Caribbeans in US History By Annan Boodram February 2002: Significant among the tremendous contributions of Africans to the American ethos, is the contributions of Caribbeans. The following is a brief, but not exhaustive lineup:                                                                            Shirley A. Chisolm Shirley A. Chisholm was the first African-American woman elected to Congress and a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. After retiring from politics in 1982, Chisholm moved to Florida, where she writes, lectures, and reads biographies. Born in New York on November 30, 1924, Shirley Chisholm grew up in Brooklyn where her Barbadian parents, long on discipline but strong on love, survived the depths of depression and poverty to give their children college educations. Her career in politics started in the early 1950's at the lowest rung on the political ladder, in Brooklyn's boss-run Democratic clubhouses. Persistently challenging the inequities of the machine, she came to be regarded as a trouble-making maverick -but one to be reckoned with. Her rise from local clubhouse worker to New York State Assembly-woman in Albany to Representative in the U.S. Congress was accomplished by the will of a dynamic, fighting woman with an unswerving belief in her own purpose: to put the needs of her people before political expediency.                                                                              Claude McKay Claude McKay is regarded as one of the first significant writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Jamaica, he arrived in the United States in 1912 at the age of 21 and had already gained recognition as a poet with his book Songs of Jamaica, published in 1911. He attended Tuskegee Institute and Kansas State University, then traveled to New York and participated in the literary movements there, both in Harlem and in Greenwich Village. His sonnet, "If We Must Die," is his most popular poem. He earned his living as a porter on the railroad and was a resident of Harlem. His book of poems, Harlem Shadows, published in 1922, was a precursor to the Harlem Renaissance. He also became associate editor of The Liberator, a socialist magazine of art and literature. Among his many books, Home to Harlem, published in the spring of 1928, became the first novel by a Harlem writer to reach the bestseller list.                                                                           Marcus Mosiah Garvey Garvey was born in Jamaica and immigrated to Harlem in 1916 at the age of 28. In his homeland he had been an admirer of Booker T. Washington's philosophy of self-improvement for people of African descent and had formed the Jamaica Improvement Association. When he arrived in America his ideas expanded and he became a Black Nationalist. His political goal was to take Africa back from European domination and build a free and United Black Africa. He advocated the Back-to-Africa Movement and organized a shipping company called the Black Star Line which was part of his program to conduct international trade between black Africans and the rest of the world in order to "uplift the race" and eventually return to Africa. Garvey launched the Universal Negro Improvement Association with the goal of unifying "all the Negro peoples of the world into one great body and to establish a country and government absolutely on their own". The U.N.I.A. grew quickly. By 1919 there were over 30 branches throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa. Garvey claimed over a million people had joined his organization in 3 years. In nine years Garvey built the largest mass movement of people of African descent in this country's history. It began to fail after he was convicted of mail fraud and was deported from the U.S. The Black Star Line failed because of purported mismanagement and lack of sufficient funds. However, the U.N.I.A. still survives today and Garvey left a legacy of racial pride and identification with a glorious African heritage for African Americans.                                                                                Malcolm X Malcolm X (Malcolm Little; later El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz)(1925-1965), a leading figure in the 20th-century movement for black liberation in the United States, and arguably its most enduring symbol, has been called many things: Pan-Africanist, father of Black Power, religious fanatic, closet conservative, incipient socialist , and a menace to society. The meaning of his public life-his politics and ideology-has gained national acceptance after his death and he has been eulogized by a stamp and a film among other things. Other Caribbeans who have pioneered the way for blacks include: · Colin Powell: Of Jamaican ancestry Powell is a man of many firsts: first black army chief, first black head of the armed forces and currently first black secretary of state. · Sir Sidney Poitier: Of Bahamanian ancestry he broke the color barrier at Hollywood and changed the way blacks were perceived and presented. · Harry Belafonte: A Jamaican who set the stage for major African singers/entertainers to gain national acceptance. · Kareem Abdul Jabbar: Of Trinidadian background, he was among the first major black basketball stars. · Eric Holder: A Barbadian and the first black to become Deputy US Attorney General · Maurice Ashley: Of Jamaican ancestry, he is the first black chess grandmaster in the US. · Egbert Austin Williams: An Antigua, who was the first major black comedian and international vaudevillian performer. · Raymond Jones: From the US Virgin Islands, he was the first black to climb to the top of the Democratic Party machinery in New York City and set the base for the emergence of black politicians in the city. · Marie Brooks: From Guadeloupe, she internationalized Afro-Caribbean dance as she carved her own niche on the global dance landscape. · Carlos Lezama: This Trinidadian has helped to establish Carnival as the single most popular outdoor event in the US. · Louis Farrakhan: The controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, has established himself as an activist with a following. He is of Caribbean background - mother from St. Kitts and father from Jamaica.