Black History Month 2021: Caribbean Focus

Black People of Caribbean Descent Who Made History

Every year, as one ponders black history month, it becomes more difficult to reconcile the fact that the history of any group should be relegated to one month of the year. America is a melting pot; thus, American history is black history and black history is world history. Given that internal dialogue, this post was almost not written. Instead, our focus this year is on the the history/impact of black people of Caribbean descent on the American fabric. Hope you enjoy reading this list as much as we enjoyed putting it together. I am sure we have missed many individuals. Feel free to add their names below this post as you read and enjoy our American history.

• Harry Belafonte, Jamaica and Martinique Parentage - Actor, Calypsonian, Civil Rights Leader
• Edward Wilmoth Blyden, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands - Founder and Leader of the PanAfrican Movement, Politician of Liberia
• Stokeley Carmichael, Trinidad - Civil Rights activist, Popularized the Term "Black Power"
• Shirley Chisholm, Barbados and British Guiana Parentage - First African American Congresswoman and First Woman and the First Black Person to run for President 
• ​Tim Duncan, St. Croix US Virgin Islands - Professional Basketball Player
• Robert Brown Elliot, Jamaica - Governor and Attorney General of South Carolina
• Louis Farrakhan, Jamaican Parentage - Head of the Nation of Islam
• Marcus Garvey, Jamaica - Leader of the Pan African Movement and Black Nationalist
• Elrod Hendricks, St. John, US Virgin Islands - Professional Baseball Player
• Eric Holder, Barbadian Parentage - Former Deputy Attorney General, Distinction as the Highest Ranking Black Person in Law Enforcement in United States History
• Constance Baker Motley, Nevis - First Black Woman Appointed to the Federal Bench
• Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, Haiti - Founded the City of Chicago, Illinois
• Sidney Poitier, Bahamian Parentage - First African American to Win the Academy Award for Best Actor
• Colin Powell, Jamaica - Former Secretary of State, Twelfth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Defense, 1989-1993
• John Russwurm, Jamaica - Founder of the America's First Newspaper Published by Black People, Consultant to the UN, Wrote An Appeal to the World, 1947
• James Weldon Johnson, Bahamian Parentage - Transformed the NAACP into a National Organization, Co-authored Lift Every Voice and Sing, The Negro National Anthem
• Malcolm X, Genadian Parentage - Civil Rights Leader

Source: Caribbean Wow 2.0 by Phillip Dickenson Peters