Sterling Jamaican Immigration Oral History

Conclusion

Works Cited

Text Citations

Thompson, P., & Bauer, E. (2003). Evolving Jamaican migrant identities: Contrasts between

Britain, Canada and the USA, Community, Work & Family. Community, Work & Family, 6(1), 89-102. https://doi.org/10.1080/1366880032000063923

Butcher, K. F. (1994). Black Immigrants in the United States: A Comparison with Native

Blacks and other Immigrants. ILR Review, 47(2), 265-284. https://doi.org/10.1177/001979399404700207

Ferguson, G. M., & Bornstein, M. H. (2012). Remote acculturation: The “Americanization”

of Jamaican Islanders. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 36(3), 167-177. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025412437066

The interview that was conducted with my father was a great primary source to learn more about Carribbean immigration, and more specifically Jamaican. The other scholarly sources I used back up many of the points made by the interview subject, and it seems that many other Jamaican immigrants have had similar experiences. While finding spaces in communities where they could find people with similar looks and experiences, there was still a level of unfamiliarity with the American culture. Many Jamaican American immigrants, while coming to the US was a decision of their choosing, also have a different outlook on life in America. Cultural factors and ideals these groups were raised with, offer them different perspectives on life in the US.

Zong, J., & Batalova, J. (2016, September 14). Caribbean Immigrants in the United States.

migrationpolicy.org. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/caribbean-immigrants-united-states-2014

Image Citation

The Office of the Prime Minister, Jamaica's National Symbols Coat of Arms, Retrieved

11/14/2023 from https://opm.gov.jm/symbols/coat-of-arms/

Migration Policy Institute (2016) Employed Workers in the Civilian Labor Force (Ages 16

and Older) by Occupation and Origin, 2014 [table]. Caribbean Immigrants in the United States, Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova, Washington D.C. Retrieved 12/11/2023 from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/caribbean-immigrants-united-states-2014

Remote Acculturation: The "Americanization of Jamaican Islanders

This article talks about Jamaicans both still in the islands and immigrants in the US. Altough Jamaican immigrants have always been reported to have a strong sense of identity within their own culture, they do take ssome aspects of others they find they can cling to.

"For example, 40% of Black Jamaican Immigrants in Ferguson et al.’s (in press) study were tri-cultural, having a strong orientation towards their ethnic culture, African American culture, and European American culture. As most receiving nations are today multicultural, it is likely that immigrants will acculturate according to a multidimensional model" (Remote Acculturation).

In the interview, the subject talked about choosing to go to an HBCU despite not clinging fully to African American culture. However because of the possibility of connection there being higher than connection to white communites, he chose to go there. Immersing himself in African American culture did not take away from his strong sense of identity in being Jamaican.

20th/21st Century Jamaican Immigration & The American Dream

Interview

My interview subject was my father, who left Jamaica in 1986 and immigrated to Pennsylvania at 18 years old. He came to the US on a soccer scholarship to Cheyney University, and stayed to pursue futher education/to settle.

Caribbean Immigrants in the United States

Gabrielle Sterling

This article reviews statistics of different socioeconomic factors and compares them. Caribbean American immigrants despite facing certain levels of prejudice, still have quite high education and income rates compared to other immigrants and US born individuals.

Immigration & The American Dream- Section 01 12/11/2023

"Caribbean immigrants were much more likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens than the overall immigrant population. In 2014, 58 percent of the 4 million Caribbean immigrants residing in the United States were naturalized citizens, compared to 47 percent of all foreign-born individuals. Jamaican immigrants had the highest naturalization rate (66 percent)," (Caribbean Immigrants).

"Among all Caribbean immigrants, those from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago had higher median household incomes ($51,000 and $52,000, respectively) and lower poverty rates (13 percent and 15 percent, respectively)," (Carribbean Immigrants).

Research Question

Black Immigrants in the United States

Evolving Jamaican Migrant Identities

In other words, what are some things Jamaican immigrants experience as a part of the assimilation process? How does their experience in the US differ in comparison to that African American and other Caribbean groups ?

What kinds of challenges do Jamaican immigrants face after arriving in the US, and how does this differ from the experience of US born African Americans and other Caribbean immigrants?

"Coming to America, it’s like a culture shock, because the things I see people do, because of the colour of your skin, seem to me stupid. If you are going to tell somebody, ‘You have your money, but you can’t live in a certain area because you’re black’, ‘You cannot get a certain loan because you are black’ ... to me it is outrageous" (Thompson & Bauer, 97).

"Highly educated people from foreign countries may be the victims not of explicit xenophobia, but of a lack of information" (Butcher, 276).

This article talks about everything from cultural difference, education rate differences, to labor and wage differences between Jamaican immigrants, African Americans, other immigrant groups, and even "Native whites" as the article refers to them.

Many of the immigrants in this article detail their experience coming to America and the culture shocks that came along with this. A theme that came up in this paper and also within my interview was not understanding the hierarchy and systemic structure of racism in the US. Many simply thought the concept of boxing people into certain categories, especially economically, on the basis of race was absurd.

"Apart from discrimination, another reason employers may be unwilling to hire better-educated immigrants is that they simply do not know how to assess the quality, or even the level, of immigrants' education either because employers are not familiar with educational institutions or standards in other countries or because well-educated illegal immigrants cannot use their credentials to acquire jobs commensurate with their education levels" (Butcher, 276).

This specific quote is relevant to the interview was my subject mentioned xenophobia faced and the negative stereotypes Jamaicans and other immigrants faced.

Jamaican Crest w/ National Motto mentioned by interviewee