britain established the Bases-for-Destroyers Deal, a well-named trade of US warships for British military bases in the Caribbean. This deal marked the beginning of the decline of colonialism in Britain and the rise of America. The Bases Deal was made largely without consulting the Caribbean people. They did not know what to expect from the United States, but feared that they were swapping one imperialist power for another. Additionally, they recognized this short period as an opportunity to gain political inclusion and reform. Oddly enough, the activism of the Harlem nexus was essential in fighting for Caribbean reform. Furthermore during the Great Depression, blacks returning to the West Indies brought with them these sentiments and race consciousness, which continued to fuel social social agitation. In Harlem, the growing radicalism acted as a warning for President Roosevelt. He knew that he needed to handle the situation in the Caribbean sensitively, and he also sympathized with the Caribbean people. He sent Charles Taussig to gain an understanding of the Caribbean, and Taussig in return suggested that Roosevelt instruct all representatives to conform to the customs and practices of the Caribbean. This was vital in easing tensions in the Caribbean.

(EDIT: When reading Brown Girl, Brownstones I was an idiot and thought that they lived in Harlem. This did made me question why Selina would be allowed to go all the way to Prospect Park with Beryl, but I told myself kids might be allowed to do that in that time period. I realized in class that they actually lived in Brooklyn, but my response assumes they live in Harlem.)

The first two books of Brown Girl, Brownstones are a captivating representation of life in Harlem at this time. Selina is a girl who just wants to go to the movies, eat Hooton’s, go to the park, and avoid the wrath of her mother. I think her mother is well described as she walks through the park. In this sweltering summer, “Silla brought the theme of winter” walking through the park. Her strong-made body is juxtaposed with the women and their idleness. Silla is hardworking, strong-minded, and wrathful. On the other hand, Deighton, is misguided and undetermined. He is often switching between fields that he believes will make him money. Silla explains that he was practicing to be a mechanic, and now he is studying to be an accountant. However, he is ignorant to the fact that white men won’t hire him, even though he has been rejected from such jobs before. Deighton and Silla are also juxtaposed in the explanations they give of their childhood to Selina. Deighton describes the days he spent playing around with his friends, while Silla explains a life of tireless slave work in the fields. Selina feels respect and love for her mother when she explains this.

The most surprising aspect of this representation of Harlem was the rampant sexual conduct and how openly it was discussed. Silla knows that her husband’s trips to Fulton Street are to visit women and openly speaks with another women about it. Her response is that he should take care of his woman before heading out to the concubines. Suggie Skeete is one such woman who is very sexually active. The book goes into a lot of detail about her interspersed with quotes from Silla of judgmental remarks about Suggie. Despite this, there is one moment when Deighton is out on Fulton Street and Silla feels outside the circle of life in Harlem. She looks to Suggie’s window in subtle jealousy.

The second book mostly focuses on Selina’s coming-of-age. Beryl says Selina is still just a kid. Selina longs for the freedom she witnesses in the lovers at the park. She describes one time when her father beat her. Beryl’s father Percy is a strong, powerful man and openly speaks of Deighton’s foolishness in dealing with his new land.

Brown Girl, Brownstones is a novel that focuses on the experiences of Selina Boyce as she navigates her way into maturity in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn. As the title of the book would imply, Selina lives in a brownstone along with her older sister Ida, her mother Silla; who is an ardent supporter of the concept of the American dream and is determined and indeed has been determined to make that dream happened ever since she begged her mother to allow her to go to America to work and send remittences back home, and her father Deighton who doesn’t share his wife’s work ethic and puts a strain on their marriage with his inability to remain in one trade. Initially he is portrayed sympathetically and is shown to be working towards achieving gainful employment in the field of Accounting, this sympathy is quickly yanked away as it comes to light that he has been sleeping with an older woman.

The first two books outline the major conflict that will be present in the rest of the book. It’s obvious that there is major tension present in the Boyce household, the mother and father are shown to hold different ideologies and because of this Selina is forced into an awkward position between the two. Selina has a rather romantic perception of both the upper crust of American society (where she would like to one day find herself, no matter how impossible that may be) and Barbados from which her family is from. Silla has absolutely no desire to return to the West Indies as all she remembers is a life of backbreaking work. Deighton, however, after learning that he has inherited an amount of land there immediately starts planning out the house he’s going to build there. This seems like a very significant point on account of the common lens through which we see immigrants from the West Indies. We conceptualize them as being inherently hard working but as Deighton shows some of them can be lazy and shiftless just like the rest of us.

Moving on to the article “Capital of The Caribbean”, as author Jason Parker explains, Harlem during the period of Caribbean immigration was an incredibly important hotbed of political agitation for social change both domestically and abroad. Prior to World War II the community in Harlem was fragmented along ethnic lines. The Italian invasion of Ethiopia was the catalyst for a greater Pan-African movement. In a way it fomented a sense of solidarity between all those who were having their lives dictated for them by the imperial governments put in place by Europe, even though Italy didn’t stick around long enough to set up such a government. When America threatened to establish themselves in the area a la Great Britain members of the UNIA and other pro-black organizations began to agitate for their right to self-determination. Much of this pressure came from neighborhoods like Harlem and is partially responsible for Roosevelt’s softened attitude towards the Caribbean. Without Harlem’s influence who knows what the United States would have done in the West Indies.

After reading “Capital of the Caribbean,” I was pleased to discover that I was reasonably well-informed on some of the topics that were discussed. At the same time, I learned that the things I thought I knew were far too narrow in scope. Zooming out, I was able to see the much broader ramifications of these seemingly binary interactions. I am speaking mostly about the wartime efforts and exchanges of the United States and Britain. While I already was aware that the United States used trades of carriers for bases in order to maintain its neutral façade, I never paid much attention to, or learned about, how this change in power would affect the people who lived near where these bases were located. People were concerned about whether the infamous Jim Crow attitude would be inherited, and generally Caribbean people had no say in the fates of their countries. Eventually, however, as a result of Roosevelt’s limited ties with Harlem, the neighborhood which the essay proclaims to be the capital of the Caribbean, and as a result of various committees and diplomats, some Caribbean voices were heard, and policy decisions had their concerns in mind.

As in Blood Relations, I was remarkably unaware of how important Harlem was to not only New York, but to the entire world. These works helped to inform me otherwise. Harlem was truly a beacon of hope for people of African descent all around the world, and it was a hub for immigration and social change. Even more so, I wasn’t aware that Harlem played such a huge role in the advancement of Caribbean nations, and I didn’t know that so much intellectual activity in regards to social change was present in the Caribbean and was brought up to Harlem.

In the first two books of Brown Girl, Brownstones, the main character Selina is dealing with her identity as both an American, a Barbadian, and a young girl. This mix of identities is interesting, and her world-view is heavily shaped by this. On one hand, she desires strongly to reside with the rich whites who occupied the brownstone before her, but these thoughts are beaten down and discouraged once she realizes the impossibility of this happening––a result of her skin color. On the other hand, she romanticizes the idea of moving back to Barbados, even though she doesn’t fully understand the implications that such a transition would have for her and her family. As a young girl, however, her experience can surely be compared to those of any girl her age. She is starting to recognize the signs of maturity, and is dealing with the struggles, emotionally and physically, that come along with it. Ina, Selina’s sister, is the one who introduces her to some of these concepts, and is ultimately responsible for making Selina feel a bit like an outsider.

