Home to Harlem

Abstract

This chapter illustrates the importance of New York city, Harlem especially, as the location around which Caribbean literary dialect and performative modes coalesced in the early twentieth century. Utilizing the concept of the pan-Caribbean vernacular axis, the chapter discusses the influence of popular Caribbean calypsonians who travelled to New York both to perform and to record calypsos. The lyrics of these calypsos became part of the popular vernacular on both sides of the Atlantic. The career of the Trinidadian calypsonian and comedian Sam Manning is examined, as well as that of the playwright and ex-wife of Marcus Garvey, Amy Ashwood Garvey. The literary career of Jamaican dialect poet and Harlem Renaissance author Claude McKay is used as an example of the pan-Caribbean vernacular axis. It includes a discussion of the controversy over his novel Home to Harlem, and the relationship between Garveyism and dialect.