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Caribbean immigration to New York City has been prevalent since the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. [1] This immigration wave has seen large numbers of people from Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others, come to New York City in the 20th and 21st centuries. (There has also been significant migration from Puerto Rico, but this is not considered immigration as Puerto Ricans hold United States citizenship.) Caribbeans are concentrated in the Bronx, particularly in the area from 211th Street to 241st Street and along Gun Hill Road. There are also large Caribbean communities in Brooklyn, especially in the neighborhoods of Flatbush and Prospect Heights. [2]
In 1613, Juan (Jan) Rodriguez from Santo Domingo became the first non-indigenous person to settle in what was then known as New Amsterdam. [3]
In the early 1900s, the largest number of Black immigrants were English-speaking Caribbeans (West Indians) who settled in the Northeast, mainly in New York City. These initial immigrants were only 1.3 percent of the NYC population and faced intense racism and xenophobia, but the population continued to grow over the following decades. By 1920, Caribbean immigrants made up roughly one-fourth of the Black population in New York city. [4] Many of these immigrants were young, unmarried men. According to Winston James[ citation needed ], a few women arrived and held occupations as teachers, doctors, lawyers, and craftsmen. In New York, many Caribbean immigrants entered the service sector working as doorman, laborers, and porters. Women often worked in the domestic field as maids and nannies. Reimers points out that a substantial number of Caribbean immigrants attended night school and pursued higher education while in America. [5]
New York City also witnessed the institution building of Black Caribbeans. The majority of Caribbeans belonged to the Anglican branch of Protestantism. After being denied entry into white Episcopal churches, they formed Black Episcopalian churches such as Saint Augustine and Christ Church Cathedral in Brooklyn. In Harlem, West Indian Methodist and Episcopalian churches thrived. West Indians also developed non-religious institutions with the purpose of fostering mutual benefits societies. The intention of these organizations was to financially and socially assist "newcomers" or recent immigrants. Membership was based on the immigrant's country of origin. Some of these groups include the Bermuda Benevolent Association (founded 1897), the Sons and Daughters of Barbados, Trinidad Benevolent Association, and the Grenada Mutual Association. Perhaps the most well-known Caribbean emigrant of the 20th century was Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey who came to America and established his organization, Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The founding principles of UNIA were based on Black nationalism and promoting the economic development of Black people. Garvey's program gained widespread support of the many Caribbean and native-born Blacks. Winston James shows that many West Indians wanted UNIA to move beyond its economic emphasis and to overtly oppose the racism that they faced on a daily basis as Black immigrants. Radical West Indians, like Hubert Harrison (a Virgin Islander), further wanted to do away with what they believed to be a racist capitalist society, advocating socialism. A group of Caribbean New Yorkers founded the African Blood Brothers in 1919, combining their advocacy for socialism and Black Nationalism. However, this organization never gained a substantial following. Evidence shows that most West Indians who were able to attain citizenship voted for the Democratic Party. In New York, as Black Caribbean immigrants began to grow in size, a small number ran for political offices. During the 1930s and the Depression era, Caribbean immigration trailed off and fewer Black immigrants traveled to New York City because of the scarcity of employment opportunities. [6]
New York City has large populations of Caribbean Hispanics, primarily hailing from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, though there exists smaller numbers of Panamanians, Cubans, Hondurans, and Costa Ricans.
Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1970s. From the 1960s onward, after the fall of the Rafael Trujillo military regime, large waves of migration have thoroughly transnationalized the Dominican Republic, metaphorically blurring its frontier with the United States.
In 2006 New York City's Dominican population decreased for the first time since the 1980s, dropping by 1.3% from 609,885 in 2006 to 602,093 in 2007. Dominicans are the city's fifth-largest ancestry group (behind Irish, Italian, German and Puerto Rican) and, in 2009, it was estimated that they compromised 24.9% of New York City's Latino population. [7]
Areas with high a concentration of Dominicans are in Washington Heights, Corona, and certain areas in the Bronx. Eastern portions of the Washington Heights neighborhood and many western neighborhoods in the Bronx have some of the highest concentrations of Dominicans in the country.
The Guardian described American Airlines Flight 587, prior to its accident flight in 2001, as having "cult status" in Washington Heights. [8] In 1996 Kinito Mendez played the song El avión which mentions Flight 587. [9] The November 12, 2001, AA587 flight crashed, killing everyone on board. [8]
Puerto Ricans are Americans citizens by birth, so they are not immigrants.
