Janira Teague – University of California, Los Angeles

I, too, am America: African American and Afro-Caribbean Identity, Citizenship, and Migrations to New York City, 1830s-1930s

My dissertation contextualizes the early twentieth century simultaneous migrations of African American southerners and Afro-Caribbean colonists to the Harlem community of New York City, which housed one of the most conspicuous as well as ethnically and culturally diverse black populations in the country. In regards to the ethnic and cultural diversity, over two-thirds of black residents in New York City were southerners who participated in the early years of America’s Great Migration or Afro-Caribbean colonists, mainly Jamaicans and Barbadians, who participated in the first major voluntary immigration of black people to post- emancipation America. While most studies focus on the Harlem experiences of African Americans or Afro-Caribbean colonists, my dissertation is the only study to concentrate on an in-depth and evenhanded treatment of the southern migrants and Afro-Caribbean immigrants’ identity (labor, political, ethnic, racial and national) and circumstances in their states of origin, during their migrations and as residents of Harlem.

I argue that the simultaneous migrations and the subsequent increase in ethnic and cultural diversity in black New York City led to a change in the identities of the two groups and was necessary for Harlem’s development as the “Black Mecca” of cultural and political activities. Finally, my work engages how race and gender tempered the “becoming African American” story for immigrants of African descent. Overall, my project explores black ethnic and cultural diversity and contributes to the historiography of black citizenship and black migrations by situating black immigrants and their “becoming American” story into the narrative of America’s Great Migration, which is typically a national narrative. I am on target to submit a book proposal and sample chapters in 2017.

Please send any questions or comments to: bighist@berkeley.edu