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Find sources: "Stateside Virgin Islanders" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2024) |
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.
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| |
| 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.
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.
During the 1920’s, a large influx of Virgin Islanders migrated to New York City in search of jobs and economic opportunities. In 1925, the population of native islanders in the city was 8,000 alone. However, while living in Harlem, Virgin Islanders encountered deeper racial tensions than what was felt on the islands. This led to the Harlem Renaissance in which four men including Casper Holstein, Hubert Harrison. Ashley Totten and Frank Crosswaith joined other Caribbean migrants to advocate for equal rights in their community. Besides that, New York City is historically known to be the first stop city for Virgin Islanders and remains throughout today. It is also the birthplace of recent elected officials in USVI such as former Governor Kenneth Mapp and Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett who are both descendants of Crucian parents. The 2020 census estimates 1,281 Virgin Islanders reside in New York state.
According to the 2020 census, Florida has the highest population of Virgin Islanders in any state throughout the country. While New York and Georgia ranks second and third in line. Recent data have shown Orange County particularly Metro Orlando (248), Pine Hills (189), Oak Ridge (27), Apopka (33), to be the most settled region for Virgin Islanders not only in Florida but the entire United States. Other regions include Ft. Lauderdale and Jacksonville which also shares a large amount of Virgin Islanders. Historically, high school students from the Virgin Islands have attended Bethune–Cookman University in Daytona Beach and many carnival troupes take part in the Orlando Carnival activities each May.