New York City has the largest Puerto Rican population outside of Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans, due to the forced change of the citizenship status of the island's residents, can technically be said to have come to the City first as immigrants and subsequently as migrants. The first group of Puerto Ricans moved to New York in the mid-19th century, when Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony and its people Spanish subjects. The following wave of Puerto Ricans to move to New York did so after the Spanish–American War of 1898 made Puerto Rico a U.S. possession and after the Jones–Shafroth Act of 1917 gave Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, which allows travel without the need of a passport between the island and the United States mainland. The largest wave of migration came in the 1950s, in what became known as "The Great Migration"; as a result, more than a million Puerto Ricans once called New York City home. Presently the Puerto Rican population of New York is around 800,000, though the population has entered a sustained decline since 2017 as Puerto Ricans leave for surrounding areas and states, possibly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic challenges. [10]
Puerto Ricans have historically lived in neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side (also known in the community as Loisaida), Spanish Harlem and Williamsburg, Brooklyn since the 1950s. There are large Puerto Rican populations throughout the 5 boroughs, with the Bronx having the largest. Currently, Bushwick and several South Bronx neighborhoods, such as Soundview, have some of the largest numbers of Puerto Ricans in the city. However, there has been an increase in Puerto Ricans in outlying areas of the city, such as the North Shore of Staten Island, and the eastern Bronx.
New York City has the third largest Cuban population in the country. [11] The Cuban-American population of the New York Metro area is primarily concentrated in New Jersey, specifically in Hudson, Bergen, and Union Counties. [12] West New York and Union City are possibly the only municipalities in the region where Cubans outnumber other Latino ethnicities, such as Dominicans and Mexicans. [12]
The population of Puerto Rico has been shaped by native American settlement, European colonization especially under the Spanish Empire, slavery and economic migration. Demographic features of the population of Puerto Rico include population density, ethnicity, education of the populace, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Puerto Ricans, most commonly known as Boricuas, but also occasionally referred to as Borinqueños, Borincanos, or Puertorros, are an ethnic group native to the Caribbean archipelago and island of Puerto Rico, and a nation identified with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico through ancestry, culture, or history. Puerto Ricans are predominately a tri-racial, Spanish-speaking, Christian society, descending in varying degrees from Indigenous Taíno natives, Southwestern European colonists, and West and Central African slaves, freedmen, and free Blacks. As citizens of a U.S. territory, Puerto Ricans have automatic birthright American citizenship, and are considerably influenced by American culture. The population of Puerto Ricans is between 9 and 10 million worldwide, with the overwhelming majority residing in Puerto Rico and mainland United States.
The cuisine of New York City comprises many cuisines belonging to various ethnic groups that have entered the United States through the city. Almost all ethnic cuisines are well represented in New York, both within and outside the various ethnic neighborhoods.
Dominican Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Dominican Republic. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United States of Dominican descent or to someone who has migrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic. As of 2021, there were approximately 2.4 million people of Dominican descent in the United States, including both native and foreign-born. They are the second largest Hispanic group in the Northeastern region of the United States after Puerto Ricans, and the fifth-largest Hispanic/Latino group nationwide.
Puerto Ricans have both immigrated and migrated to New York City. The first group of Puerto Ricans immigrated to New York City in the mid-1800s when they were still colonized under Spanish rule. The following wave of Puerto Ricans to move to New York City did so after the Spanish–American War in 1898. Puerto Ricans were no longer Spanish subjects and citizens of Spain, they were now Puerto Rican citizens of an American possession and needed passports to travel to the Contiguous United States.
At the 2010 census, there were 1,526,006 people, 590,071 households, and 352,272 families residing in the consolidated city-county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The population density was 4,337.3 people/km2. There were 661,958 housing units at an average density of 1,891.9 units/km2.
The demographics of Brooklyn reveal a very diverse borough of New York City and a melting pot for many cultures, like the city itself. Since 2010, the population of Brooklyn was estimated by the Census Bureau to have increased 3.5% to 2,592,149 as of 2013, representing 30.8% of New York City's population, 33.5% of Long Island's population, and 13.2% of New York State's population. If the boroughs of New York City were separate cities, Brooklyn would be the third largest city in the United States after Los Angeles and Chicago.
Stateside Puerto Ricans, also ambiguously known as Puerto Rican Americans, or Puerto Ricans in the United States, are Puerto Ricans who are in the United States proper of the 50 states and the District of Columbia who were born in or trace any family ancestry to the unincorporated US territory of Puerto Rico.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2023, New York was the fourth largest state in population after California, Texas, and Florida, with a population of 19,571,216, a decrease of over 600,000 people, or −3.1%, since the 2020 census. The population change between 2000–2006 includes a natural increase of 601,779 people and a decrease due to net migration of 422,481 people out of the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 820,388 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of about 800,213.
