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Author Brown, Tammy L., 1976- author.

Title City of islands : Caribbean intellectuals in New York / Tammy L. Brown
Published Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2015]

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Description 1 online resource
Series Caribbean studies series
Caribbean studies series (Jackson, Miss.)
Contents Prologue: An Autobiography of the Biographer -- The Personal Is Political : An Introduction -- Caribbean New York -- Ethelred Brown and the Character of New Negro Leadership -- Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness -- Pearl Primus and the Performance of African Diasporic Identities -- Shirley Chisholm and the Style of Multicultural Democracy -- Paule Marshall and the Voice of Black Immigrant Women -- Coda: "Garvey's Ghost" : Life after Death
Summary "Tammy L. Brown uses the life stories of West Indian intellectuals to investigate the dynamic history of immigration to New York and the long battle for racial equality in modern America. The majority of the 40,000 black immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island during the first wave of Caribbean immigration to New York hailed from the English-speaking Caribbean--mainly Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad. Arriving at the height of the Industrial Revolution and a new era in black culture and progress, these black immigrants dreamed of a more prosperous future. However, northern-style Jim Crow hindered their upward social mobility. In response, Caribbean intellectuals delivered speeches and sermons, wrote poetry and novels, and created performance art pieces challenging the racism that impeded their success. Brown traces the influences of religion as revealed at Unitarian minister Ethelred Brown's Harlem Community Church and in Richard B. Moore's fiery speeches on Harlem street corners during the age of the 'New Negro.' She investigates the role of performance art and Pearl Primus's declaration that 'dance is a weapon for social change' during the long civil rights movement. Shirley Chisholm's advocacy for women and all working-class Americans in the House of Representatives and as a presidential candidate during the peak of the Feminist Movement moves the book into more overt politics. Novelist Paule Marshall's insistence that black immigrant women be seen and heard in the realm of American Arts and Letters at the advent of 'multiculturalism' reveals the power of literature. The wide-ranging styles of West Indian campaigns for social justice reflect the expansive imaginations and individual life stories of each intellectual Brown studies. In addition to deepening our understanding of the long battle for racial equality in America, these life stories reveal the powerful interplay between personal and public politics"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 23, 2015)
Subject West Indian Americans -- New York (State) -- New York -- Intellectual life
West Indian Americans -- New York (State) -- New York -- Politics and government
Intellectuals -- New York (State) -- New York -- Biography
Immigrants -- New York (State) -- New York -- Biography
Social justice -- New York (State) -- New York -- History
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Ethnic Studies -- African American Studies.
HISTORY -- Caribbean & West Indies -- General.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Black Studies (Global)
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Discrimination & Race Relations.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Minority Studies.
Emigration and immigration
Immigrants
Intellectual life
Intellectuals
Race relations
Social justice
SUBJECT New York (N.Y.) -- Intellectual life. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh95005084
New York (N.Y.) -- Emigration and immigration -- History
New York (N.Y.) -- Race relations -- History
West Indies -- Emigration and immigration -- History
Subject New York (State) -- New York
West Indies
Genre/Form Electronic books
Biographies
History
Biographies.
Biographies.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2015018208
ISBN 9781626746398
1626746397
9781626746435
1626746435
1628462264
9781628462265
9781496813060
1496813065
9781626746404
1626746400