Pilgrims from the sun
Subtitle: West Indian migration to America
By: Ransford W. Palmer.
Series: Twayne's immigrant heritage of America series
Publisher: Twayne Publishers; Prentice Hall International
Published: 1995
Place of publication: New York; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 101
Subjects: West Indian Americans -- Economic conditions.; West Indians -- United States -- Economic conditions.; West Indies, British -- Emigration and immigration.
Description: In Pilgrims from the Sun, Ransford Palmer chronicles the migration of people from the English-speaking Caribbean to the United States, detailing the largely economic reasons for their departure and the cultural reasons for their successful settlement.

Close to 700,000 West Indian immigrants and their children live in America today with the greatest concentrations in the New York City and Miami areas. The high value they place on hard work, education, home ownership, private savings, and family loyalty writes Palmer, has helped to rank West Indians among the most socioeconomically successful immigrant groups in the United States.

Palmer looks not only at West Indians permanently residing in the United States - many of whom are employed in services, the fastest-growing sector of the economy - but also at temporary residents, in particular farm workers in Florida's sugar industry and students, and at the problem of illegal immigration.

He assesses the interrelationship of migration, employment, and trade in the island and U.S. economies, and he argues that only accelerated economic growth in the islands will stem the tide of migration. Despite recent attempts by many Caribbean countries to free up their economies and to create development programs in cooperation with the European community as well as the United States, the promise of higher living standards in America remains too powerful for many West Indians to resist.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-95) and index.