Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribean Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century America

Thomas C. Holt, University of Chicago
Powerfully argued and provocative, Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia literally reframes our understanding of the African-American experience.


Robert A. Hill, University of California, Los Angeles
A truly prodigious and imaginative reconstruction [which] heralds a genuine renascence of radical scholarship in the best Caribbean tradition.


The Front Table
Well-researched and tightly argued are just the most basic of praises one can lavish on Winston James's extraordinary new study of Caribbean immigrants in the United States . . .


Stuart Hall, The Open University
A major historical contribution to the "hidden history" of the African diaspora . . . richly detailed, powerful and compelling.


Arnold Rampersad, Princeton University
Imaginatively written in addition to its solid scholarly base, this book breaks significant new ground in our understanding of modern black American radicalism.


David Montgomery, Yale University
In this thoroughly researched and tightly argued book James has revealed and explained the prominent role of Afro-Caribbean immigrants in socialist, communist, and nationalist struggles in the United States, while rescuing the topic from the stereotypes that have long surrounded it.


Edward Said
A gripping study of Cuban, Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Trinidadian, and Barbadian radicals who went to the US and played a crucial role in radical politics here. Superbly written, full of well-digested and considered detail, it is a heroic chronicle.


Book Description
A major history of the impact of Caribbean migration to the United States. Marcus Garvey, Claude McKay, Claudia Jones, C.L.R. James, Stokely Carmichael, Louis Farakhan -- the roster of immigrants from the Caribbean who have made a profound impact on the development of radical politics in the United States is extensive. In this magisterial and lavishly illustrated work, Winston James focuses on the twentieth century's first waves of immigrants from the Caribbean and their contribution to political dissidence in America. Examining the way in which the characteristics of the societies they left shaped their perceptions of the land to which they traveled, Winston James draws sharp differences between Hispanic and English-speaking arrivals. He explores the interconnections between the Cuban independence struggle, Puerto Rican nationalism, Afro-American feminism, and black communism in the first turbulent decades of the twentieth century. He also provides fascinating insights into the impact of Puerto Rican radicalism in New York City and recounts the remarkable story of Afro-Cuban radicalism in Florida.


About the Author
Winston James teaches history at Columbia University, New York. His previous books include Inside Babylon: The Caribbean Diaspora in Britain, edited with Clive Harris, also from Verso.


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A major history of the impact of Caribbean migration to the United States. Marcus Garvey, Claude McKay, Claudia Jones, C.L.R. James, Stokely Carmichael, Louis Farakhan -- the roster of immigrants from the Caribbean who have made a profound impact on the development of radical politics in the United States is extensive. In this magisterial and lavishly illustrated work, Winston James focuses on the twentieth century's first waves of immigrants from the Caribbean and their contribution to political dissidence in America.
Examining the way in which the characteristics of the societies they left shaped their perceptions of the land to which they traveled, Winston James draws sharp differences between Hispanic and English-speaking arrivals. He explores the interconnections between the Cuban independence struggle, Puerto Rican nationalism, Afro-American feminism, and black communism in the first turbulent decades of the twentieth century. He also provides fascinating insights into the impact of Puerto Rican radicalism in New York City and recounts the remarkable story of Afro-Cuban radicalism in Florida.


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