As Black History Month is being celebrated across the United States, it is interesting to note several Black Caribbean Nationals and Caribbean Americans who contributed to the end of slavery, the civil rights and black power movements, as well as other significant contributions to our history. The history of Black America can be traced back to slavery, since many British planters at the time moved slaves between the Caribbean and America. Prince Hall (1735-1807) was a Barbadian national who became an important leader in the fight for the abolition of slavery. Born to a black mother and white father, he was both an abolitionist and a Masonic organizer. Under his leadership, the first charter for the establishment of a lodge of American Negroes was issued on April 29, 1787 authorizing the organization in Boston of African Lodge No. 459, a regular Lodge of Free and accepted Masons, with Hall as the Master. He was one of 8 Masons who signed a petition on January 13, 1777 requesting the Massachusetts state legislature to abolish slavery and declare it as incompatible with the the cause of American independence. He was later successful in urging Massachusetts to end its participation in the slave trade and he established the first "school for colored children" in Boston in 1800. Also attacking slavery in the late 1800's was Jamaican-born John B. Russwarm (1799-1851). He was only the second Black to be permitted to graduate from an American college. His mother was raped by a white man- John's father. He was raised in Maine. His father's white widow later insisted that he take the family surname, Russwurm. She paid for his preparatory education and financed his education through Bowdoin College, Maine. He graduated in 1826. Along with Presbyterian minister Samuel Cornish, Russwurm edited and published Freedom's Journal. The weekly newspaper, which first appeared March 16, 1827 in New York, attacked slavery and demanded full and equal citizenship for blacks. While he is not known to have fought against slavery, but was born to a slave mother, Haitian-born Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable (1745-1818) will forever be remembered as "The Father of Chicago." Pointe du Sable was the first known non-indigenous settler in the area which is now Chicago. As its first permanent resident, du Sable operated the first fur-trading post from 1780-1800. He died in 1818, the year Illinois became a state. On October 26, 1968, the State of Illinois declared him the Founder of Chicago, and in 1987, the US Postal Service issued a Black Heritage Series 22-cent stamp in his honor.
Other Caribbean-born nationals have played a role in US Black History. Long before there was Dr. Martin Luther King, there was Jamaican national Marcus Garvey, Jr., whose beliefs inspired many to push forward the rights of blacks across the US and the world. Although Garvey is most remembered as the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, he played a large role in the recognition of Caribbean immigrant contribution to the US, including helping establish Black History Month. He promoted business development and black pride in the era before the civil rights movement. Garvey was not alone in his contribution to the Black rights struggle. Trinidadian Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party during the civil rights era. Others were part of the Harlem Renaissance, which included Afro-Caribbean artists and intellectuals from the British West Indies who had migrated to New York in large numbers. At the end of World War I, Jamaican poet Claude McKay helped describe the reality of black life in America and the struggle for racial identity. So too did Eulalie Spence, the Nevis-born black female writer, teacher, actress and playwright, who came to the US in 1902. Spence taught English and education at Eastern District High School (replaced by The High School for Enterprise, Business and Technology) in Brooklyn from 1927-1958. In 1937, she received a BS from New York University and an MA in speech from Columbia University in 1939.
In legal circles, Constance Baker Motley (born to parents from Nevis) was the first black woman elected to the New York State Senate, the first woman who was Manhattan Borough President, and the first black federal court judge, named in 1966 to the post by President Johnson. Most of all, she is remembered for writing the original complaint in the case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1950. She was also the first African American woman ever to argue a case before the US Supreme Court. In Meredith v. Fair, she successfully won James Meredith's battle to be the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi. She was a key legal strategist in the civil rights movement, helping to desegregate Southern schools, buses and lunch counters.
There are many more Caribbean blacks who contributed significantly to our history. Regardless of our race, color or creed, Black History month is for all of us! And there is most likely a Caribbean-born national to thank. - Donna
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