Throughout this series it has been evident that several Caribbean migrants to America made significant contribution to Black and thus American history. Some of these individuals who may be lesser known as Caribbean descendants included:
Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan was born Louis Walcott in New York in 1933 to Sarah Mae Manning, an immigrant from St. Kitts and Nevis.
After dropping out of a teacher’s college in Boston in 1953, he embarked on a singing career, singing calypso and country songs in nightclubs.
In 1955 he joined the Nation of Islam and influenced by the teachings of Malcom X and the then leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad. When he was accepted in the Muslim faith his name was changed to Abdul Haleem Farrakhan, commonly known as Louis Farrakhan. Soon after, Muhammad appointed Farrakhan as minister of a Boston Temple originally established by Malcolm X. In 1964 he also followed Malcolm as the minister of a Muslim Temple in Harlem. However, when Muhammad died in 1975, and one of his son’s was chosen to succeed him, Farrakhan formed a break-away sect of the Nation of Islam characterized by its fervent anti-white stance and Black nationalism message. Farrakhan led the movement until his resignation in 2007.
Harry Belafonte
Harry George Belafonte, Jr. was born in New York City, New York in 1927, the son of Melvine, a housekeeper, and Harold George Belafonte, Sr., a Jamaican chef. When he was 5 years old he was sent to live with his paternal grandmother Jamaica and ttended Wolmers High School in Kingston until age 11.
Returning to the U.S. young Belafonte continued high school in New York, joined the U.S. Navy during WWII, and later attended the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York. On graduating he embarked on his famous (calypso) singing and acting career.
Dubbed the King of Calypso, his first recording hit was “Matilda” in 1953. His popular album “Calypso” was released in 1956 and quickly rose to the top of the charts. The music genre originating from Trinidad and Tobago quickly influenced the American musical scene.
Belafonte was the first Black man to win an Emmy, for his TV show, “Tonight with Harry Belafonte,” He also starred in several movies, including “Carmen Jones” with Dorothy Dandridge.
He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1989, and the National Medal of Arts in 1994 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
Paule Marshall,
Paule Marshall, renown American author was born Valenza Pauline Burke in Brooklyn, New York, 1929, the daughter of Barbadian migrants. She was educated at Brooklyn and Hunter Colleges where she displayed her writing talent..
She gained the admiration of another talented writer of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes, who selected her for a world tour on which they read their writings to appreciative audiences. Marshall excelled as a journalist, writer of short fictions, novels, and literate essays.
She is a MacArthur Fellow and former winner of the Dos Passos Prize for Literature. She was designated as a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library in 1994 and inducted into the Celebrity Path at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 2001
Her first novel was “Brown Girl, Brownstones” in 1959, one of the first novels by an African American writer, a book that ranks with the works of Claude Mackay, another Caribbean author, and reflected the link between American and West Indian Blacks.
Paule Marshall is regarded as one of most influential African American writers, whose work has influenced the twining of African American and Caribbean cultures.
Lani Guinier
An outstanding American attorney, Lani Guinier was born in New York City in 1950, the daughter of a Jewish mother, and a Jamaican migrant, Ewart Guinier, former Harvard professor and chairman of Harvard’s African-American Studies Department. Lani attended Radcliffe College and Yale Law School, and became a civil rights attorney. Upon graduating she served as an attorney to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
In 1993 President Bill Clinton nominated her as the first black woman to head the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. He pulled her nomination following strong criticism from Conservatives who criticized her views on democracy and voting. However, she later became an outspoken advocate on issues of race, women’s right and democratic decision making.
She authored the book, Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback into a New Vision of Social Justice, published in 1998, and “The Tyranny of the Majority” published in 1994.
In July 1998 she joined the Harvard Law Faculty; the first black woman tenured professor at Harvard Law School..
Madge Sinclair
International renown actress Madge Sinclair was born Madge Walters in Kingston, Jamaica in 1938. As a student in Jamaica she had a love for the theater, and performed in several school plays, and migrated to the US in 1968 in pursuit of an acting career..
She featured in her first movie, “Convoy,” in 1977 and the next year she had a major role in the epic TV mini-series “Roots,” receiving an Emmy Award. In the 1980’s she starred in the TV series “Trapper John M.D.” and also in the movie, “Coming to America.” In 1994 she was featured in “The Lion King.” In 1991, she received another Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series, “Gabriel’s Fire.”
Her maiden name was changed to Sinclair by her first marriage. She died in 1995 succumbing to Leukemia.
Tim Duncan
American baseball icon Tim Duncan was born in the Virgin Islands in 1976. He spent most his youth in St. Croix. He was an excellent swimmer who had dreams of going to the Olympics, but after a Hurricane destroyed the Olympic size pool in St. Croix in 1988, he gradually lost interest in swimming.
A very tall youth (6 ft 11 inches) he turned his attention to basketball, and quickly developed a unique talent. It wasn’t too long before he was drafted into US college (Wake Forrest) basketball in 1993. In 1997 he was drafted as the number one pick into the NBA by the San Antonio Spurs where he spent his entire professional career.. He assisted that team to win several four NBA Championships, and was named three times as the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. He was voted 12 times to the NBA All-Star Team. He is rired from the NBA in 2016.
Tyson Beckford
Actor and model Beckford was born in New York in 1970 son of a Jamaican-Panamanian father and a Jamaican-Chinese mother. He attended high school in Rochester, New York.
In 1992, Beckford, with his unique African-Chino features was hired by the outstanding designer Ralph Lauren as lead model for Lauren’s Polo line of men sportswear, the first Black male model to hold such a high-profile modeling assignment.
In 1995 he was named “Male Model of the Year” by VH1, and among the “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” by People Magazine. He has appeared on the covers of major US magazines, including Essence, Vogue, GQ and Details.
Although a successful male model, Beckford is also a successful film actor. He has featured in several movies including “Shottas” in 2002 and “Hotel California” in 2008.
Sanya Richards
US track star, Sanya Richards was born in Jamaica in 1985. She migrated with her family to the US in 1997 and settled in South Florida. She attended the St. Thomas High School in Fort Lauderdale, where she showed evidence of the champion athlete she would become. In 2002 she was named National High School Female of the Year, USA Track and Field’s Youth Athlete of the Year, and Track and Field News Women’s Prep Athlete of the Year. That year she also became a US citizen and made the decision to represent the US in track and field
In 2004 she won a gold medal in the 4 x 400 meters relay at the Athens Olympics. In 2008 she won another gold medal in the 4 x 400 meters relay at the Beijing Olympics, and a gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany.
In 2006 she was named the IAAF Female World Athlete of the Year.
Yolly Roberson
Former Florida House Representative Yolly Robinson was born in Haiti in 1955, She migrated to the US where she attended the University of Massachusetts gaining a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and New England School of Law where She gained her JD degree in 1988.
Relocating to South Florida she worked as a senior assistant attorney general in Fort Lauderdale. In 2002 she turned her attention to representative politics, and elected to represent District 104 in the Florida House of Representative, the first Caribbean-American to do so. She was subsequently reelected every two years until she termed out.. From 2004 to 2006 she served as the Democratic Whip.
