A Home Away from Home: Mutual Aid, Political Activism, and Caribbean American Identity

At the turn of the twentieth century, New York City exploded with the establishment of mutual aid societies and benevolent associations by Caribbean immigrants, especially women.

These organizations provided support such as job and housing assistance, cultural activities, and sickness and burial aid, while fostering a collective West Indian ethnic identity and strengthening kinship networks with the Caribbean.

Tyesha Maddox argues that they also became proto-Pan-Africanist organizations, intertwining Caribbean American fates with the Black international community.