Afro-Caribbean Human Capital in America: Immigrant Success in Early Twentieth Century Philadelphia

Critics of the American dream fixate on the nation's checkered past to explain the disparate outcomes of today. A prejudicial system, critics contend, mires helpless Americans in poverty and hopelessness, the victims of socioeconomic structures beyond their control. The American dream, however, is not dead. Nor has it been out of reach for disadvantaged groups in the past. Black Americans, Caribbean, Chinese, Japanese, and Jewish communities have demonstrated that self-reliance, not government-dependence, provides the pathway to climbing the socioeconomic ladder. What can we learn from their exemplary lives and community-resilience? How can their self-sufficiency provide a model for empowering Americans in the 21st century?

This research publication is part of a series from the Hoover History Lab that highlights the work of its student fellows.

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