68 p., A collection of poems that explores the immigrant experience, detailing three worlds that forge a Caribbean-American voice. All three sections of the manuscript examine an identity that comes directly, almost solely, from her surroundings. In the tradition of Louise Bennett, the use of dialect aside, Section I attempts to comprehend a narrow Caribbean existence by scrutinizing a life that is tied to nature, family, and country. Section II sees the world slightly more broadly, but there the speaker is also acutely aware of her identity and the complexity in bridging the two worlds she now finds herself simultaneously occupying, one immediate, the other existing only through reflection.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
111 p, A look at Caribbean Americans, where they come from, the difficulties they have assimilating in the United States and how their heritage remains an important part of their new lives.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
182 p, "The West Indian Americans captures the experiences of this diverse group of immigrants who have arrived in the United States since 1965. These English-speaking Caribbean immigrants have an increasing presence in this country, particularly in New York City. The differences between the various peoples of African, East Indian, or mixed ancestry, usually unacknowledged, are described here. Henke clearly relates who the groups are - from the Jamaicans to the Garifuna - why they left their homelands, how they have adapted and impacted this country, and the new challenges they face. Many notable West Indian Americans are profiled."--BOOK JACKET
"Colin Powell, Cicely Tyson, Malcolm X, Sir Sidney Poitier, David Patterson, Alexander Hamilton and Jean Baptiste DuSable are all part of a great history that spans generations of men and women whose roots can be found in the Caribbean," he said. "Many of our students share that same heritage. And we are connected to them as well, from the curry in their food to the courage in their souls."
