From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Immigration from the West Indies to Kentucky, USA, 1850-1950
(start date: 1850 - end date: 1950)Written by Reinette F. Jones, October 2024 - March 2025.
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- This is a large entry that has an introduction and 11 adjoining entries arranged by decades from 1850-1950.
- Attached to this entry are maps showing the general location of the West Indies. There is also a Kentucky map showing the counties where individuals and families from the West Indies lived from 1850-1950.
- Attached to this entry is a list of occupations held by persons from the West Indies who lived in Kentucky from 1850-1950.
- Please see the "Contributor" section at the bottom of this page for the names of all who provided assistance in completing the research.
The idea of developing this entry came from a reference discussion about immigrants who moved to Kentucky, USA, from the area the U.S. Census Bureau defined as the West Indies. Another part of the discussion was what influence did the immigrant populations from the West Indies have on the enslaved and African American populations in Kentucky from 1850-1950.
During the mid to late 1800s, islands in the West Indies had been considered as colonization sites for the deportation of free Blacks from the United States. The plans were debated by President Lincoln's administration, and within organizations such as the Colored Emigration Movement, the proposed American Negro Colony in New Grenada, the Central and South American Immigration Association and Equal Rights League of the Western Continent, and the U.S. abolitionists who were affiliated with the Freemen Community on Samaná Bay in the Dominican Republic.
The proposed plans for Black migration to the islands were abandoned when the enslaved Africans were emancipated in the United States in 1865. By the start of the 20th century, the concern was about the number of Negroes who were immigrating to the United States. The U.S. Census indicated that the foreign-born Negro population in the U.S. had almost doubled from 20,336 in 1900 to 40,339 in 1910. The immigrants had come from the non-U.S. areas of the Americas, with more than half from Cuba and the West Indies.
The West Indies-born population data for Kentucky has not been given attention, perhaps because the populations numbers had always been exceptionally low (less than 100). The same can be said for the number of foreign-born Negroes in Kentucky: the count was 72 in the year 1900 and there was little change in 1940 when the count was 69. Most of the persons from the West Indies who were living in Kentucky were enumerated as white. The options were limited. Prior to the mid-1900s, the three main race categories in Kentucky were black, white, or mulatto, as can be seen in the census schedules, death records, marriage records, immigration records, and other official documents.
At the start of the 20th century, of much greater concern in Kentucky was the low growth rate of the overall population that included the continuously decreasing African American population that dropped from 268,071 in 1890 to 215,949 in 1960. The Great Black Migration took a heavy toll on the African American labor force in Kentucky. It would take another 20 years for the African American population to rebound to 259,477 by the year 1980. This was followed by a Black population growth slowdown to 262,907 by the year 1990.
SOURCE: Table 32. Kentucky - Race and Hispanic Origin: 1790 to 1990, September 13, 2002, by the U.S. Census Bureau (online).
Something more had taken place with the African American population not only in Kentucky but in the United States as a whole. Approximately 90% of the African American population had lived in the South up to 1910. During the Great Black Migration, 1910-1970, six million African Americans moved from the South to other regions of the United States. The migration pattern shifted between the years 1990 and 2000 when the New Great Migration of African Americans began moving to the South.
In the year 2000, it was estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau that 47% of the Black population in the United States was located in 10 southern states: Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Louisiana, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. Also, from 1980-2019, it has been estimated by the Pew Foundation that one in ten Blacks in the United States were immigrants. The top two countries of origin for Black immigrants were Jamaica and Haiti (West Indies). The southern states were said to have the largest share of the Black foreign-born population. The state of Kentucky was not mentioned in the Pew study or the U.S. Census publication.
SOURCES: Negro Population in the United States 1790-1915, published by the Bureau of the Census, 1968; Table 32. Kentucky - Race and Hispanic Origin: 1790 to 1990. September 13, 2002, by the U.S. Census Bureau (online).; Christine Tamir and Monica Anderson. "One-in-ten Black people living in the U.S. are immigrants." Pew Research Center Report, (online).; Aho, Karen, and Quinn Bankson. "Data Snapshot: the number of Black immigrants in the US continues to rise." Immigration Impact, 02 February 2024 (online); McKinnon, Jesse. Census 2000 Brief: The Black Population 2000. August 2001, pp.1-11 (online).
According to the Pew study, it has been projected that over a 40-year period, 2020-2060, the Black immigrant-born population growth rate will outpace the U.S.-born Black population growth rate. This remains to be seen. The past history of Black populations in each state was not part of the Pew study. Though, it is the past history that will tell much more about the life dynamics of the U.S.-born Blacks and the foreign-born Blacks in the United States. Every state has a unique story. This entry is a brief look at the individuals (citizens and non-citizens of all races) who were born in the West Indies and came to live in Kentucky from 1850-1950.