I think that “Brown Girl Brownstones” speaks a powerful message about life as a Caribbean immigrant in New York. It seems as if Selina and her family will never be able to get away from the shadow of the white families who used to live in their neighborhood as can be seen by Selina’s incessant day dreams of joining the white family who used to live in her house before her. Unlike the rest of her family, she doesn’t seem to have any close ties to her home country in Barbados and instead would rather trade in her current life for the luxury of an upperclass New Yorker family. This all seems kind of strange to me because I’m very proud of my heritage and could never imagine trading the life I have now for any other. I wasn’t even born in Peru but because of the way i was raised, I’ve always felt a strong connection to my heritage. Granted, the food is delicious and that goes a long way towards my love for my country, but either way, I like being different. I wouldn’t want to be like some of the other people who have no connection to their heritages so that’s why this whole idea of Selina shaking off her heritage to be like the rest of the “normal” Americans seems so strange to me. To be fair to Selina, its quite evident that she is still very innocent. Like when she was curiously interested about her older sister’s menstrual cramps. Another predominant theme presented in the novel is the race relations between the Caribbean immigrants and the hegemony of white Americans. Selena’s mother, Silla, is a housemaid for a wealthy jewish family and she has an interesting perspective on the race relationships. In her eyes, she sees that the hegemony that is currently in power will do whatever it takes to stay in power. Silla feels that her family and other black are being oppressed by this hegemony and that the only way for them to secure power of their own is through hard work. Her dream is actually for Selena to become a big time successful doctor in America. She feels that this is one of the best ways for Caribbeans, and blacks in general, to gain some power in American society. This whole race relationship is further exemplified when Deighton, Selena’s father, applies for a job as an accountant at a predominately white firm. Despite everything his friends and family tell him, Deighton invests months of work into studying accounting only to be rejected by the firm due to his race. It seems that he actually wanted to subject himself to racism. Everyone told him that it wasn’t a good idea but he was to stubborn to listen and ultimately failed. Its possible that he just wanted other people to pity him so he wouldn’t feel as guilty for some of the bad things that he’s done in his life. Overall, I found this section of reading intriguing and am actually curious to find out how the rest of the story will develop and whether or not Selena will develop the connection to her heritage that I myself hold so dearly.

This week we read the article “Capital of the Caribbean”: The African American-West Indian “Harlem Nexus” and the Transnational Drive for Black Freedom, 1940-1948 by Jason Parker. In the article, Parker argues that Harlem acts as the “capital” of the Caribbean because so much relating to the Caribbean is centered there. In the 1940’s there was a large Afro-Caribbean population that was coming from many of the Caribbean Islands. The situations in their home countries were not great since they were ruled by colonial powers. Upon moving to Harlem, Caribbean people made it a base of operations for political movements. There were political parties from other countries that were started in Harlem. Many Caribbean elections were affected greatly by the Caribbean immigrants in Harlem. The Caribbean immigrants also forced the US to acknowledge the Caribbean countries in the geopolitical sphere and forced the Allies of WWII to take action in Ethiopia after the Italian occupation. The political and cultural power stored in such a small area is incredible. Especially, how the entire world was affected by the situation in Harlem. Its power was so great that it had a larger effect on the Caribbean than any place in the Caribbean itself, this making Harlem the capital of the Caribbean.

This week we also began reading Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall. I think that it is good to read a novel like this when studying Harlem. Though our approach has been fairly balanced between a macro and micro view, we tend to focus more on the macro. But looking at the micro helps immensely to develop our understanding of Afro-Caribbean immigrants to New York. In essence we are studying the lives of people and thus at points, we must take a closer look and see how those lives really were. This novel gives us a pretty good representation of this through the multiple characters it focuses on.

It is interesting to see views on race from the micro perspective. Selina is a young girl in the novel whose parents came from Barbados. She and her family live in a Brooklyn Brownstone. People of Dutch-English and Scotch-Irish Ancestry originally owned these houses but then the area became mainly Barbadian and West Indian. Salina believes that “She did not belong there. She was something vulgar in a holy place” (Marshall 3). And when she imagines herself living with the white family that once owned the house, she imagines that “she was no longer a dark girl alone” (Marshall 3). This indicates that Selina what appears to be an inferiority complex relating to the color of her skin. I imagine this occurred often during this time period as black people were often treated badly very openly. An example of this in the novel is when the black women are walking on the street and “sometimes the white children on their way to school laughed at their blackness and shouted ‘nigger’” (8). Though race relations between black and whites can be studied in the academic macro context, this novel provides a much deeper emotional connection and understanding.

Another big idea is that of movement and economic stability. One of the main reasons that immigrants left the Caribbean and came to New York was the will to find favorable economic conditions and live a comfortable life. This set up a system of back and forth movement with transnational networks as its central nervous system. The Deighton Boyce, Selina’s father, wants to find work that will gain him a good amount of money. He wants to use the money to return to Barbados and live comfortably on plot of land that he has inherited from his family. He does not view the move a permanent but as a means to an end. His wife, Silla, on the other hand sees this differently. She wants to stay in Brooklyn and use the money from the plot of land to pay for the house in Brooklyn. This story has helped me understand that there weren’t uniform motives for moving to and working in New York City.

The article that focused on the influential aspect of Harlem was quite eye opening because it occurred during an infamous time period of the WWII. We all, during some point in our life, learned about the significance of WWII, along with the atrocious events that occurred such as mass killings of individuals, along with the Holocaust. However, this article interestingly acknowledges that fact, and states how the larger events occurring in a macro sense, over-lapped the other crucial micro events such as the independence and reform movements of countries in the Caribbean. A reference that was quite intriguingly used by Jason Parker, was the overlapping of the betrayal of Brutus’ death over the other significant events that occurred in the play “Julius Caesar.” This allusion is perfect to describe the relations of the reform movements in the Caribbean, according to the the greater WWII occurring simultaneously.

Another interesting aspect was how reform organization such as the JPL along with other political organization formed in Harlem before they appeared in the Caribbean countries themselves. The irony behind this is that, these organizations were formed for these countries, for their betterment, however, the organization existed in Harlem first, thus emphasizing the great influential power of Harlem during this time. During this time, Harlem was truly stating to develop into a much more complex nexus of power. Gradually, more individuals wanted to implement these rights exposed to them in the U.S., to their own home countries. Many individuals especially the West Indians were becoming politically aware, and were pushing for reforms, especially when taking into consideration the destitute life of the individuals living in these poverty stricken Caribbean countries. In addition, the invasion of Ethiopia was interesting due to how it brought together all the blacks, to conform into union, and proclaim the betterment of their race. How Ethiopia, once being the stronghold of the African nation, known for its superior defensive abilities, was prided by all black individuals in a nebulous manner, and how it affected them after its invasion is quite extraordinary, taking into consideration their conflicting views beforehand.

