Caribbean migration into the U.S. - some history
(inmotionaame.org) The significant growth of the Caribbean community in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century is easily explained by the increasing economic hardship and disenchantment in the British West Indies and the simultaneous expansion of the U.S. economy with its relatively high wages and growing employment opportunities.
The British Caribbean experienced a catastrophic decline in its sugar industry. The British colonies found themselves unable to compete against cane sugar from Cuba and Brazil and against sugar beets produced in Europe. Between 1840 and 1900 the price of Jamaican sugar dropped almost 80 percent. The number of sugar estates on the island fell from 670 in 1836 to just 74 by 1910, drastically reducing the number of workers employed in the industry. Though banana cultivation expanded rapidly, it could never make up for the shortfall created by the collapse of the sugar economy. (learn more…)