SOURCE: Davis, Damani. "Ancestors from the West Indies: a historical and genealogical overview of Afro-Caribbean immigration, 1900-1930s." Prologue, Fall/Winter 2013, pp.66-73. (online).
Below are some of the answers to the question of why the move to Kentucky, followed by a list of the West Indies countries of origin. Each of the 11 accompanying entries are arranged by decade and has the names of persons born in the West Indies (both U.S. citizens and non-citizens of all races) and were living in Kentucky when enumerated in the U.S. Census. For the early decades, the names of slave owners are included with the notation (S.O.) written in bold letters.
* Submitted by Fanny Hubart-Salmon. There were slave owners from the West Indies who came to live in Kentucky long before the year 1850. One such person was Stephen H. DesForges who had fled Haiti, leaving his slaves behind, and settled in Lexington, KY, around 1812. SOURCES: Stephen H. Desforges, 1753-1832, (aka Etienne Louis H. Desforges), Will Book M, November 1834, pp.47-48. Fayette County Clerk's Office, Lexington, KY; and Etienne Louis Hus Desforges letters, 1805-1826. Archival material, 1 folder. Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, KY. "The Desforges were property owners in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti) who likely fled with thousands of other refugees when French forces abandoned the island in 1803 in the final stages of the Haitian revolution." -- FirstSearch Record Note(s).
Why the Move from the West Indies to Kentucky, USA, 1850-1950?
- A spouse or other relative was from Kentucky.
- New arrivals to Kentucky were seeking business and employment opportunities.
- Enslaved persons from the West Indies were brought to Kentucky by slave owners.
- Free black, white, and Mulatto servants arrived with their employers. Some of the servants and domestics were children as noted with the word (CHILD) written in bold letters.
- For some immigrants, there was a feeling of safety from the belief that the enslaved in Kentucky were more docile and less dangerous than those in the West Indies.
- There were slave owners who came to Kentucky in order to retain their enslaved persons in response to emancipation and enslaved uprisings in the West Indies.
- Individuals and families from the West Indies came to Kentucky for a temporary stay before returning home or moving on to an intended destination.
- Children from the West Indies, less than 18 years old, were brought to Kentucky by individual soldiers returning home after the Spanish-American War, 1898. There were also children who arrived in the United States with adults who placed them with families in Kentucky. Some teens, who may have been considered adults, arrived in Kentucky on their own. There was never a count as to how many of these children were living in Kentucky. Those included in this entry are noted with the word (CHILD) written in bold letters. (Does not include children from Operación Pedro Pan.) [Kopana Terry provided assistance in finding the articles about the children in Kentucky newspapers.]
- There were men from the West Indies who came to Kentucky for military service, some decided to stay, and other family members followed.
- Men from the West Indies were recruited to work in the Kentucky coal mines during and after WWI, some decided to stay.
- There was a population increase in Kentucky starting in 1949 during the international student movement that included students from the West Indies. The 1949-1950 academic year was the start of the largest number of international students from the West Indies in Kentucky. College students less than 18 years old are included in this entry with the notation (CHILD) written in bold letters.
- The West Indies population increase in Kentucky was also partially due to the number of Puerto Rican patients/prisoners who were placed in the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington, KY. The hospital facility opened in 1935 and was referred to as the U.S. Narcotic Farm where new and experimental treatments were tried on the inmates to cure their addictions. Starting in 1950, there were patients/prisoners enumerated in the U.S. Census who were less than 18 years old.
- Anguilla (England)
- Antigua
- Aruba (Netherlands)
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Bermuda (England)
- Cuba
- Curaçao (Netherlands)
- Dominican Republic
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe (France)
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Martinique (France)
- Panama (Latin America Coast)
- Puerto Rico (United States)
- Republic of Guyana (South America Coast)
- Saint Croix (United Sates)
- St. Kitts
- St. Thomas (United States)
- St. Vincent
- Trinidad
- Turks and Caicos Islands (England)
- Colonialism of the West Indies
* Historical information about each country and the West Indies is a link to Britannica online.
* Bermuda, located in the North Atlantic Ocean, is sometimes included in the definition of the West Indies due to cultural and historical ties.
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Introduction / 1850 / 1860 / 1870 / 1880 / 1890 / 1900 / 1910 /1920 / 1930 /1940 / 1950