Along with giving an historical time line of the immigration of Caribbean individuals in Harlem, “Brown Girl Brownstones” gave a first hand view of the immigrant’s experience. A significant motif in the novel was the use of Bajan throughout many instances in the book. A very interesting point in the book was how it was actually looked down upon to resemble a native from a foreign nation, such as Bajans from Barbados. Many of the immigrants actually being called Bajan as an insult, because they did not want to be connected to the hell-hole they left in the first place (Silla)…. However, others such as Deighton had a completely opposing view towards their home country. Deighton actually viewed it as a heavenly paradise, that he was longing to return to, while his wife on the other hand, wanted NOT to assimilate, but become an American, having no connection to Barbados at all. This brings about the question of how their past reinforced their beliefs, especially for Silla, who spent her childhood in pure misery, doing slave work non-stop, along with physical punishments such as being whipped. While Deighton spent most of his time playing with the “boys” his various games, reminding him of his great youthful years, which he remembers while resenting his current life. What is genuinely interesting is how both of these individuals are married, from the same country, have similar aspects in culture and race, but have such opposing and contending views towards being what they are…Bajan.

The content of the readings for this week, along with our class discussion on Tuesday, have all caught my attention. It is awesome to see how Caribbean immigrants living in New York City (mainly in Harlem) and elsewhere within the United States played a huge role in the liberation of their home countries from foreign oppression. Today, when we think about the Caribbean we only think about the stereotypes associated with the area. All we can picture is sunny beaches and resorts full of tourists that go to these places to fool around. However, we can never seem to associate these places with suffering, poverty and other types of social struggles. Most, if not all islands of the Caribbean were European colonies at some point and natives had to fight for their freedom from foreign oppression just like the United States did with Great Britain. Immigrants residing in Harlem provided the islanders with financial, diplomatic and moral support so that they could ultimately be successful at liberating their countries from foreign rule. In “Capital of the Caribbean,” by Jason Parker, we learn that Harlem was the epicenter of the global black movement for freedom. During the early half of the twentieth century, Harlem faced many social changes due to the immigration of people from the Caribbean and African Americans from the South. This changed people’s view of the black community within the nation. There were no longer small, weak communities of black people that were usually taken advantage of. Now, there was a strong community that advanced the general cause for black freedom. West Indian immigrants often advocated for black unity and freedom. Immigrants like Marcus Garvey, promulgated black consciousness and helped set the political agenda for black America.

African Americans throughout the Western Hemisphere sustained a newly impassioned interest in the global dimensions of racial and colonial oppression. The Caribbean presence in New York was very important because they led political currents on the revolutionary socialist left, supporting movements within their home countries. The global black movement for freedom became even stronger and effervescent with the Italian-Ethiopian conflict. Ethiopia was and still is a symbol of black unity, power and freedom. Throughout the history of the world it has been the only country in Africa without being successfully colonized by a European power. The temporary Italian occupation of Ethiopia united black people in advocating for freedom and liberation. Right after the invasion, the United States established a deal with England that gave the U.S. control over several naval bases located on islands within the Caribbean. This deal was necessary so that the United States could continue to appear as neutral in the war. In order to prevent problems with the people residing in the islands where the naval bases were located, President Roosevelt sent Charles Taussig, with the support of White, the leader of the NAACP, to get a general feel of the area. In his trip, Taussig conversed with many important Caribbean people who advised him about the different issues and situations in the area. When he returned to the United States, Taussig urged President Roosevelt to take action that would improve the relationship between Americans and people from the Caribbean. Taussig literally told Roosevelt that the U.S. had to acknowledge its racial faults, redress them in its island presence and establish a good relationship with the people in the area. Thus in 1941, Roosevelt proposed the creation of an Anglo-American Caribbean Commission. The commission convened in 1942 to study problems like food shortages and poverty. Although this commission’s efforts at facilitating large scale reform failed, the commission at least succeeded in bettering public relations between blacks and whites to a certain extent.

A phrase from this article that caught my attention was when Parker says that Black New York acted as both a cashbox and a soapbox for those fighting for the independence of the West Indies. The cooperation between figures such as Walter White, W.A. Domingo and Norman Manley was crucial to larger efforts at political reform. In other words, without people like the latter mentioned, the fight for freedom would have taken longer. This global black movement of freedom has been successful to a certain extent in areas all around the globe. People like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu have used the ideals associated with the movement to fight for freedom and liberation. However, something that I want to know more about with regards to this issue is the role of the black church in fighting for freedom. What role did it have? I would like to know specific religious leaders that played fundamental roles in this struggle.

The first two books of Brown Girl, Brownstones, written by Paule Marshall, were very interesting. By having read only 53 pages of Marshall’s piece, I was able to notice the suffering that many immigrant families go through. In these two books, Marshall introduces a couple of characters some from Barbados and others from the United States living in Brownstone houses located in a Bajan community within Brooklyn. The book centers around a young girl named Selina Boyce. She has an older sister named Ina, a dad, Deighton, and a mother, Silla. The first few pages of the book describe the house in which the Boyce family resides. What makes Selina’s description interesting is that we get a “first hand experience” of how a Brooklyn neighborhood looked like to a young child coming from an immigrant family. Right from the beginning, the reader gets the sense that the Boyce family, like any other family has many issues and problems that do not only have to do with being immigrants residing in a country but also issues related to growing up and identity, as well as race and social status. Silla does not seem to appreciate her daughters. Life has not treated her well. As a little kid she had to work in plantations and was mistreated by whites. Consequently she has huge resentments with society as a whole. The only one she seems to love is her son, who died at a very young age from heart problems (she blames her husband for the son’s death). Selina suffers because of racial tensions and also because she has not gotten her first period or developed a woman’s body yet while her best friend, Beryl and Ina have. Deighton does not know how be a good head of family. Instead of losing his pride and getting a job that may not be what he wants but would bring food to the table, he spends his time chasing dreams that he believes will take his family out of their economic situation but in the end always abandons them or is unsuccessful. He received land from his sister, but is very stubborn and does not want to sell it to get money to pay the bills. His wife is the one that has to take care of everything. To make things worse, he has a mistress whom he openly fools around with. It is as if he was a rebellious teenager more so than the head of a household. The wife, despite her many resentments, seems to be the only one in the family to keep reality in check.

In the first two books, Marshall also introduces two women, a sick elderly woman by the name Mary and her daughter, Maritze. The relationship between both of them is not good because Ms. Mary wishes to remain in the growing Bajan community in Brooklyn where she has lived her whole life, while her daughter wants to move out. The mother always judges her daughter because the daughter is unmarried and is not what Ms. Mary expects a daughter should be. Marshall also introduces Suggie, an immigrant woman who has it hard and resorts to sleeping with men on the weekends to supposedly take her mind away from all the tensions associated with her sufferings.

