West Indian Migration

In Pilgrims from the Sun, Ransford Palmer chronicles the migration of people from the English-speaking Caribbean to the United States, detailing the largely economic reasons for their departure and the cultural reasons for their successful settlement. Close to 700,000 West Indian immigrants and their children live in America today with the greatest concentrations in the New York City and Miami areas. The high value they place on hard work, education, home ownership, private savings, and family loyalty writes Palmer, has helped to rank West Indians among the most socioeconomically successful immigrant groups in the United States. Palmer looks not only at West Indians permanently residing in the United States - many of whom are employed in services, the fastest-growing sector of the economy - but also at temporary residents, in particular farm workers in Florida's sugar industry and students, and at the problem of illegal immigration. He assesses the interrelationship of migration, employment, and trade in the island and U.S. economies, and he argues that only accelerated economic growth in the islands will stem the tide of migration. Despite recent attempts by many Caribbean countries to free up their economies and to create development programs in cooperation with the European community as well as the United States, the promise of higher living standards in America remains too powerful for many West Indians to resist.

This collection of original essays draws on a variety of theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and empirical data to explore the effects of West Indian migration and to develop analytic frameworks to examine it.

Study of aspects of recent large-scale entry of West Indian immigrants into the UK - covers economic implications, sociological aspects, employment opportunities, resultant urban area population dynamics, etc., and comments on relevant legislation (the Commonwealth immigrants act). Maps showing distribution of such immigrants in the country, references, and statistical tables on coloured immigrants (incl. Of Pakistani and Indian immigrants).

Study of aspects of recent large-scale entry of West Indian immigrants into the UK - covers economic implications, sociological aspects, employment opportunities, resultant urban area population dynamics, etc., and comments on relevant legislation (the Commonwealth immigrants act). Maps showing distribution of such immigrants in the country, references, and statistical tables on coloured immigrants (incl. Of Pakistani and Indian immigrants).

West Indian migration has attracted considerable attention in recent years. There is a growing body of sociological literature dealing with various aspects of the adjustment of West Indian, as well as other, immigrants in Britain. This book looks at the continuing relationships these migrants maintain with the societies they have left.

Winner of the 2018 Gordon K. and Sybil Farrell Lewis Award for the best book in Caribbean studies from the Caribbean Studies Association This book tells a distinct story of Indians in the Caribbean--one concentrated not only on archival records and institutions, but also on the voices of the people and the ways in which they define themselves and the world around them. Through oral history and ethnography, Lomarsh Roopnarine explores previously marginalized Indians in the Caribbean and their distinct social dynamics and histories, including the French Caribbean and other islands with smaller South Asian populations. He pursues a comparative approach with inclusive themes that cut across the Caribbean. In 1833, the abolition of slavery in the British Empire led to the import of exploited South Asian indentured workers in the Caribbean. Today India bears little relevance to most of these Caribbean Indians. Yet, Caribbean Indians have developed an in-between status, shaped by South Asian customs such as religion, music, folklore, migration, new identities, and Bollywood films. They do not seem akin to Indians in India, nor are they like Caribbean Creoles, or mixed-race Caribbeans. Instead, they have merged India and the Caribbean to produce a distinct, dynamic local entity. The book does not neglect the arrival of nonindentured Indians in the Caribbean since the early 1900s. These people came to the Caribbean without an indentured contract or after indentured emancipation but have formed significant communities in Barbados, the US Virgin Islands, and Jamaica. Drawing upon over twenty-five years of research in the Caribbean and North America, Roopnarine contributes a thorough analysis of the Indo-Caribbean, among the first to look at the entire Indian diaspora across the Caribbean.

West Indian immigrants to the United States fare better than native-born African Americans on a wide array of economic measures, including labor force participation, earnings, and occupational prestige. Some researchers argue that the root of this difference lies in differing cultural attitudes toward work, while others maintain that white Americans favor West Indian blacks over African Americans, giving them an edge in the workforce. Still others hold that West Indians who emigrate to this country are more ambitious and talented than those they left behind. In West Indian Immigrants, sociologist Suzanne Model subjects these theories to close historical and empirical scrutiny to unravel the mystery of West Indian success. West Indian Immigrants draws on four decades of national census data, surveys of Caribbean emigrants around the world, and historical records dating back to the emergence of the slave trade. Model debunks the notion that growing up in an all-black society is an advantage by showing that immigrants from racially homogeneous and racially heterogeneous areas have identical economic outcomes. Weighing the evidence for white American favoritism, Model compares West Indian immigrants in New York, Toronto, London, and Amsterdam, and finds that, despite variation in the labor markets and ethnic composition of these cities, Caribbean immigrants in these four cities attain similar levels of economic success. Model also looks at "movers" and "stayers" from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana, and finds that emigrants leaving all four countries have more education and hold higher status jobs than those who remain. In this sense, West Indians immigrants are not so different from successful native-born African Americans who have moved within the U.S. to further their careers. Both West Indian immigrants and native-born African-American movers are the "best and the brightest"—they are more literate and hold better jobs than those who stay put. While political debates about the nature of black disadvantage in America have long fixated on West Indians' relatively favorable economic position, this crucial finding reveals a fundamental flaw in the argument that West Indian success is proof of native-born blacks' behavioral shortcomings. Proponents of this viewpoint have overlooked the critical role of immigrant self-selection. West Indian Immigrants is a sweeping historical narrative and definitive empirical analysis that promises to change the way we think about what it means to be a black American. Ultimately, Model shows that West Indians aren't a black success story at all—rather, they are an immigrant success story.