Black Migrants and Atlanta

Black migrants have contributed to the growth of the black middle class in many southern cities, having on average higher incomes than the South’s total African American population. Migrants also have higher levels of education than nonmigrants: more than 50% of black migrants are college graduates. Migration research show that in terms of socioeconomic status and education, migrants tend be more advantaged than those who they leave behind and less advantaged than those already living in their destination (Lee 1966). My data reveals that this pattern is not true for Afro-Caribbeans participating in the migration to Atlanta. They are not only faring better socioeconomically than African Americans in Atlanta but also their counterparts in New York City, who have a median household income of $35,758, a rate of homeownership of 35.1%, and a percentage of college graduates of 18.2% in 2000 (Logan 2007).

The presence of a predominantly middle class Afro-Caribbean migrant population in Atlanta may be a result of positive selection. In her book, West Indian Immigrants: A Black Success Story?, Suzanne Model offers selectivity theory—“a perspective that expects economically motivated migrants, irrespective of heritage, to be endowed with greater ability and drive than those who stay home” (2008: 143) —as an explanation for the socioeconomic success of Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the US, particularly regarding their (economic and social) advantages over African Americans, which has been the focus of many studies of the two black ethnic groups. It is likely that those who are poor, less educated, or less skilled are less motivated, or find it harder, to move to Atlanta—a destination with significantly fewer established Caribbean institutions and networks than a traditional destination like New York.

The Afro-Caribbeans in metro Atlanta, and in this study, have diverse national origins. The Afro-Caribbeans in this study are overwhelmingly Trinidadian and Jamaican, making up 33% and 30% of my respondents, respectively.[1] This occurrence was likely due to my use of snowball sampling, with respondents generally referring me to (national-origin) compatriots; in other words, Trinidadian migrants gave me referrals to other Trinidadian migrants in Atlanta within their family/friends network. However, the largest Afro-Caribbean group in Atlanta by far are the Jamaicans, which are twice as large as the second largest Afro-Caribbean group, Haitian. According to the 2005-2009 American Community Survey, Jamaicans made up 48% of the 75,553 Afro-Caribbean immigrants in metro Atlanta and Haitians formed 21%, while Trinidadians made up 6%; and the rest of the population was made up of smaller groups of other Caribbean countries (e.g., US Virgin Islanders, Dutch West Indians, and Bahamas).

A small percentage of the Afro-Caribbean migrants that I spoke with moved to Atlanta directly from the Caribbean.[2] Most Afro-Caribbeans are moving to Atlanta from other US cities, including other southern cities. According to the 2008-2010 American Community Survey, 52.7% of the foreign-born Afro-Caribbean population in Atlanta entered the US before 1990, suggesting that many of Afro-Caribbeans in the southern metropolis lived elsewhere in the US (i.e., a traditional Caribbean immigrant destination) before settling there (since the migration began to surge in the early 1990s). More than 50% of the Afro-Caribbeans that I spoke to migrated from northern US cities, of which the largest group by far migrated from New York, which was reported by 33% of all migrants as their destination of origin. Surprisingly, the second largest group migrated from other places in the South—namely from North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida. I didn’t expect any Afro-Caribbean immigrants to be moving to Atlanta from another southern city, particularly from any places in Florida, since Miami and Ft. Lauderdale have commonly been the places to which Afro-Caribbeans moved to escape the cold weather and fast pace of the Northeast—usually after living in New York. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut for a decade or more. The published literature on the Afro-Caribbean population have shown them return to (or retire and return to) their Caribbean homelands but have not shown them moving among places in the American South (DeWitt 1990).

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[1] There were 2nd generation Afro-Caribbeans in this study who were of mixed Caribbean ancestry that I added to the percentages for Jamaicans and Trinidadians: one was of Jamaican and Guyanese ancestry and the other was of Trinidadian and Barbadian ancestry.

[2] A small number of the Afro-Caribbean migrants in the study moved to Atlanta from outside the US and the Caribbean: one emigrated directly from England (London), another from Australia (but she had also lived in England and New York for a number of years), and another who was in the military from Korea. One Afro-Caribbean in this study moved from California, but she was originally from New York.