Through her book Marshall depicts the issues immigrants have when moving to the United States. Many times these individuals do not only have sufferings associated with living in an unknown place where they do not have support from anyone but also face issues due to their own mistakes. Moving to the U.S. and chasing after the American dream is the stereotype portrayed by many authors and movie directors in their works. However, in this book, Marshall is trying to show how many times the struggles associated with the American Dream become mixed with personal problems people have that make moving up the social ladder very hard. Thus far we see that the characters introduced here turn to drinking, denial of reality, sex, and cheating on the spouse to temporarily relieve themselves from tensions. However, these acts and states of mind are serving more as strains in their path to success. Silla and Deighton’s relationship is falling apart because of Deighton’s lack of cooperation in the household as the father and husband and Silla’s inability to work with people.

After reading Book 2, I get the sense that Selina has trouble finding her identity because of all the pressure she experiences from different people in her environment. Her mother never appreciates her, often making it explicitly clear that she prefers the deceased brother to her. Her sister and best friend serve as reminders that she has not entered puberty yet and despite the fact that she admires her father, she probably does not accept the fact that he does not do anything to improve the family’s circumstances. Society as a whole does not have her in a high standard because of her skin color and origins. Thus she must feel left out and secluded from different social circles.

“Capital of the Caribbean” was an excellent transition from Blood Relations. It explored the post-renessaince period and viewed Harlem as the center for all this reform and even power. I found the article to be interesting because I had never thought of all the issues going on in the Caribbean during the time of the World War. I found it almost poetic that this was the time when West Indians and African Americans got together for a common cause, transnationalism. It paralleled the countries at the time getting together for the War. It was a time where a lot of communities came together and pushed for independence, as well as representation in the government. This article showed the connection between the civil movements in the United States, which matched those of the Caribbean and I was surprised that I hadn’t learned of this history before.

Brown Girl, Brownstones was much easier, and entertaining read than Blood Relations, in my opinion. I love the innocence of Selina, matched by the complexity of each of her family members. I think Paule Marshall does a great job of capturing the time and giving the reader a feel for the environment. She also conveys the struggles that both women and African Americans had to go through. It talks about the different jobs such as “Big Momma” had and the various jobs Deighton attempted. The discovery of the land Deighton received shows how people still had an attachment to their home countries. Silla wants the money for the land, but Deighton has a dream to go back and live off the land. It’s a difficult conflict, because it shows one person who wants to leave the past behind, while someone else is still fighting for the homeland. I think I can relate to this because in my family, my mother chose to leave everything behind, whereas my father is more involved with the country he was raised in. The author does capture the struggles of immigrant families really well. Selina has a more romanticized view of Bimshire, but she doesn’t understand how much worse it was for her parents there. I think her mother and father are very similar to any immigrant family, where they leave everything and work hard so their children can have a better life. I think it made Silla a much tougher person, and migrating has that affect on people.
One thing that I enjoyed a lot was reading about these places nearby such as Fulton Street, De Kalb and Prospect Park. I think it’s difficult imagining them in the time period of the book, versus what they are today, and it makes it very interesting.

I have heard of Britain and other European countries pulling out of some of their colonies during World War II, but strangely, I had very little perception of what this meant. I have not thought about the transition of powers and the people involved, both of the colonizers and the colonized. The Europeans present would not have just given up their power and probably would have been unused and unadapted to the typical European life to be expected to return.  They still owned the majority of the land, regardless if the home government withdrew, right? Anyway, these questions are too finely pointed for this article- Capital of the Caribbean, which is ironic because the article frequently states that it focuses on an overlooked micro aspect of a macro subject – not micro enough. It describes the larger political situation of the Caribbean during World War I and discusses key figures, all with Harlem acting as the nexus/ capital of the Caribbean. Before World War II, during the Depression, there were many labor riots and radical/reform groups in the Caribbean and the larger black population in America because times were rough and these groups were already just scrapping by. Then, Italy invaded Ethiopia- the one notoriously uncolonized, independent African state, a symbol of black pride; this event rallied blacks together, protesting that other countries should defend Ethiopia’s freedom, which lead to the Allied powers intervening. As previously mentioned, during World War II, European countries had to leave some of their colonies because they were too involved in the war to worry about over sea territories. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted strategic military bases in the Caribbean, but he did not want to oppose the inhabitants of the island and he did not want to anger the growing Caribbean population of America, particularly in Harlem. So he sent Taussig, a white man with good relations with the black community, and Walter White, member of the NAACP, to discuss a relationship between America and the Caribbean among the common Caribbean people. Through the understanding of this mission, the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission was born, which was like an advising committee of Afro-Caribbean people. Harlem was so deeply connected that campaigns there that it determined a representative of the AACC. However, some people still viewed American politicians as another imperialist power.

Brown Girl, Brownstones is about a second generation Barbados girl, named Selina, her family (mother- Silla, father- Deighton, Ina- sister), and various neighbors in Brooklyn. First chapter, the author, a woman of with a similar background story, analyzes the feeling of being an outsider within a home built for distinguished white families, feeling their ghosts roam about her. Her description of the homes are of stark, aloof, twisted agitators that effect her life and family, while being distant and unconcerned. She highlights the burning contrasts of the white walls to her family’s dark skin, like the contrast between the former inhabitant of the house and her life. Meanwhile, the remaining white residents of the neighbor are Miss Mary and her daughter who are poor, rejects and they fight between moving on and living in the past with the ghosts of the illustrious past inhabitants. Other white neighbors are described as locked up in their homes, as to refuse the change within their neighborhood. The sun and heat are also prevalent motifs, which represent the climate and features of the Caribbean, while acting as almost as a symbol for oppression and struggle. One major conflict is land- Deighton has a romanticized view of his past in the Caribbean and does not want to sell the land he inherited on the island, while his wife does not glorify her past and homeland, and wants to settle and buy a house in New York. Further martial conflicts results from their dead baby boy that the mother cannot get over. She views Selina as the reason why her son died and resents her for it, while Selina tries to pardon her love. Overall, Selina is caught in the middle, of an awkward phase and her parents’ relationship. Her father has a lover and he has dreams of working a higher wage “white” job that he will probably never receive, and her mother has a major chip on a shoulder against the world. In general, sex is a major component of this book. Snuggie uses sex as empowerment and comfort, before she has to work and be alone for a weak. Sex effects everyone, as everyone can heard when Snuggie has it, and even the children are growing up and coming to terms with their sexual identities. This is apparent as Selina and Beryl discuss being a woman in terms of getting your period and growing shapely. Ina, the prettier sibling who has gotten her period and the beloved child, was supposedly going outside to flirt with boys. Breasts seem to be noteworthy to Selina because it represents womanhood. Again, this class reads a book with a heavily keen interest in women within Caribbean communities.

“Capital of the Caribbean” by Jason Parker demonstrates how Harlem became the new capital for African Americans. WWII was one of the main causes for the migration of African Americans to Harlem, however, there was another reason before WWII. Ethiopia has always been a symbol of unity between U.S. African Americans and West Indians. However, when Italy invaded Ethiopia this sparked the rise for equal rights and freedom. After the invasion, the U.S took part in the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. This agreement states that the U.S destroyers will be given to the Royal Navy in exchange for Caribbean naval bases. In doing this, the U.S.had a neutral standpoint in the war. After the possession of the Caribbean naval bases, FDR sent Charles Taussig to the Caribbean islands to learn about the people residing there. Taussig was chosen because he had support from Walter White who led the NAACP. Taussig gave FDR feedback on the situation of the people living on the islands. In return FDR imposed various policies to improve the Caribbean standard of living.

