Unsung Caribbean Heroes You Didn’t Learn About in School

By Madelyn Herrera

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Sun. Dec. 14, 2025: When Caribbean history is taught in classrooms, it is often reduced to a handful of well-known figures, while unsung Caribbean heroes who shaped the region’s political, cultural, and social foundations remain overlooked. From revolutionaries and intellectuals to artists and activists, the Caribbean has produced generations of heroes whose contributions transformed not only their islands but the wider world.

These unsung pioneers broke barriers, challenged colonial systems, and used their voices, ideas, and courage to redefine freedom, identity, and self-determination. Yet many of their names rarely appear in textbooks, leaving a critical gap in how Caribbean history is understood and remembered.

Today, we spotlight just a few of the Caribbean heroes you likely didn’t learn about in school — extraordinary individuals whose resilience and vision helped shape the past and continue to influence the present.

Trinidad and Tobago: Claudia Jones

This Trinidad born woman was a political activist and journalist who advocated for Black individuals, women and workers both in the United States and England. Her work helped lay down the groundwork intersectional feminism, a philosophy that recognizes how different forms of inequality overlap and intensify one another.

This concept is still widely dissected in universities across the world. Another one of her great accomplishments is she helped organize the first West Indian Carnival in London, which is now recognized as the Notting Hill Carnival. This festival happens annually over the summer and features Caribbean food, dance and costumes!

Cuba: Ana Betancourt

This Cuban pioneer was a powerful voice for women’s freedom and played a vital role in the feminist movements of her time. During the Ten Years’ War (1868–1878), she transformed her home into a rebel base, acting as head of insurrectionist propaganda and serving as a vital link between city and countryside. She hid weapons, sheltered emissaries of the Mambises, and carried out many acts of rebellion that helped pave the way for women’s rights. Ana Betancourt famously proclaimed:

“Citizens: the woman, in the dark and quiet corner of the home, waited patiently and resignedly for this beautiful hour in which a new revolution breaks her yoke and unties her wings.”

Though often overlooked in history books, her fierce activism made clear that true independence must include equality for women.

Martinique: Paulette Nardal

Many people have heard of Marian Anderson, Marcus Garvey and René Maran, but few know that these renowned Black intellectuals gathered at Paulette Nardal’s Paris salon to discuss the conditions of Black people, build networks and reflect on their shared experiences. While some historians credit Le Salon de Clamart with creating a safe intellectual space where these thinkers developed the concept of Négritude and sparked the subsequent movement, Nardal’s crucial role as the woman at the center of this moment has largely been erased from mainstream history. She also founded The Review of the Black World, a journal that explored the experiences of Black women throughout the diaspora.

Jamaica: Amy Ashwood Garvey

Amy Ashwood Garvey was a Jamaican activist who made major contributions to Black feminism but is often reduced to just “Marcus Garvey’s first wife.” Her accomplishments include co-founding the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the newspaper Negro World. Unfortunately, after her divorce from Marcus Garvey, her name was largely erased from history. As scholars delve deeper into the history of Black feminism in the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and the U.S., they are uncovering her immense contributions and restoring her rightful place in history, no longer just as Marcus Garvey’s wife, but as a leader in her own right.

Trinidad and Tobago: Altheia Jones-LeCointe

Altheia Jones-LeCointe is a Trinidadian-born scientist and one of the most influential leaders of the British Black Power movement. After moving to the United Kingdom to study biochemistry, she became a powerful voice against racial discrimination, police brutality, and inequality faced by Caribbean migrants during the Windrush era.

As a key organizer in the British Black Panther Movement, she helped build community programs, political education classes, and mutual aid systems that strengthened Black communities across London. She was a leader in the Mangrove Nine trial, where she represented herself and helped expose systemic racism in the police. This marked a historic moment in British civil rights. Though her name is not always found in textbooks, her work shaped a generation of activism in the UK and continues to inspire movements today.

The stories of these historical figures remind us that history doesn’t always show the full picture. Behind every great hero remembered in textbooks, there are countless others who helped pave the way Caribbean history is a tapestry woven with countless threads, each one vibrant and essential. By remembering their stories, we celebrate the strength and brilliance of those who helped create a better future for the people of their islands.

RELATED:

20 Caribbean Immigrants In U.S. History

Black Caribbean Immigrants In US Black History

This Caribbean Immigrant Was A Central Figure In The Harlem Renaissance

This Caribbean Immigrant Owned The First Black Newspaper In The U.S.

10 Caribbean Nationals In US Black History You Should Know

Harvard’s Investments Included Loans To Caribbean Slave Owners