The George Washington Carver Community Center is within walking distance to Norwalk’s Heritage Wall, located at the I-95 exit ramp and West Avenue. The Carver community is thrilled to support the Norwalk International Cultural Exchange (NICE) initiative to install a new bronze plaque on that storied wall to permanently recognize the significant contributions Jamaican immigrants make to our community today and through the decades.
Each of the Jamaican-American Honorary Members of the newly established Jamaican Heritage Trust of Norwalk knows Carver well: Valerie Watson, Vice President, Patriot Bank, and a member of Carver’s Board of Directors; Novelette Peterkin, CEO, Carver Foundation of Norwalk; George Daley, Norwalk Police Department; Ingrid Aarons-Porter, LMSW; and Diane Jellerette, Executive Director, Norwalk Historical Society (which included Carver in its “Norwalk: Portrait of Diversity” exhibit).
The Heritage Wall’s first plaque honored Hungarians in 1983; today there are 17 plaques recognizing Hungary, Italy, Native Americans, Poland, Greece, Scotland, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Costa Rica, African Americans, French-Canadians, Haiti, Germany, England, Portugal, China, and Columbia. The Norwalk Common Council approves each plaque following a review process. The installation of this new plaque this summer will commemorate Jamaica’s 60th Anniversary of Independence.
NICE is one of many Carver partners. Founded by the Black community in 1938, Carver remained a single community center until we began to move our after-school and summer programs into Norwalk’s schools. Today, we are in every school and we engage many of the region’s nonprofits and companies in our work. Community and collaboration are constant Carver themes through the decades. We don’t compete, we partner.
Jamaicans are the largest group of immigrants in Connecticut, according to the Pew Research Center’s counting of countries of birth. Jamaican immigration to the U.S. increased during the civil rights era of the 1960s. Jamaican-Americans have always been involved in the Carver community. As with many other sources of Caribbean immigration, the geographical nearness of Jamaica to the U.S. increased the likelihood of migration. Traditionally, America has experienced increased migration through means of family preference, in which U.S. citizens sponsor their immediate family.
It is time for Norwalk’s Heritage Wall to include a plaque commemorating the countless contributions the Jamaican diaspora has made to Norwalk and particularly to the Carver community through these many decades.