Brown Girl, Brownstones begins by first introducing the brownstones. The brownstones were buildings built by Dutch-English and Scotch-Irish. But eventually, the West Indians started to take over. The brownstones are inhabited by mostly Barbadians and this is where the Boyce family is introduced. Selina Boyce, a ten year old child, fantasizes about welcoming the past white family that has previously lived there. In her imagination she feels like she fuses with the white family and becomes part of them. However, she is quickly reminded that this is an imagination when she sees herself in mirror. Selina has these imaginations because she wants to feel connected with society. Ina Boyce, Selina’s sister is also introduced. Ina is described as having pains because of her coming of age. The Boyce family also had a son that died right before Selina came into this world and Selina believes that she took his place in the world. Deighton Boyce, Selina’s father is introduced as someone who dreams about wealth but not working for it. For example, he claims that he got land from his sister that passed away and he was going to move back to Barbados to create, “A house to end all house.” In reality he doesn’t have that much money. Finally Silla Boyce is introduced as a person who constantly works and is never cheerful. “Her lips, set in a permanent protest against life, implied that there was no time for gaiety.” Even though immigrants move to America they are still constantly reminded of their homeland. For example, Suggie Skeete, Selina’s tenant, prepares a meal of okra and water and in doing so she is reminded of her home in Barbados in which there are yam patches, mango trees and lizards. There is also a contrast in the wide open land to crowded rooms. More tenants are introduced and they are Miss Mary and Maritze, Miss Mary’s daughter. Miss Mary is an elderly woman that is about to die and Maritze is constantly annoyed about her mother. They are the only white people living in the brownstones.  Going back to Deighton and Sillia Boyce, their relationship is damaged. Deighton doesn’t save money for the house, instead he spends it on clothes. His excuse is the land he has in Barbados however, he doesn’t even want to sell the land for money. Silla is the one who does all the work in the house. Deighton just thinks of ways to make money but never does anything. Deighton also goes out and plays with other women. Later on in the novel, Silla questions Selina about the meeting she had with her father. Silla tells Selina about The Third Class and her hardships when she was Selina’s age.

As months passed, the subject of all discussions was land. Selina asked her mother if she could go to prospect park with Beryl, her best friend. Her mother told her that she could go and that she is more of a woman than Ina. Selina then walks around town and finds out the whole town is speaking about her dad and his land. Selina meets up with Beryl and they make their way to prospect park. On the way to the park Selina describes how she feels free. “Life suddenly was nothing but this change and return.” When they get to the park, Beryl tells Selina how she is bleeding from down there just like Ina. Selina can’t comprehend the idea of becoming a woman because she is still a child. Deep down inside Selina wants to bleed but in reality it is not her time yet. Eventually Selina realizes that everyone is connected like parts of a mosaic. Selina finally feels accepted into the society in which she lives in.

I really enjoyed reading through the article on the “Capital of the Caribbean” because it helped place Harlem’s role in the West Indies on a national scale. Blood Relations does a good job in showing more local connections between Harlem and the West Indies. Taking a close look into West Indian neighborhoods and the social dynamics between families there effectively illustrated the power that political agitators had in their community, but it also left plenty to be desired in terms of how they had an effect on the national level. Before reading this article, I had never heard of the “Bases for Destroyers” agreement. Aside from its ingenious military implications (trading old destroyers for military bases anywhere sounds like a good deal any day), it really helped continue America’s position on limiting overseas interference in the Western Hemisphere. Due to this American position, I definitely sympathized with West Indians who were nervous about an American force in the Caribbean. Especially considering what happened in the Philippines less than 50 years prior, I think the West Indians had every right to be a little suspicious. Thankfully, Roosevelt, Taussig and their esteemed friend Walter White, were able to quell any fears. By involving someone who had strong ties with an organization that helped native blacks and West Indian peoples, and being sensitive towards normal customs, the USA showed they were there to help when they finally arrived.

Moving over a thousand miles North in Brown Girl, Brownstones, we are taken to a small, mostly West Indian neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. After a couple weeks of focusing on Harlem and the West Indian communities flourishing there, we now move over to a different borough with many of the same types of communities flourishing. Though Brown Girl, Brownstones is fiction, it still provides a very realistic view into life the life as a second generation West Indian immigrant since Marshall herself was a second-generation immigrant who was born in Brooklyn in the 1940s.

The first book of the novel “A Long Day and a Long Night” introduces many of Selina Boyce’s family and neighbors. Many of the people introduced seem to provide a different perspective into the life of a West Indian immigrant. Deighton Boyce, Selina’s father, is first introduced as a hard worker, at least to me. We meet him while he is reading accounting letters and studying finances with hopes to one-day make a living working as an accountant. Later on in Book 1, Deighton is revealed to be a much different person. He has tried to succeed in many different occupations, but tires of each and moves onto a new one every so often. His sleeping during the day isn’t because he works all night, as I had originally thought; it is actually because he spends his nights with a woman other than his wife. His wife, Silla Boyce, is his complete opposite. She rarely cracks a smile and is entirely focused on work and eventually buying her house and rooting her family and herself in Brooklyn. I feel like she is an extreme depiction of many West Indian immigrants who wanted to do exactly the same. A neighbor that is introduced is Miss Thompson. Miss Thompson works all day and all night, starting at nine at night working as a cleaning woman in an office building and continuing on into the next day when she holds down a shift at the beauty parlor. Miss Thompson is depicted as beaten; she is said to look gaunt and she has a large unhealed, and presumably untreated, ulcer on the instep of her foot. Here is a picture of one of the many West Indian women who worked ridiculous shifts doing whatever they can to make some sort of income.

Book 2, “Pastorale,” is a lot shorter and not as encompassing as Book 1. In fact, Book 2 focuses only on Selina and her friend Beryl. On this particular day, Selina has an interaction with Beryl’s family that isn’t too pleasant. Beryl’s father, Percy Channelor, talks with Selina about her father. Percy seems to look down on Deighton and his dream to work for the “white man.” He also seems very concerned with Deighton’s newly inherited land. I sort of think he may be jealous, since it isn’t everyday someone is blessed with two acres of land that they can use for whatever they want. Further into Book 2, we face some topics about womanhood. Beryl is beginning to go through puberty and is sharing all of her new experiences with Selina. This small scene feels out of place, especially after reading through Book 1. Book 1 is filled with many woman who are well past the age of puberty and are also well past the age of innocence. I’m not sure if this juxtaposition was done on purpose or not, but this scene definitely gives off a different vibe than most of the female experiences described in Book 1.

The history of the “Caribbean Nexus” just goes to show that there are so many things in history that affect other events in many areas around the world. Harlem, being thousands of miles away, was essential for Caribbean self-determination. Harlem did not only influence intellectuals in islands like Jamaica, they also sent funds for political campaigns. Only by looking deep into history can connections like these be made. This desire to improve the conditions in their homeland was used by the U.S. to improve relations with the Caribbean, especially during the Second World War. This war also affected the Caribbean community back in New York City.

