“It Is an Accidental Discrimination Which Should be Corrected”: The Activism of the Jamaican Progressive League and Immigration Reform in the 20th Century

Rooted in a commitment to independence from Britain, the members of the New York- based Jamaican Progressive League (JPL) also worked to address discriminatory barriers faced by West Indians nationally and throughout the Caribbean diaspora. The League believed that Immigration reform would lead to economic freedom.

Until the passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, many colonized countries of the Global South received visa quotas that restricted large scale admission into the U.S. When Jamaica retained its quota after its 1962 independence, the JPL appealed to Congress and the White House to no avail. The JPL’s goal was to ease the path to naturalization for Jamaican migrants, who could then sponsor others for permanent residency in the United States. These Jamaicans would join the thousands of others who economically contributed to American society for nearly a century.

Working collectively from NYC, the JPL, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and the NAACP spoke out against the racist economic barriers in their communities. Through organized campaigns, meetings, and extensive lobbying, they sought to strengthen civil rights legislation and pressure Congress to reform immigration policies for the benefit of Jamaicans, Black Americans, and other affected groups.

Using editorials, newsletters, congressional papers, this paper acknowledges the often-overlooked contributions of Beryl Henry and the JPL to the 1965 Act, and how it opened the doors to economic empowerment through migration and naturalization. By emphasizing the significance of grassroots movements in shaping legislation, we can have a more complete understanding of immigration and how it was necessary for full economic citizenship in the 20th century.