Afro-Caribbean Migration History

Migration has long been an important part of Caribbean culture and history. Since the abolition of racial slavery, movement within and away from the Caribbean has become a way of life for those seeking better job opportunities and financial stability for themselves and their families, due to the economic underdevelopment of the region (Kasinitz 1992; Vickerman 1999; Foner 2001; Bashi 2007). Initially, Afro-Caribbean migration was predominantly within the Caribbean region. Between 1835 and 1885, workers from the smaller islands were recruited to work in the larger Caribbean territories that had a labor shortage, particularly Trinidad and Guyana (then known as British Guiana) (Vickerman 1999; Model 2008). The 1850s saw Caribbean emigration extend beyond the region into Central America. Some 50,000 Afro-Caribbean workers migrated to Panama to construct railroads in the 1850s, and then thousands more poured into the Central American country to work on the Panama Canal (the first attempt by the French), beginning in the 1880s (Palmer 1995; Vickerman 1999; Model 2008). From 1885 to 1920, Afro-Caribbean migrants went to Cuba and the Dominican Republic to work on sugar cane plantations, Bermuda to work on the dry docks, Costa Rica to construct railroads and to work on banana plantations, Mexico to construct railroads, Venezuela to work in the oil fields, and Panama to resume and finish the construction of the Panama Canal (under American leadership) (Henke 2001; Kasinitz 1992; Vickerman 1999).

During this period, the first of three distinct waves of Caribbean immigration to the United States began (Kasinitz 1992; Owens-Watkins 1996; Henke 2001; Foner 2001). The first wave lasted from 1900 to 1920 and was a large group of between 19,000 and 73,000 people. The second wave of Caribbean immigration to the US lasted from the late 1930s to 1965 and drew the smallest group of Afro-Caribbean immigrants. The exact number of Afro-Caribbeans to enter during this period is unclear, due to the frequent use of British passports, but Kasinitz (1992) puts the total at less than 3000 a year. Between 1930 and 1940 emigration from the Caribbean slowed down significantly, and many migrants returned back to their Caribbean island homelands, due to the lack of economic opportunities caused by World War I and the Great Depression (Vickerman 1999: 61). In fact, more Afro-Caribbean immigrants returned to the Caribbean than those who moved out of it (Reid 1939; Vickerman 1999). Legislation that restricted the numbers of immigrants from the Caribbean that could enter the US reduced the size of the second wave. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States, by creating a national quota system that assigned each sending country a quota. The quota provided immigration visas for each country at 2 percent of that nation’s total population in the United States according to the 1890 US Census (Bashi 2007). A small number of mostly middle-class Afro-Caribbeans was able to enter using the underused British quota (Kasinitz 1992). In 1952, the passage of the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 separated the Caribbean territories from their mother countries and gave each island an annual quota of one hundred (Bashi 2007; Model 2008). The law decreased to a trickle the flow of Caribbean immigration to the US and redirected it towards Britain (Bashi 2008).

Emigration from the Caribbean to Britain began with post-World War II labor shortages. In 1948, the British government passed the Nationality Act, which allowed all subjects of the Commonwealth to enter Britain freely. By 1951, more than 17,000 Afro-Caribbeans had moved to Britain, and the numbers continued to grow after that (Model 2008). “Between 1955 and 1959, 20, 000 to 33, 000 migrants per year moved to the United Kingdom” (Bashi 2008: 61). But, this period of unrestricted movement from the Caribbean to Britain was short-lived. Afro-Caribbean immigration to Britain slowed down in 1962, after the Commonwealth Immigration Act restricted immigration from Britain’s former colonies and “made the United States once again the target destination for black migration” (Bashi 2007: 61).

The third and largest wave of Caribbean immigration to the US began in the late 1960s and continues to the present. The Hart-Cellar Immigration Reform Act of 1965 partially removed the quota system of the 1952 McCarran-Walter Act, which gave preference to northern European immigrants (Kasinitz 1992; Waters 1999). The reform lifted country quotas and replaced them with a system that emphasized family reunification and employment. “Under Hart-Cellar, 20 percent (later 30 percent) of quota visas were reserved for persons with particular skills; those entering under these preferences had to be certified by the U.S. Department of Labor. The remaining 80 percent (later 70 percent) of quota visas were reserved for relatives of American citizens or relatives of permanent residents of the United States” (Ngai 2004 as cited in Model 2008). This drastically changed the face of American immigration, opening the way for a surge in “non-white” immigrants from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Since the start of the third wave, emigration from the Caribbean has increased exponentially, and Afro-Caribbean migrants have formed large, culturally distinct neighborhoods in several major US cities, along the East Coast (Foner 2001; Kasinitz 1992). Meanwhile, intra-Caribbean migration continues to this day but on a smaller scale. Most migrants move back and forth between their home islands and working abroad as a way to improve their status at home (Kasinitz 1992).