Red and Black in Harlem and Jamaica

The Revolutionary Life and Selected Writings of W. A. Domingo

“This astonishing compendium is a valuable corrective to parochial conceptions of the ‘black radical tradition’” - Paul Gilroy, Emeritus Professor, University College London

“A wonderfully lucid introduction” - Catherine Hall, Chair of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, University College London

Red and Black in Harlem and Jamaica offers the first complete account of the life and work of Wilfred Adolphus Domingo (1889-1968), one of the most significant West Indian anti-colonialists of the twentieth century, who was active in New York in the radical politics of the New Negro movement before committing himself to the struggle for Jamaican independence.

When W. A. Domingo died, the Jamaican ex-premier Norman Manley wrote that “no one in the world made greater sacrifices or suffered more for the cause he believed in—the cause of freedom for Jamaica and our escape from the bonds and fetters of British Imperialism.” Despite this claim, Domingo has remained a shadowy figure. This book brings him, at last, into the foreground of anti-colonial struggle in the Caribbean.

Through a generous selection of Domingo’s writings from various stages of his life, the book illuminates his ideological tenets and political commitments, while the introductory material contains new biographical information that sheds light on Domingo’s early years as well as on his relationships with Marcus Garvey and the Communist movement.

W. A. Domingo was born and raised in Jamaica before moving to the USA in 1910. A Jamaican nationalist, socialist, and committed internationalist, he was part of an influential community of West Indian radicals active in Harlem’s New Negro movement in the early 20th century. Peter Hulme is Emeritus Professor in Literature, University of Essex, and the author or editor of numerous books. Leslie James is Senior Lecturer in Global History at Queen Mary University London. She is the author of George Padmore and Decolonization from Below.