“Move to Atlanta, You Will Live Longer!”

The second major theme among the migration stories of Afro-Caribbeans in Atlanta is moving to the southern city for a better quality of life. The majority of the Afro-Caribbean migrants that I spoke to listed quality of life factors as playing as important a role in their decision to move to Atlanta.. The indicators of the better quality of life that Atlanta offered varied from migrant to migrant; but, for the most part, the Afro-Caribbean transplants in Atlanta that I interviewed indicated a better quality of life as having a warmer climate, thriving environment, and slower and more relaxed pace, compared to the cities that they left.

Afro-Caribbean migrants in this study reported being attracted to Atlanta because they viewed the city as “a good place for a new beginning.” Those who lived in other US cities before moving to Atlanta—especially those who lived in cities in the Northeast for a number of years—told me that they heard the city was up-and-coming and thought it would be a good place to start over. Talia, a migrant of Trinidadian descent in her late thirties, didn’t know much about Atlanta before moving there in 1996, but she had heard from others while she was still in New York that it was an up-and-coming city. She told me that at the time she was young and wanted to get out of New York City and so she decided to try living in Atlanta. Another Afro-Caribbean migrant, Jennifer, a Jamaican woman in her late forties, also decided to move to Atlanta, as she and her husband were looking for a place to start over and heard it was an up-and-coming city.

Atlanta’s warm climate was a major draw for Afro-Caribbean immigrants. Many of those who migrated from cities in the Northeast, particularly New York and Boston, described being tired of the cold and snowy winters in the Northeast. Having lived in the Northeast most of my life, I completely understood why Atlanta’s warmer climate would appeal to Afro-Caribbeans living there. However, when I moved to Atlanta in 2009, the climate was much colder than I expected, especially during the winter months, when I saw a few snowfalls. Several Afro-Caribbeans who had lived in Atlanta since the 1990s informed me that the southern city’s climate had gotten colder over the past decade. Despite this, Atlanta still has warmer weather than New York and the other northern cities that Afro-Caribbeans moved from. Andrew, a Trinidadian-born migrant in his sixties, was one of many Caribbean New Yorkers who left the city in search of a warmer climate. After living in New York for 25 years, Andrew decided to leave and relocate someplace warmer because he no longer wanted to shovel snow every winter. He told me that he chose Atlanta mainly based on its weather.

Along with a warmer climate, Afro-Caribbeans that moved from northern US cities were looking for a slower pace of life in Atlanta. This was especially true for New York-origin Afro-Caribbean transplants in Atlanta, many of whom told me that they felt New York was too fast-paced, with its 24-hour lifestyle, and decided to relocate to Atlanta so they could slow down and live a more relaxed life. Migrants also mentioned moving to Atlanta to get away from the hostility that has become synonymous with New York City. Afro-Caribbean immigrants in Atlanta that I spoke to described that people in Atlanta as generally being friendlier than those in northern cities. Many told me that they had changed significantly from living in Atlanta, becoming calmer and friendlier than when they lived elsewhere. They claimed to notice the change the most when they went back to the North to visit friends.

Dwight’s migration story provides a good example of how he viewed moving to Atlanta as a way to improve the quality of life of him and his family. He was born in St. Kitts and grew up in the Bronx after his family immigrated there when he was a child. Dwight and his wife moved from New York to Atlanta in 2007 because they wanted to slow down. Their lives had become too busy in New York. He was a partner in a New York law firm, working 65 to 80 hours a week, while his wife was a social worker at a private agency, working about 60 hours a week. Due to their schedules, they were passing each other coming to and from work. They wanted to start a family, so they decided to leave New York and relocate to Atlanta because they thought it offered a better quality of life than New York. Dwight got this idea about Atlanta, after noticing how much younger and relaxed his wife’s cousin, Anthony (whose story of moving to Atlanta on faith I discussed earlier in this chapter) looked than they did, whenever he would come back to New York to visit. Since they moved to Atlanta, Dwight and his wife get complimented on how young and relaxed they look, when they visit New York. When I interviewed Dwight, he told me that he believed you could add years to your life by moving to Atlanta.

            Like Dwight, Afro-Caribbean migrants who were looking for a better quality of life saw moving to Atlanta as having significant health benefits. Whether these perceived health improvements are related to moving to Atlanta, or to moving out of crowded northern metro areas, is not clear. But, what is clear is that the possibility for improving their quality of life plays a significant role in the movement of Afro-Caribbean immigrants to Atlanta. Not only quality of life has drawn Afro-Caribbeans to Atlanta but the idea that for them, Atlanta represents a universe of black people from different cultural, educational, class, and social background and different parts of the world and United States.