Caribbean Americans or West Indian Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Caribbean. Caribbean Americans are a multi-ethnic and multi-racial group that trace their ancestry further in time to Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. As of 2016, about 13 million — about 4% of the total U.S. population — have Caribbean ancestry.
Since its founding in 1625 by Dutch traders as New Amsterdam, New York City has been a major destination for immigrants of many nationalities who have formed ethnic enclaves, neighborhoods dominated by one ethnicity. Freed African American slaves also moved to New York City in the Great Migration and the later Second Great Migration and formed ethnic enclaves. These neighborhoods are set apart from the main city by differences such as food, goods for sale, or even language. Ethnic enclaves provide inhabitants security in work and social opportunities, but limit economic opportunities, do not encourage the development of English speaking, and keep immigrants in their own culture.
Black Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Afro-Hispanics, Afro-Latinos, Black Hispanics, or Black Latinos, are classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget, and other U.S. government agencies as Black people living in the United States with ancestry in Latin America or Spain and/or who speak Spanish and/or Portuguese as either their first language or second language.
The District of Columbia is a federal district with an ethnically diverse population. In 2020, the District had a population of 689,545 people, with a resident density of 11,515 people per square mile.
The Teatro Puerto Rico was a music hall focused on the Latino community in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx in New York City. During the 1940s to 1950s it presented la farándula, a vaudeville-style package of Spanish-language events, and attracted entertainers from all over Latin America. In the late 1960s, the neighborhood where the theater was located was in decline and the theater closed its doors until 1994. That year a real estate developer invested funds in renovations. After two years in operation, a political scandal involving misappropriated public funds forced the permanent closure of the theater. The building which the theater once occupied is now used as a place of religious worship.
In the 2020 United States census, the number of people who identified as "European alone" was 536,044 or 16.5%, with an additional non-Hispanic 24,548, for a total population of 560,592.
The history of Hispanics and Latinos in Baltimore dates back to the mid-20th century. The Hispanic and Latino community of Baltimore is the fastest growing ethnic group in the city. There is a significant Hispanic/Latino presence in many Southeast Baltimore neighborhoods, particularly Highlandtown, Upper Fell's Point, and Greektown. Overall Baltimore has a small but growing Hispanic population, primarily in the Southeast portion of the area from Fells Point to Dundalk.
The city of Baltimore, Maryland includes a large and growing Caribbean-American population. The Caribbean-American community is centered in West Baltimore. The largest non-Hispanic Caribbean populations in Baltimore are Jamaicans, Trinidadians and Tobagonians, and Haitians. Baltimore also has significant Hispanic populations from the Spanish West Indies, particularly Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans. Northwest Baltimore is the center of the West Indian population of Baltimore, while Caribbean Hispanics in the city tend to live among other Latinos in neighborhoods such as Greektown, Upper Fell's Point, and Highlandtown. Jamaicans and Trinidadians are the first and second largest West Indian groups in the city, respectively. The neighborhoods of Park Heights and Pimlico in northwest Baltimore are home to large West Indian populations, particularly Jamaican-Americans.
Jorge Duany is a theorist on Caribbean transnational migration and nationalism. Between 2012 and 2024, he was director of the Cuban Research Institute and professor of anthropology at Florida International University, and has held various teaching positions across the United States and Puerto Rico. His research focuses on concepts of nationalism, ethnicity, race, transnationalism, and migration within the Spanish Caribbean and between the Spanish Caribbean and the United States, particularly regarding Cuba and Puerto Rico.
The city of New York includes a sizeable Dominican population. Dominicans are one of the largest Latino groups in New York City followed by Puerto Ricans. Dominicans are the largest immigrant group in New York City. Dominicans are concentrated in Washington Heights and the Bronx in the city proper; by 2019, the share living in the city fell from 92% to 62%. The rest lived in outlying counties in the metro area. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey found that 702,000 Dominicans live in New York City.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, there were a total of 8,804,190 residents in New York City. A total of 2,719,856 residents identified as Non-Hispanic White, followed by 2,490,350 people of Hispanic origin (28.3%), 1,776,891 Black residents (20.2%) and 1,373,502 people of Asian origin (15.6%). A total of 143,632 residents identified with a different race (1.6%), while 299,959 identified with two or more races (3.4%).
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