Jamaican Labor Migration: White Capital and Black Labor, 1850-1930 by Elizabeth McLean

Petras
Review by: Nancy Foner
International Migration Review, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Winter, 1988), pp. 659-660
Published by: The Center for Migration Studies of New York, Inc.
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 Book Reviews
immgigrants;2) professionals;3) entrepre?
neurs; and 4) refugees.This book devotes
much space on labor immigrantsfromthe
Dominican Republicand the Caribbean,but
no chapter discusses the adjustment of
professionalimmigrantsand theirimpacton
the occupational structurein New York in
any detail. This heavy emphasis on labor
immigrantsand failureto discuss profes?
sional immigrantsmay give lay readersthe
impressionthat all recentimmigrants,like
fillthe bottomof the occu?
old immigrants,
pational hierarchy in the United States.
However, professional immigrants,espe?
cially medical professionals,constitutean
importantsegment of the new immigrant
populationfrommanyAsian countries.One
could probably treat professional immi?
grantsmosteffectively in a chapteron Asian
Indians. But, unfortunately, no chapter is
devotedto this importantAsian immigrant
group. Inclusion of Asian Indians in this
volumeseemsdesirableall the more because
New Yorkis thelargestAsian Indian center.
In spite of this slight imbalance in
coverage,thisbook is an importantcontribu?
tionto theliteratureon thenew immigrants.
A few monographs and several articles
focusing on a particular new immigrant
groupin New Yorksuch as the Haitians,the
Jamaicans,the Chinese or the Koreans have
been publishedover the last ten years.This
volume puts togetherethnographicstudies
covering seven major new immigrant
groups in New York. Thus, this is the only
single-volumework that provides detailed
information on almost all major new immi?
grantgroupsin New York. Inclusionof the
Soviet Jews in New York City makes the
book more readableespeciallybecause little
is known about the adjustmentof recent
JewishrefugeesfromRussia. The combina?
tion of the macro and micro approaches
providesus with a more accuratepictureof
the interplaybetween the new immigrants
and New York City.
This book is also valuable as a source of
informationon the new immigrants in
general.Althoughthe book focuses on new
immigrantgroupsin New York, it provides
enoughbackgroundinformation on thenew
immigrantsto the United Statesin general,
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659
especially in the firstthree chapters.Two
monographs dealing with the new immi?
grants to the United States have been
published:SourceBookon theNew Immigration
(Bryce-Laporte,1980) and Today'sImmigrants.
TheirStories(Kessnerand Caroli, 1981). This
book is betterthan the other two books in
scholarlydepthand readability.
JamaicanLabor Migration:WhiteCapital and
Black Labor, 1850-1930. By Elizabeth
McLean Petras. Boulder, CO: Westview
Press,1988. Pp.297. $31.50.
Nancy Foner
ofNew York,
StateUniversity Purchase
In the past few decades, Jamaican immi?
grantshave been streaminginto the United
States.In 1985 and 1986,Jamaica,a country
of about 2.3 million people, was the ninth
largestsource of immigrantsto the United
States,and perhapsas manyas halfa million
people born in Jamaica live here today.
JamaicanLaborMigrationputsthe presentmass
migrationstream in historicalperspective.
Dealing with earlieremigrationmovements
between 1850 and 1930,it demonstratesthat
Jamaicanshave long sought to migratefor
betterwages in the face of limitedemploy?
mentand wage optionsat home.
Beginning with the importation of
African slaves to produce sugar, Petras
shows how the subsequent decline of the
sugar industry in post-emancipation
Jamaica led to hardshipsfor the ex-slaves.
Eager to move to areas with higher wage
levels,Jamaicanswere recruitedin the 1850s
to buildthePanama Railroadand later,in the
1880s and then in 1904-14, to build the
Panama Canal. Many worked on railway
constructionand plantationsin Costa Rica.
And afterthe Panama Canal was completed,
thousands of Jamaicans went to Cuba to
harvestsugar cane.
