Caribbean influences in African-American political struggles

Abstract

Caribbean diaspora intellectuals have contributed significantly to African-American political struggles over the years, despite arguments by some African-American intellectuals about what they discern as West Indian negativism, extremism, and divisiveness in American political life. This essay examines the legacy of a representative sample of diasporic Caribbean intellectuals since the time of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and culminating in the 1970s, notably, Garvey, members of the African Blood Brotherhood [ABB], C.L.R. James, and Walter Rodney, to demonstrate the phenomenal ideological vision, organizational capability, and political activism they have brought into fostering solidarity with African Americans in the struggle for fundamental change. The focus here is on their respective contributions to the debate on the relationship between class and race in America and the black diaspora generally, which has helped to shape the form, and orient the direction of African-American and Caribbean diasporic struggles for the better part of the twentieth century.