The book Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall gives a unique insight to the life of a girl growing up in Brooklyn during the Great Depression. This book, while having many interesting storylines, tells much about the Caribbean people that settled in Brooklyn neighborhoods that used to be occupied by European immigrants. Buying their homes seems to be the most important thing that they could do to ensure a future in America. Getting a job that was not domestic work was also another major step forward. Living during the Great Depression was also adding to the struggles of this community.

Selina Boyce is a girl that is looking to identify herself, and the differing views of her parents make it harder to find an answer. Being lucky enough to have land back in Barbados, although its a small piece, shows the two different views that the Barbadian immigrants had about a better future. Silla Boyce, Selina’s mother, spent all her life working hard and sought opportunities for a future in America. She wanted to sell that land and use that money to buy the house and put down roots in America. Deighton Boyce, Selina’s father, saw the land as an opportunity to go back to Barbados and live a pleasant, luxurious life there. They each have these different views on what to do with the land because they both had differing views on their homeland. Silla saw it as a place where, even at Selina’s age, she worked day and night with no sight of any progress. Deighton remembers it as a place where he enjoyed his youth. Selina is leaning towards going to Barbados; her father made it look like the dreamland, and she has never been there before. I can relate to that dream, when I was 12, I would have liked to move to Ecuador. My first visit to Ecuador was one full of fun experiences. However, as I grew older, and had more visits to Ecuador, I understood that it was not an easy place to live in, especially in the agricultural area where my family was from. Her father also seems to be a man that just dreams, and the Second World War may change Selina’s choice on which parent’s dream to partake in.

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.

“Capital of the Caribbean”

In “Capital of the Caribbean,” Jason Parker discusses the relatively little known Caribbean struggle for independence just before and during World War II. He also discusses Harlem’s role in this Caribbean struggle for independence. According to the essay, Harlem was a “spiritual” center for black cultural and political developments. However, many history textbooks focus on larger scale issues. In light of this, a “transnational turn” has sought to remedy this situation and provide a new view of relations in Harlem. Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia set into motion much of the black’s political agenda (which was radical). The majority of these new radical voices were of Caribbean descent, and almost all of them spoke out against colonialism.

The presence of so many West Indians made Harlem a sort-of battleground for issues in the West Indies. This was especially true of the 1930s unrest in Jamaica. Much of the call for reform of the colonial system in Jamaica (as well as the rest of the West Indies) originated from New York City, especially Harlem. The Havana Declaration signaled the weakening of British colonial rule in the West Indies and prompted many to act because many feared that a bunch of American powers would just take over colonial rule and keep the status quo. This weakening was further signaled in the Bases-for-Destroyers Deal in which the British traded Atlantic base sites for American destroyers.

The U.S. government sent Charles Taussig to learn more about the newly leased areas in the West Indies. Taussig met with many black West Indian leaders and was even endorsed by Walter White, leader of the NAACP. His travels prompted the government to become more sensitive to local customs and eventually adopt an anti-colonial stance. The Anglo-American Caribbean Commission (AACC) was formed with the U.K. to improve the economy of the region as well as standard of living. However, racial solidarity for independence had its limits as demonstrated by disagreements within the AACC itself and the arrest of Wilfred Domingo.

When the British government proclaimed that Jamaica would receive a new constitution the following year, there was a battle between Norman Manley’s People’s National Party (PNP) and Alexander Bustamante’s Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) for leadership of the new country. Harlem played a crucial role in funding and lobbying for Manley’s PNP; however, the JPL crushed the PNP in the elections. Despite this, ties between Harlem and the West Indies were (by no means) damaged, and many continued to support Manley and his ideas.

In the first paragraph, I fully agree with the author when he says, “Powerful moments…overshadow other vital—albeit less quotable—features” (98). It is a fact of life that we tend to remember the more memorable moments of just about anything. Whether it is a book, a play, the news, or even just walking down the street, we tend to remember the “big things” that happened rather than the smaller, more routine events that may play a huge role in whatever it is that is happening. Even in the recounting of history, this occurs.

Take the Bases-for-Destroyers Agreement for instance. History textbooks either (1) gloss over it briefly or (2) do not mention it at all. To be honest, I do not even recall reading about this in any history course I have taken (AP courses included). However, considering this essay, it appears that this deal had a huge role on the people of the Caribbean in terms of their movements for independence. It is ironic that such an important occurrence was overshadowed by other aspects of the War.

I found the description of Jamaican Labour Party leader Alexander Bustamante quite amusing. Apparently, he had been giving “colonial officials fits since 1938.” He was heard “swearing fealty to the crown in one speech [and] calling for the white man’s blood in the next.” He was (to say the least) “equal parts threatening and baffling” and did not have a clear ideology. To top it all off, he was eventually detained as “a threat to public security” (109-110).

However, I will be honest here. I was not a huge fan of this essay in general. It was not necessarily the topic of this article, rather than the way it was written. Some parts felt too wordy for me to grasp any meaning. I found myself rereading parts just because I could not understand what the author was trying to say. The topic was interesting; however, the writing was not as good as I expected it to be.

Brown Girl, Brownstones (Books 1-2)

In the first two books of Brown Girl, Brownstones, we are introduced to Selina, a young and frail yet defiant girl who longs to (re-)experience the past. She lives with her family in a brownstone on Chauncey Street in Brooklyn. Her older sister, Ina, is (by comparison) more graceful, as she was spared from the “awkwardness” of adolescence. Due to this, Selina seems to be jealous of her sister’s situation. We learn that they had a baby brother who died in infancy due to a “bad heart.” Selina and Ina’s father, Deighton, is introduced as a laid-back person. He is studying to become an accountant so that he could make money and bring his family back to their home country of Barbados. He tells Selina of some land that his dead sister had left him. He aims to build and own a house on that plot “just like the white people own” (9).

Deighton’s relationship with his wife, Silla, is unstable. He longs to rekindle their relationship; however, her criticizing personality prevents this. She doubts him when he gives her the news of the land. As she talks to the (very) pregnant Vergie Farnum about this, she insinuates that she misses her dead baby son very much.

We learn some more about Deighton during his adventures on Fulton Street. In a conversation with Seifert Yearwood, we learn that Deigton’s goal is to learn some accounting and get a job that makes as much as a white person. Despite Yearwood’s attempts at getting him to snap back to reality, Deighton persists in his dream. We also learn that Deighton has a mistress that he sees on Saturday nights.

Silla seems to harbor a dislike for Selina. She seems to believe that her and Deighton are making plans about the land that he has received. Silla confronts Selina about this and even returns to memories about her dead son. However, in an act of defiance, Selina tries to snap Silla back to reality and storms off.

In the second book, Selina receives permission to go out on her own. With her best friend, Beryl, she travels through Brooklyn. They eventually reach Prospect Park, where Selina sees two lovers on the ground. She grows sad because, according to her, they have achieved “the fullest freedom” (47). In this scene, she also expresses a “sullen despairing anger” of becoming a woman.