JamaicanLabor Migrationconsiders these
movements in international perspective,
emphasizing the critical role of Jamaican
workersas labor reservesused in U.S. and
French ventures in the Caribbean and
Central America. The book focuses in
particularon the movementsto Panama and
660 International
Cuba. It chroniclesthe specific socioeco?
nomic conditions in Jamaica propelling
workersto leave as well as factorsbehindthe
Panamanian projects and Cuban sugar
expansion that required cheap Jamaican
labor.It also discussesthe conditionsJamai?
cans experiencedas laborersin these coun?
tries and how they were restrained and
expelledwhen no longerneeded.
The bulk of the study,six of the ten
chapters,examines Jamaicans in Panama.
There is an interestingdiscussion of why
West Indians, rather than Chinese, Euro?
pean, United States or local workers,were
recruiteden massefor heavy physicallabor.
Petrasanalyzeswhy North American labor
unions resisted organizing West Indian
workers during the heyday of the canal-
building project and the kinds of labor
organizationsthatdid emerge among black
immigrantworkerswho remainedafterthe
canal was completed.
Once the Panama Canal was built, and
most black immigrantswere forcedout of
the Canal Zone, Jamaicans were recruited
for work in Cuba where U.S. investment
spurredthe expansionof the sugar industry.
Whentheindustrydeclined,however,Jamai?
cans werepushedout by a varietyof means,
includinglegislationby the Cuban govern?
ment.By the mid-1930s,with a world-wide
depression, Jamaicans were no longer
wantedin otherCaribbeanor CentralAmer?
ican countries,and the tideof returnmigra?
tion was one factorin the growthof social
movementsinJamaica.
Given that the book covers Jamaican
migrationin theearlytwentiethcentury,itis
surprisingthatthereis virtuallynothingon
the mass movement of Jamaicans to the
UnitedStates.Between 1911and 1921 alone,
there was an estimatednet emigrationof
30,000Jamaicansto this country.Perhaps
Petras' neglect of this migration to the
UnitedStatesis due to herfocuson Jamaican
movement within the Caribbean and
CentralAmericanregionor to a decisionto
look only at cases where Jamaicans were
formallyrecruited.Whateverthe reason,itis
not explained. More generally,the book
lacks an introductorychapter that clearly
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Migration Review
sets out its scope and theoreticalorientation
and contribution.The book would, in addi?
tion, have benefited from more careful
editingand a more readableformat.Reading
single-spacedtypescript is veryhardgoing?
especially at the price.
This said, let me conclude by sayingthat
the book does add to our understandingof
the causes, consequences,and conditionsof
Jamaican migrationin the nineteenthand
early twentiethcenturies. By looking at
Jamaicanmigrationin the contextof larger
world economies, it also raises some intri?
guing questionsforfurtherstudyabout the
way recentJamaican movementsto Britain
and the United States compare in origin,
shape, and functionwith the earlier labor
flows within the Caribbean and Central
Americanregion.
LabourForcein Europe1600-1900.By
Migrant
Jan Lucassen. London, ENG: Croom
Helm, 1987.Pp.339. $67.50.
Gary Cross
StateUniversity
ThePennsylvania
This revised translation brings a Dutch
perspectiveto the studyof European labor
migrations.Based on a carefulanalysisof an
1811surveyconductedby the Frenchoccup?
iers (but well-supplemented by other
sources), Lucassen reveals a North Sea
migration system. Pushed by low com?
modity prices earned from their marginal
farms and inadequate domestic or local
seasonal farm work and pulled by high
wages in the diverseeconomy of the north
coast, groups of villagers annually treked
northand west to workin peat cutting,dike
repairing,and peddlingalong the NorthSea
coast. Drawing on an extensivesecondary
literature,Lucassen finds many similarities
with twentyothermigrationsystems.Their
appearancesbetween1650and 1900are attri?
buted to shiftingterms of trade between
emergingcapitalisticgrain-producingareas
and other rural areas. The secular rise in
grainpricescontributedto the emergenceof
capitalist monoculture which both elimi?
nated subsistence farmersand permanent