Stateside Virgin Islands Americans

Stateside Virgin Islands Americans are West Indian Americans who hold US citizenship and who have migrated from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the continental United States and Hawaii, and their descendants.

Virgin Islands Americans
Total population
  • U.S. Virgin Islands origin: 15,014[1]
Regions with significant populations
South Florida, Orlando, Atlanta, New York City, Houston
Languages
English, Virgin Islands Creole
Religion
Predominantly Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Caribbean Americans

Persons born in the U.S. Virgin Islands are United States citizens, and as a result do not go through the legal immigration procedures a typical West Indies immigrant would. Virgin Islanders in the U.S. are considered part of the Caribbean American community.

It is difficult to determine how many Virgin Islanders reside in the United States proper. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are 15,014 people of U.S. Virgin Islands ancestry residing in the continental United States and Hawaii. However, a count of American residents with "U.S. Virgin Islands ancestry" excludes most U.S. Virgin Islands-born migrants in the United States proper. Because of a high incidence of inter-Caribbean migration throughout the 1960s and 1970s, most native-born Virgin Islanders today are one or two generations removed from other Caribbean islands and would not necessarily define themselves as having "U.S. Virgin Islands ancestry." For example, Tim Duncan is a St. Croix native with Anguillian ancestry.

Demographics

Virgin Island Americans includes Americans with ancestry from both the US Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands, together numbering about 25,000. A majority of Virgin Islands Americans are of black Afro-Caribbean descent, many of whom descend from enslaved Africans brought to the islands by Europeans in the colonial era. A large portion descends from black or mixed race migrants who came from other parts of the Caribbean including Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and many smaller countries in the Lesser Antilles.

Many Virgin Islands Americans concentrate in areas with a large overall Caribbean population, including areas like New York, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Notable people

Actors

Artists

Athletes

  • Christian Lloyd Joseph born 1972, Professional Boxer and former I.B.C Intercontinental Middleweight Champion
  • Raja Bell (born 1976), basketball player; born on St. Croix
  • Tombi Bell (born 1979), basketball player, who last played for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA; born on St. Croix
  • Joe Christopher (born 1935), the first Virgin Islander to play in Major League Baseball; born in Frederiksted, St. Croix
  • Midre Cummings (born 1971), baseball player; born on St. Croix
  • Tim Duncan (born 1976), professional basketball player (San Antonio Spurs); born in Christiansted, St. Croix
  • Emile Griffith (1938–2013), boxer; born on St. Thomas
  • Elrod Hendricks (1940–2005), Major League Baseball player and coach; born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
  • Julian Jackson (born 1960), boxer; born on St. Thomas
  • Calvin Pickering (born 1976), baseball player; born on St. Thomas
  • Sugar Ray Seales (born 1952), 1972 Olympic Gold Medalist (139 lbs.) boxer; born on St. Croix.

Musicians

  • Alton Adams (1889–1987), musician, first black bandmaster in the United States Navy; born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
  • Bennie Benjamin (1907–1989), composer, songwriter, philanthropist; born in Christiansted, St. Croix
  • Jon Lucien, jazz musician; born on Tortola, raised on St. Thomas
  • Rock City, a musical duo of composed brothers Timothy and Theron Thomas, born on St. Thomas
  • Sonny Rollins, jazz musician; born in New York, of St. Thomas (mother) and St. Croix (father) descent

Political leaders

Writers and intellectuals

News Media Personalities

See also

References

  1. "U.S. Census website". Retrieved 2008-09-06.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.