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UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles I, Too, Am America: African UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles I, too, am America: African-American and Afro-Caribbean Identity, Citizenship and Migrations to New York City, 1830's to1930's A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Janira Phedre Teague 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION I, too, am America: African-American and Afro-Caribbean Identity, Citizenship and Migrations to New York City, 1830's to1930's by Janira Phedre Teague Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Brenda Stevenson, Chair My dissertation contextualizes the early twentieth century simultaneous migrations of Afro-Caribbean colonists and African-American southerners to New York City, which housed the most ethnically and culturally diverse black population in the country. The southern migrants and Afro-Caribbean immigrants’ ideals and identity in their homeland, and after they settled in their destination city are explored. Considering, as it does, persons of African descent who live in the United States and the British Caribbean, it is also an Atlantic world study. It engages how the simultaneous migrations and the relationship that was developed between the southern migrants and Afro-Caribbean immigrants led to a change in the community and in the identity of the Harlemnites. ii The dissertation of Janira Phedre Teague is approved. Kathleen A Lytle Hernandez Kevin B Terraciano Devon W. Carbado Brenda Stevenson, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iii To my mother and father, Eugene Teague and Sandra Horton-Teague and to my husband, Kwame White iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments vi Curriculum Vitae viii Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Is Slavery Over? African-American Economic and Political Identity in the American South, 1865-1905 18 Chapter Three: Imperial Subjects: Jamaican Economic and Political Identity, 1830's-1905 51 Chapter Four: On to Harlem: A Transnational Perspective, 1890-1930's 89 Chapter Five: I, too, am America: The Construction of a New Identity, 1915-1930's 128 v Acknowledgments I have incurred many debts during the research and writing of this dissertation, which I am happy to acknowledge. I am grateful for research fellowships, travel fellowships and travel grants that I received from the Department of History at UCLA, The Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA (Bunche Center), and the UCLA Institute of American Cultures (IAC). I am especially grateful for the assistance of Ana-Christina Ramon and Belinda Tucker with IAC, Hadley Porter in the Department of History and Eboni Shaw in the Department of African American Studies. I also wish to thank Jan Freeman and the Bunche Center staff and the History Department staff. I greatly benefitted from a Teaching Fellowship through the UCLA Center for American Politics and Public Policy. The fellowship provided the opportunity to teach and conduct research in Washington D.C., where I worked with Prof. James Desveaux. While in the nation’s capital, I combed through collections at the National Archives and the Library of Congress. I especially spent a significant amount of time in the Law Library, the Main Reading Room, the Manuscript Division and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress. I would like to thank the librarians and archivist at the National Archives and the Library of Congress. In the course of my research, I gathered the majority of my primary sources in New York City, especially at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. At the Schomburg, I spent a tremendous amount of time in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division. I am grateful for the assistance that I received from the librarians and archivist there. In addition, I wish to thank those at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, vi Columbia University; the National Archives, New York City; George Tselos and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum; and New York State Archives. I am extremely grateful for the scholars who mentored, supported and guided me. Irma Watkins-Owens was very supportive. At Kent State University, I received encouragement from Sherice Freeman, Diedre Badejo, and Melody Baker. At UCLA, I greatly appreciated assistance from Scot Brown, Devon Carbado, Sarah Hayley, Robert Hill and Kevin Terraciano. Kelly Lytle Hernandez was extremely supportive and encouraging. Brenda Stevenson believed in me when I did not believe in myself, which enabled me to complete this dissertation. I will forever be grateful for her support. Finally, I wish to thank my friends and family. I could not have succeeded without the support of my fellow Bruins; Jennifer Garcia, Cory Gooding, Kim Griffin, and Guadalupe Escobar. Beyond UCLA, I appreciate support from Stephanie Arku, Barbara Curd, and LaJohnne Morris. I can never adequately thank Jimise Teague, Jabari Teague, Kathleen Teague, Eugene Teague, Sandra Horton-Teague, and Kwame White. I will always appreciate their unfailing support. vii Curriculum Vitae Education Candidate in Philosophy Field of Study: American History University of California Los Angeles Masters of Arts Degree in African American Studies Concentration: American History University of California Los Angeles Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology Minor: Political Science Kent State University Conferences/ Paper Presentations • UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center Circle of Thought Los Angeles, CA May 2013 Paper Presentation: I, too, am America: Migrations, Identity and Citizenship, 1890s-1930s • 2013 Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA April 2013 Paper Presentation: I, too, am American: Migrations and Citizenship Status, New York City, 1890s-1930s • A Hearing and A Listening: Stories of the African Diaspora Pasadena City College February 2012 Invited Talk: I, too, am America: Black Migrations and Identity, 1890- 1930’s Papers and Publications • Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California Los Angeles I, too, am America: African-American and Afro-Caribbean Identity, Citizenship, and Migrations to New York City, 1830s-1930s • Janira Teague, Untitled, book review of Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial, by James A. Miller, The Journal of African American History Vol 96 (2011): 265 • M.A. Thesis, University of California Los Angeles June 2004 The Breeder of Human Cattle: Slave Breeding During American Slavery viii Research UCLA UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies Graduate Student Research Assistant Nov 2011- June 2012 Graduate Student Research Assistant for Brenda E. Stevenson, Professor of History Oct. 2004 - June 2009 Teaching Experience UCLA Teaching Instructor • Course: I, too, am America: Race, Immigration and Citizenship • UCLA Teaching Fellow • Course: History 195 Civic Engagement Course: Interracial Dynamics in American Society and Culture • Course: UCLA Center for American Politics and Public Policy Quarter in Washington D.C. Research Seminar UCLA Teaching Assistant • Course: Latin American Social History • Course: African History, 1800-Present • Course: Colonial American History Honors & Awards University of California Los Angeles • UCLA Department of History Dissertation Year Fellowship • UCLA Bunche Center for African American Studies Travel Stipend • UCLA Department of History Carey McWilliams Travel Stipend • UCLA Institute of American Cultures Research Grant • UCLA Pre-dissertation Fellowship • UCLA Graduate Research Mentorship Award • UCLA Department of History Eugene Cota Robles Fellowship • UCLA Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Award • UCLA Regents Stipend • UCLA IDP Afro American Studies Departmental Funding Professional Affiliations • Organization of American Historians • American Historical Association ix Chapter One: Introduction “I, too, am America,” claimed the African-American literary artist and Harlemnite, Langston Hughes, in a career-defining poem titled I, too. Hughes lived in a New York City that housed the most culturally and ethnically diverse black population in the nation. The residents there grappled with their American identity, various views on race, and unrecognized citizenship rights, as Hughes did in his poem. With regards to the city’s diversity, over 40,000 immigrants from the Caribbean colonies settled within the black communities, which also held a significant population of African-American southerners who participated in the early twentieth century wave of America’s Great Migration.1 My dissertation examines the simultaneous relocation of black southerners and British Caribbean colonists, especially Jamaicans, to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. It engages their intellectualism, the development of their nuanced relationship and a change in their identity and citizenship status as a result of their movement. It is a becoming an American story from a black perspective. Specifically, this research traces aspects of the southern migrants’ and Afro-Caribbean immigrants’ ideals, citizenship status as well as their political and economic identity before, during and after their migration. Enfranchisement, political engagement, and political party affiliation are the central components of their political plight examined. Wages, labor, land ownership and property ownership are the principal components of their economic plight explored. This dissertation contends that the simultaneous migrations and the subsequent relationship between the southern migrants and Afro-Caribbean immigrants led to new citizenship
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