The Curious Career of Jim Crow in the Caribbean

Abstract This chapter examines Jim Crow in the Caribbean context. The US military’s introduction of Jim Crow into Haiti and Trinidad between the First and the Second World War had the unintended consequence of stimulating national identity movements. A counter-modernism developed unique characteristics in each island nation. In Martinique, Négritude reacted against the racism of Marshal Pétain’s military, which behaved remarkably like the US marines in Haiti and Trinidad, contributing to the transformation of colonial status at war’s end. In Trinidad, calypsonians marshalled popular culture against the US military. In Haiti, writers and intellectuals supported popular revolts in the countryside. In each case, the Black majority were incensed at the arrogance and racial intolerance of the military.