Making Waves: How the West Indies Shaped the United States

$18.95

The West Indian impact on the United States goes far beyond the human and natural resources mined and exploited during slavery in the New World.  And even though the West Indies and the US are inextricably linked by these binding influences, much untapped information still exists.

By: Debbie Jacob

 

SKU: 024 Categories: , Tag:

Description

The West Indian contribution to the United States goes far beyond its influence to the human and natural resources mined and exploited during slavery in the New World. And even though the West Indies and the United States are inextricably linked by this binding influence, so much information still exists and so many stories yet untold of the Caribbean men, women and islands that have impacted American history, politics, economics and culture during that period and long thereafter.

In Making Waves: How the West Indies Shaped the United States, author Debbie Jacob gives an exciting and vivacious account of the Caribbean islands and the famous West Indians who have shaped American society, from the 1700s to the present.

The collection of 30 stories feature the contributions made by renowned West Indians such as Alexander Hamilton, Oscar de la Renta, Bob Marley, Sidney Poitier and Marcus Garvey, at every turn highlighting the ingenuity and significance of the West Indies and its people. Engaging and illuminating, Making Waves also features the crucial yet little known role Barbados played in winning the American Revolutionary War as well as how a West Indian woman started the witch hysteria in Salem.

 

Additional information

Weight 1 lbs
Dimensions 9 × 6 in
ISBN

978-976-637-954-4

Binding

Paperback

Page Count

340

Publication Date

October 2017

Contents

Foreword

Introduction • Exploring the Myth

 

  1. Peter Stuyvesant: The Dutch West India Company’s Disappearing Act
  2. Tituba: A West Indian Stirs the Cauldron in Salem
  3. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable: The Haitian in the Onion Field
  4. John Paul Jones: The Secret in Tobago
  5. John Hancock: Fame, Fortune and the West Indies Connection
  6. St Eustatius: A Thorn in the Side of a Colonial Giant
  7. George Washington: How Barbados Saved the General
  8. Alexander Hamilton: The West Indian Who Defined the US
  9. South Carolina: Nothing Sweet from Barbados Comes
  10. Toussaint L’Ouverture: From Slave to Iconoclast
  11. Saint-Domingue Changes America’s Landscape
  12. Denmark Vesey: The Man Who Bet on Freedom
  13. Jean Laffite: The Legend of a Pirate
  14. Oliver Perry: “We have met the enemy…”
  15. William Alexander Leidesdorff: All That Glitters is Not Gold
  16. The Invisible West Indians of the Panama Canal
  17. Hazel Scott: A Class Act
  18. Marcus Garvey: The Black Star Line
  19. Fidel Castro: An American Obsession
  20. Stokely Carmichael: Stoking the Fires of the Civil Rights Movement
  21. Sidney Poitier: The Big Picture
  22. Shirley Chisholm: A Barbadian in the House
  23. Roberto Clemente: Faith, Hope and Charity
  24. Euzhan Palcy: Making Waves in Hollywood
  25. Bob Marley: “Rastaman Vibration”
  26. Kool Herc: Trenchtown Rocks Hip Hop
  27. Janelle Commissiong: Stealing the Show
  28. Oscar de la Renta: The Man Who Dressed First Ladies
  29. Geoffrey Holder: The Toast of the Town
  30. Patrick Chung: The Wave of the Future

About the Author

Debbie Jacob is a journalist for Trinidad Newsday, Head Librarian of the International School of Port of Spain and an English teacher at Port of Spain Prison in Trinidad and Tobago. She holds a BA in Anthropology from Ohio State University, a Masters degree in International Education from Framingham State University, Massachusetts. She is the author of eight books, including Wishing for Wings.

 

keyboard_arrow_up