There are also a few minor characters we encounter.

We are introduced to Suggie Skeete, a tenant that lives with the Boyces. She seems to be known for bringing in men to her bedroom on the weekends. Miss Thompson is an older and frail woman who works at the beauty parlor on Fulton Street. She is revealed to have an ulcer on the instep of her foot (23). In addition, we encounter Miss Mary and her daughter, Maritze. They are two white tenants who live with the Boyces. Miss Mary is very old and weak. She lives in the past and spends most of her time replaying old memories. Maritze tries to snap Miss Mary back to the present but fails to do so repeatedly.

As I was reading, I noticed some parallels between the characters. Miss Mary and Silla are similar to each other in that they are both living in the past. Miss Mary has frequent flashbacks on past events and even refuses to move out of the house that she and her daughter live in. In a similar way, Silla tends to remember her dead son and lament over his death. She even compares Selina to him during their argument.

Similarly, Deighton and Suggie seem to parallel each other. Both seem to be carefree. In addition, they have their lovers. Suggie invites men over to her bedroom for a night during the weekend. Similarly, Deighton has his lover, whom he also sees during a night on the weekends.

In addition, Selina and Miss Thompson are similar to each other. Both are frail but in different ways. Miss Thompson works long hours and even has an ulcer on her foot. However, Selina is frail emotionally. She seems to experience conflicting feelings of anger, sadness, and happiness at random times, especially at the end of book 2.

I found Deighton’s situation quite ironic. He wants to eventually go back to Barbados and build a home there. When he recounts his childhood to Selina, his words seem to contain a hint of nostalgia. Yet, he strives to be like a white person. He wants to have a high status and make a lot of money; however, due to the color of his skin, something like that is difficult to accomplish. I feel sorry for him. Although he does not express it, he seems to be torn between his home country and the country he lives in now as well as in his feelings for Silla.

Finally, I was struck by Selina’s defiance. At the end of book 1, Selina tries to knock into her mother the idea that she is not her son and maybe even hints that she should forget about her. Then, “Selina darted around her and strode from the kitchen” (40). Selina is unlike any of the other characters in the book. Most of these characters seem to accept their fates and prefer not to do anything about it. However, Selina seems to prefer to challenge what is set out before her, even if that means challenging her own mother.

Mohamed Mohamed

Book 1 of Brown Girl, Brownstones begins with an introduction to the main character, Selina. Selina is an African-American little girl living in Brooklyn with her father, mother and older sister. Ina. Selina then finds a family photo before she was born. In the photo she is able to recognize her father but everyone else seems to have changed. Also she finds a baby boy in the photo that she explains has died. She makes her way to the basement where her older sister, Ina, lay sick. Ina is struggling with menstrual cramps that Selina is too young to understand. After bothering her sister a bit she meets with her father. Her father, Deighton, tells Selina stories of how he always had something fun to do as a kid and was never bored like her. He then informs her that he has acquired land from a diseased relative. He was really excited and wanted to keep it secret for the time.

We are the introduced to the other characters living in the Brownstones. There was Suggie who, every Saturday, waited for her lover. They would spend the night together to ease their long week at work. Also, there lived Maritze and her mother, Mary who had disputes about almost everything. Maritze dreamed of once moving from her poor neighborhood and buy a nice home somewhere in Long Island. Mary argues that she will not leave and nothing will convince her to leave.

When Deighton finally tells his wife Silla about the land he acquired, she was in disbelief. Deighton had a hard time convincing his wife. She finally read the letter and suggested that he sell it and use the money for down payment of there home. Deighton is enraged and refuses to sell the land. He claims that it is his land and he’ll do what ever he pleases with it. The debate continues between the two. Silla then goes to her pregnant friend who advises that she convince him to sell it no matter what. Silla goes to her daughter Selina for help. She tells her to try and convince her father to sell the land but Selina refuses. She agrees with her father to not sell the two acres. Her mother is angered and strikes her.

Book 2 was very short and helps us become more familiar with Selina. She is now eleven years old. After Suggie gave her rum and has a quick talk with her mother she makes her way to the nearby park. She first calls for her friend Beryl who was sitting at the family table with her father. Beryl’s father asks Selina about her father and if he is planning to sell the land. She lets him know that her is not selling the land, which brings an unpleasant remark on his face. Selina was able to tell that he did not like her father and thought he was a failure for trying to work with the white man. Afterwards, Selina and Beryl go out for a stroll that seems like a date. They then begin talking about adolescents and what happens to a female. Selina is not fond of the idea and denies that will ever happen to her. Beryl explains that it happens to every girl and that it already happened to her and Ina. Selina is lost for words and feels deeply uncomfortable. Beryl embraces Selina to comfort her.

In Jason Parker’s article, “Capital of the Caribbean”, Parker describes the growth of equality and politics in the Harlem area due to many international affairs occurring at that time period. Ever since the black immigrants came to the Harlem area, they attempted to influence the politics of their surroundings. Early on around the WWII time frame, many Caribbean immigrants and the native African Americans formed political organizations that rallied for equality and justice in the community. On the international scale, Italy advanced into Ethiopian territory and tried to take over the area. Throughout the African history, Ethiopia stood as a symbol of pride and strength for the black people. The Ethiopians had resisted many invaders since the beginning of time. With the invasion into Ethiopian territory, many of the black people around the world, including in Harlem, were angered by this ordeal. This situation brought the black people together to rally for support for the Ethiopians. The United States of America did not want to get involved directly with this international affair, so they formed a deal where the U.S. received many naval bases in many of the Caribbean nations. Franklin D. Roosevelt became involved with many of the Caribbean affairs within the U.S. and within the countries where the naval bases were located. This whole ordeal led to the advancements of black equality in the U.S. as the blacks placed pressure on Roosevelt to support the Caribbean economy. This was the beginning of the path for black equality in the United States of America and in international countries.

Paule Marshall’s novel, Brown Girl, Brownstones is a great literary piece that shows the insights of what many of the Caribbean immigrants faced while living in Harlem of NYC. The novel centers around a young girl, approximately the age of 11, named Selina. She lives in the town of Harlem with her older sister, named Ina, her father, named Deighton, and her mother, named Silla. At the start of the story, Selina describes the setting of the brick and gothic styled houses on her block. This is the first time the readers realize how the Caribbean immigrants of the town viewed the houses on Harlem. Selina loved the way the houses looked with their majestic beauty and she always thought, “her house was alive” (Marshall 2).

The readers can see that Selina, like many other kids living in Harlem as immigrants, experiences many conflicts within herself about her relationship to the white people in the Harlem community. Selina reminisces about living with a white family and feeling proud to be one of them, “she was no longer a dark girl alone…she threw her head back until it trembled proudly” (Marshall 3). However, once Selina remembers who she is and how the white people in Harlem treat Caribbean immigrants, she becomes distraught and feels left out of the world, “She did not belong here. She was something vulgar in a holy place” (Marshall 4). Whenever Selina’s family received old hand-me-down clothes from the Jewish families in the neighborhood, “Selina would spend the day hating the unknown child to whom they belonged [to]” (Marshall 8).

