Caribbean Diaspora in the USA: Diversity of Caribbean Religions in New York City

Variations of Caribbean Culture(s) in New York City 13
Apart from these public stages in New York City there is also a private dimension
of public social life. Access to this is granted only to those who are invited, to relatives
or friends of the host. In particular religious communities observe the strict rule of
‘controlled otherness’, but other groups also follow this rule. Whoever behaves badly
or prefers individuality and freedom to community and bond is excluded from this
kind of urban culture. This observation seems to be in opposition to the image of New
York as a symbol of individualism. However, New York City is more than a city for the
marginalized. A characteristic of many if not all migrant communities is the high number
of social activities, of social and cultural groups and organizations. Some institutions
are identical to those in the home country, other are founded in particular for migrants in
the Diaspora. As a consequence, leisure time activities remain ethnically divided.
Caribbean Culture in New York City I: Carnival
At this point I will turn to the most striking public performance of the Caribbean
community directed to the outside world: the West Indian American Day Carnival in
Brooklyn. Similar to the Caribbean carnival in London and Toronto, the Labor Day
Parade in Brooklyn is based on the Trinidadian version of carnival which has led
to the development of a pan-Caribbean identity, with the exception of the Spanishspeaking
Caribbean. For this reason the carnival cannot be seen as representative
of all Caribbean migrants, as Anglophone migrants remain the dominant part.
Nevertheless, it has influenced the representation of Caribbean immigrants in New
York City (their public image, that is), and continues to do so today.
The first Caribbean festivals were celebrated in New York City in the 1920s,
during the first major phase of Caribbean immigration. Though the first migrants
from the West Indies arrived in the USA shortly after the abolishment of slavery,
immigration increased at the turn of the century: in 1899 only 832 migrants lived in
New York City, in 1924 this number had already grown to 12,243 (Kasinitz 1995: 24).
The relatively large number of Caribbean immigrants arriving in the USA during the
first decades of the twentieth century integrated with African-Americans in an almost
problem-free manner, settling in their neighbourhoods, for instance in Harlem where
the first carnival festivals were celebrated (celebrations took place indoors due to
the weather conditions; Kasinitz 1995: 140). Because of the outstanding economic
success of migrants in this first phase, people often stereotypically consider migrants
from the West Indies as very good at business.
During the second phase of Caribbean immigration (from the depression until the
change of the immigration act in 1965), only a few migrants from the Anglophone
Caribbean arrived in the USA. They were predominately educated middle-class
people, speaking better English than other immigrants. Like other migrant groups
(see, for instance, Figure 2.1) Caribbean migrants organized an ethnic parade to
celebrate their identity, in the case of the Caribbean migrants a carnival parade. The
first one took place on Labor Day in 1947 in Harlem. These Caribbean migrants
insisted on keeping their British passports instead of applying for US citizenship.