US Regional: Caribbean Americans in U.S. history

Caribbean WOW and the Sun Sentinel of Florida compiled the following list of notable Caribbean Americans which - although by no means complete - is a good start for those interested in such things.

BAHAMAS

Sidney Poitier, first African-American actor to receive the Academy Award for best actor, born in Miami while parents visited from Bahamas.
James Weldon Johnson, Harlem Renaissance poet and author of the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing, father born in the Bahamas.

BARBADOS

Shirley Chisholm, first African-American congresswoman and the first black woman to run for president, parents from Barbados and British Guiana.

BELIZE

Marion Jones, track and field Olympic gold medallist, parents from Belize.

CUBA

Juan Carlos Finlay, discovered Yellow Fever was transmitted by the Stegomyia aegypti mosquito, born in Cuba.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Oscar de la Renta, fashion designer, born in the Dominican Republic.

GRENADA

Malcolm X, late Nation of Islam spokesman, mother from Grenada.

HAITI

Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, founder of Chicago, born in Haiti.

JAMAICA

Harry Belafonte, Calypso artist and civil rights activist, parents from Jamaica and Martinique.

Marcus Garvey, black nationalist leader, born in Jamaica.

Colin Powell, first black U.S Secretary of State, parents born in Jamaica.

John Russwurm, first black editor of a U.S. newspaper and one of the first three blacks to graduate from a U.S. college, born in Jamaica.

PUERTO RICO

Antonia Novello, first female U.S. Surgeon General, born in Puerto Rico.

ST. KITTS & NEVIS

Constance Baker Motley, first black woman appointed to the federal bench, parents from Nevis.

Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, born in Nevis.

Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader, mother from St. Kitts.

TRINIDAD

Stokley Carmichael, black power activist, born in Trinidad.

VIRGIN ISLANDS

Kelsey Grammer, Emmy-winning actor on the sitcom Frasier, born on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Dr. William Thornton, physician and architect who designed the U.S. Capitol, born on Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands.

Locally, there has been some long overdue agitation here in the USVI to better recognize Alexander Hamilton who lived and worked here in St. Croix before being sent to the American colonies to further his education on the merits of a letter he wrote describing a terrible hurricane that had struck our Island.

With the 2004 Hurricane season now upon us, I thought it appropriate to post the following excerpt from his letter describing the August 1772 storm that decimated St. Croix and in so doing, indirectly helped to birth a nation.

Honored Sir,

I take up my pen, just to give you an imperfect account of one of the most dreadful hurricanes that memory or any records whatever can trace, which happened here on the 31st ultimo at night. It began about dusk, at north, and raged very violently till ten o'clock. Then ensued a sudden and unexpected interval which lasted about an hour. Meanwhile the wind was shifting round to the south west point , from whence it returned with redoubled fury and continued till nearly three in the morning. Good God! what horror and destruction - it's impossible for me to describe - or you to form any idea of it. It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place. The roaring of the sea and wind - fiery meteors flying about in the air - the prodigious glare of almost perpetual lightning - the crash of falling houses - and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed were sufficient to strike astonishment into Angels. A great part of the buildings throughout the island are leveled to the ground - almost all the rest very much shattered - several persons killed and numbers utterly ruined - whole families wandering about the streets, unknowing where to find a place of shelter - the sick exposed to the keenness of water and air - without a bed to lie upon - or a dry covering to their bodies - and our harbors entirely bare. In a word, misery, in its most hideous shapes, spread over the whole face of the country ...

Via The NOAA Photo Library

It brings back memories of 1989's Hurricane Hugo which destroyed or damaged 80% of the structures and killed an estimated 20% of the trees on St. Croix...with little loss of life thanks to the fine work of folk at NOAA and the National Weather Service.

Knock on wood but I can't wait to try blogging a hurricane (obscure last words...) should that needle find itself in this particular haystack. The humbling proximity of such uncaring natural power is amazing and exhilarating and Yes, Scary as all hell. I survived the 17 hours of Hugo and lost everything but the clothes on my back, my car, and quite nearly my life...but that's for a future post.

;^)