In the early 1900s, the largest number of black immigrants were English-speaking Caribbeans (West Indians) who settled in the Northeast, mainly in New York City. These immigrants were only 1.3 percent of the NYC population and faced intense racism and xenophobia, but by 1923 they became a 12.7 percent of the city's population. Many of these immigrants were young, unmarried men. According to Winston James, a few women arrived and held occupations as teachers, doctors, lawyers, and craftsmen. James also comments that many of these immigrants had literacy levels above American blacks and even some whites. In New York, many Caribbean immigrants entered the service sector working as doorman, laborers, and porters. Women often worked in the domestic field as maids and nannies. Reimers points out that a substantial number of Caribbean immigrants attended night school and pursued higher education while in America.West Indian Migration to New York