On the other end of the spectrum, Marshall’s novel shows the many difficulties that the white families faced as they were slowly displaced from their homes as the immigrants came flooding into Harlem. In the same brownstone house that Selina lives in, there lives a sick elderly woman named Miss Mary and her adult daughter, Maritze. These two women are white people who had lived in Harlem before the influx of black immigrants who came to the area. Miss Mary and Maritze face many complications with each other due to their different opinions. Miss Mary wishes to stay in the same home in Harlem while Maritze desperately wants to leave the Harlem area for a better place. Maritze pleads with her mother and says, “Every decent white person’s moving away, getting out. Except us. And they’re so many nice places where we could live” (Marshall 30). The readers grasp the fact that many of the white families who are still left in Harlem as their companions leave the place are filled with many hard difficulties. There were many changes occurring to the Harlem community for both the white families present there and for the new immigrants families that were coming into the area.

The novel shows the hardships that the immigrant families face when it comes to getting jobs and for getting a place to live in. Deighton, who is the father of Selina, is a man who tries out new jobs all the time. He is always looking for a job that can get him a good amount of money. Deighton is currently enrolled in a training center to become an accountant. He had heard that the white people earn a lot of money in this profession. However, many of his black friends make it clear to him that the white people will not let him receive the same salary as them. Seifert Yearwood says to Deighton, “you can know all the accounting there is, these people still not gon have you up in their fancy office and pulling down the same money as them” (Marshall 33). Deighton becomes offended and moves along on his own way. This short but important encounter between the two friends shows the everyday struggles that the immigrants faced in this new land. They had to work really hard just to make a living enough to support the family. It was hard for the Caribbean immigrants to move up the social ladder in society.

The novel also depicts the strains that many couples in relationships experience from living in poverty. Deighton and his wife, Silla, have a very unstable relationship due to their differences about what their future should be like. Deighton’s sister had died back in his native country, leaving a plot of land around 2 acres large in his name. Deighton had always wanted to go back to his native country to live there with his own people. Silla, however, has different views on their lifestyle. Silla desperately wants to stay in Brooklyn and buy one of the brownstone houses for their family. Silla keeps insisting Deighton to save some money up every week to use as the down payment for the house. Deighton, however, is insistent on keeping the land so that the family could live in his native country, Barbados. This forms a hostile relationship between the two. Silla even takes it a step further by saying, “I feel I could do cruel things to the man [Deighton]” (Marshall 27). Their relationship highlights the importance of trying to make a decent lifestyle for the family. Silla wants to buy a house so that the family could live comfortably in the neighborhood. Deighton, on the other hand, wants to leave Harlem and the Americas to go back home, where he feels his family will be the safest and the happiest. It shows the effort that many of the immigrants made just to etch out a comfortable living for their family.

“Capital of the Caribbean” by Jason Parker explains how Harlem was the “nexus” of the drive for black freedom. Prior to WWII, blacks in Harlem were organizing politically and gaining power as to pushing for equal rights. This effort was pushed forward when Italy invaded Ethiopia, which was a symbol of black freedom, strength, and resistance. The occupation of Ethiopia united the not only the Caribbean and African blacks in Harlem, but also blacks around the world in an effort to promote black freedom. Following the invasion, the U.S. had completed a bases-for-destroyers deal with the English. This deal gave the U.S. control over many caribbean naval bases in return for old destroyers, thus the U.S. continued to seem neutral in the war. To prepare the islands for the naval bases, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent Charles Taussig, a former molasses company owner, to learn about the islands. To show his credibility, Taussig had letters of support from Walter White who was a leader of the NAACP. On his trip to the caribbean, Taussig spoke to caribbean leaders and radicals who advised him on the matters of the islands. Not only did Taussig have to take into consideration the caribbean islanders, but also the voting black population living in New York who were paying attention to FDR’s every move. After returning, Taussig pushed FDR to initiate a caribbean policy that respects caribbean cultures and promotes the improvement of the Caribbean economy and government.

The first book of Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall introduces the Boyce family and our protagonist, Selina Boyce. Selina lives in a brownstone house in Flatbush with her Father, Deighton, her mother, Silla, and her older sister, Ina. From the beginning of the novel, we learn that of Selina’s jealosy of Ina who is coming of age. We also learn about the the Silla’s second child, a baby boy, who died of heart problems before the birth of Selina. At home on a hot summer day, Selina talks to her father in a the sun parlor where her father received a letter informing him of two acres of land he received from his sister in Barbados. Deighton says he plans to moving back to the island where he will build a house on the acres. After talking to her father, Selina goes out to buy “Hootons” where she meets her friend, Beryl, who, like Ina, is coming of age and thus shames Selina. In the brownstone house, the Boyce family is accompanied by Suggie Skeete who has a lover every saturday night to wash away the week’s troubles. Also living the brownstone house is Miss Mary and her daughter Maritze. Miss Mary used to work for a white family and in her old age lying on the bed, all she does is recall the times she worked for the family. This nostalgia angers her daughter Maritze who believes her mother was mistreated and abandoned by the white family. Maritze prays to god and whispers “I don’t want to hear about those people…I don’t want to hear…” When Silla comes home and Deighton meets her, they argue over Deighton’s “idleness.” Silla wishes Deighton would save money for the down payment of the house, but instead he buys silk shirts and wastes his time learning about jobs he will never get. Beyond his uselessness in finances, Deighton continues to see a concubine which infuses resentment in his wife. When Deighton tells Silla of the land, Silla screams at him to sell it so they can pay off their home, but he refuses and says he will do what he pleases. Silla then states that the land is a lie which angers Deighton who teases her by saying ” you’s god; you must know.” After Deighton storms out of the house, Silla meets with her pregnant friend Virgie Farnum to whom she explains her indignation of Deighton. Virgie agrees, and explains of the hardship Deighton causes for his loving mother back in Barbados who spoiled him with love and money she didn’t have. At night, Ina tells her mother that Selina and her father were talking about the land, thus Silla seeks to confront Selina to gain more information. When she does so, Silla struggles to get Selina to speak and strikes her child. Selina tells her mother she wouldn’t mind going to Barbados with her father. This enrages Silla who screams that she was “third class,” “working harder than a man at 10 years old” and about how she begged her mother to send her to America where she would work and send money. But Silla ended up with a no good man and a brought a child in the world ” to whip [her].”

Book 2 of Brownstones, Brown Girl Begins with Selina going to Beryl’s home so the two can go to Prospect park. Their, Beryl’s father express his distaste of Deighton Boyce, calling him a “disgrace” for not knowing how to handle a family or finances. On the bus to Prospect park, Selina believes she is free of her home and troubles. At the park, the two go to the zoo, watch lovers on the grass, and see boys playing baseball. Sitting under the shade, Beryl explains to Selina how she “bleeds” and gets cramps, and how her figure is improving. Beryl says it will happen to Selina soon, but Selina objects saying that that it won’t.  Beryl says she Selina won’t understand as she is only a “kid” although Beryl is only one year older than her. Selina is ashamed and her prior feeling of freedom is gone as she is “still trapped within a hard flat body.”