Blood Relations: Caribbean Immigrants and the Harlem Community, 1900-1930 (Blacks in the Diaspora) [Hardcover]

Irma Watkins-Ownes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1996 | Series: Blacks in the Diaspora

In "Blood Relations", Irma Watkins-Owens focuses on the complex interaction of African Americans and African Caribbeans in Harlem during the first decades of the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1930, 40,000 Caribbean immigrants settled in New York City and joined with African Americans to create the unique ethnic community of Harlem. Watkins-Owens confronts issues of Caribbean immigrant and black American relations, placing their interaction in the context of community formation. She draws the reader into a cultural milieu that included the radical tradition of stepladder speaking; Marcus Garvey's contentious leadership; the underground numbers operations of Caribbean immigrant entrepreneurs; and the literary renaissance and emergence of black journalists. Through interviews, census data, and biography, Watkins-Owens shows how immigrants and southern African American migrants settled together in railroad flats and brownstones, worked primarily at service occupations, often lodged with relatives or home people, and strove to 'make it' in New York.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

IRMA WATKINS-OWENS is Assistant Professor and Director of the African American and African Studies Institute at Fordham University-Lincoln Center Campus.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253330246
• ISBN-13: 978-0253330246
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,851,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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