Examines the depiction of first-wave West Indian immigrants to the United States in Black print culture in the early 20th century. The authors conduct a series of content analyses of four newspapers that had wide circulation in the Black community between 1910 and 1940. Each content analysis serves as an empirical test one of four common hypotheses about ethnic differentiation between West Indians and African Americans: (a) the group consciousness hypothesis, (b) the racial nationalism hypothesis, (c) the radical politics hypothesis, and (d) the model minority hypothesis. The authors find very little empirical support for either the group consciousness hypothesis or the racial nationalism hypothesis and find only a modicum of support for the radical politics hypothesis. Finally, the authors find evidence confirming the model minority hypothesis. They also find that the Black press presented an accurate portrayal of the West Indian immigrants' socioeconomic advantages to native-born Blacks.
The representations of Haiti and Haitians that appeared in mainstream news coverage of the disaster reproduced narratives and stereotypes dating to at least the 19th century. Today, understanding the continuity of these representations matters more than ever.
