While researching some of my husband’s Kittitian ancestors who settled in Harlem in the early 1900s, I have been coming across lots of information about immigrants from the West Indies, and their influence on the Harlem Renaissance period of the 1920s. Escaping the decline of the sugar industry and looking for better economic opportunities in the north, West Indians immigrated to New York City in large numbers. By 1930, almost a quarter of Harlem residents were West Indian. The influx of West Indians, along with African Americans from the American South, led to a unique mix of artists, writers, musicians, professionals, and entrepreneurs.
One ancestor was a Marshall from St Kitts, whose occupation in 1917 was listed as musician on his World War I draft registration card. He and his family lived on West 138th street, in the heart of the West Indian section of Harlem. In a 1923 article from Harlem newspaper The NY Age, our Mr Marshall is listed as treasurer of a club that is hosting a charity event to benefit the NY Urban League’s Convalescent Fund. The event was a dance to be held at the Renaissance Ballroom and Casino, located between 137th and 138th.
Unlike some Harlem venues like The Cotton Club, the Renaissance was built and run by black businessmen, and catered to a black audience. In addition to dances featuring popular orchestras, the ballroom hosted a variety of charity events, movies, community meetings, prize fights, and even basketball games featuring the Harlem Rens, the first professional team composed only of African American players. The Renaissance Ballroom was owned by West Indians from Montserrat and Antigua, and the Rens team was founded by Robert Douglas from St Kitts.
The ballroom has now fallen into ruin, and was never successfully declared an historic landmark. It is scheduled to be torn down and replaced by an apartment building.
Sources
- inmotionaame.org: The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture presents In Motion, The African American Experience; Caribbean Immigration; The NY Public Library 2005.
- ancestry.com, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918.
- fultonhistory.com, Old Fulton NY Post Cards, digitized newspaper archive, 2002.
- harlemonestop.com, Hamilton Heights West Harlem Community Preservation Organization, 2014.
- NY Times, A Harlem Landmark in All but Name, 2007.
just happened onto your site!!!!!! loved your post as my family immigrated from Monserrat in the 1920’s(mom’s side). Do you have any names of the owners of the Renaissance???
The partners who owned the Renaissance were Cleophus Charity from Antigua, along with William Roach and Joseph H. Sweeney from Montserrat.
Any relation? 🙂
I would love to include you and any information regarding the West Indian relationship to and the Harlem Renaissance.
I am currently coordinating an annual awards ceremony for Caribbean American Heritage Month with the NYPL (42nd St) Caribbean Connection. Our goal is to have an annual event that will celebrate Caribbean cultural relationships within the American construct. Kindly reach out.
This is a fascinating and often overlooked period in history where people of West Indian origin regularly punched above their weight in many metrics and professions. In my research, folks from St. Kitts and St. Croix in particular were both extraordinarily influential per capita. I am currently finishing a project on the West Indian impact on Jazz, uncovering scores of significant performers and entrepreneurs born before 1940 from the Islands or whose parents were. Children of Islanders who were giants in Jazz include: Sonny Rollins, Carmen McRae, Oscar Peterson, Wynton Kelly, Roy Haynes, Mal Waldron, George Duvivier, Denzil Best, Elmo Hope, Herbie Nichols, Duke Jordan and many, many more…. Even the star of the 2018 movie, Green Book (Don Shirley), his parents were actually both Jamaicans….
Apart from the Renaissance, West Indians also owned or part-owned other venues in New York – including: the Big Apple (owned by Trinidadian, Bertram Hicks (1897-1963) and co-managed by his wife and singing legend, Adelaide Hall (1901-1993), herself of St. Croix, maternal heritage) and the Savoy Ballroom (eventually) 35% owned by its Barbadian manager for the whole thirty-two years it was open (1926-1958), Charles P. Buchanan (1898-1984). Buchanan also managed the Golden Gate Ballroom….
This is such an interesting subject! You may be aware that the jazz pianist Kenny Drew Sr, as well as his son Kenny Drew Jr, have West Indian roots. In researching my husband’s family tree from St Kitts, I found that he is a 3rd cousin to Kenny Jr., through their shared Marshall ancestors. Kenny Sr’s parents were James Alexander Drew (born in Nevis) and Alicia/Allison Williams (born in St Kitts). Alicia’s mother was a Marshall. Kenny Sr was born in 1928 in New York City.
I do think there is some sort of genetic component to musical talent. The earliest Marshall ancestor I know about was Kenny Sr’s great-grandfather, Richard Johnson Marshall from Antigua. He was a school teacher, organist, and musical performer in St Kitts and St Croix. There is a large number of musical performers and educators among the descendants of Richard Johnson – including my husband. And coincidentally, my husband and I have another connection to a jazz artist you mentioned. We both met the daughter of Elmo Hope in college, as she lived down the hall from us in our dormitory.
This article is a gem. I too, in 2026, admittedly late, am doing some research on the West Indian presence in the Harlem Renaissance for a novel project I do know the obvious players, Hubert Harrison, Marcus Garvey, Claude Mc Kay, Eric Waldron, Stephanie St. Clair, et al. What caught my attention is the Kittitian connection. My grandmother and mother, Abbott surname, were St Kitts born, father was Jamaican; I was born in Trinidad, live here now at 66. My grandmother noted to me as a child that the Kittitian community, in Brooklyn where she settled in late 1950s, was stronger than the Trinidadian one. We assimilate too easily. Her cousin was a man named Hamilton Abbott, who was like a community leader among the Caribbeans around Crown Heights at that time. This adds to the bank of info that can fill in pieces around the characters we all know and their ways of life.
Best of luck on you novel! Obviously a wealth of material to draw on from the Harlem Renaissance. And more coming now from the Crown Heights area – I know from personal experience that he Caribbean food there is heavenly!