The Atlantic coast, meanwhile, was populated with Jamaican immigrant workers during the 19th century.

"Over 10,000 Jamaican workers come to Florida every year for six months, from the end of October to the beginning of April," she explained the other day.

Most of them are English-speaking descendants of 19th century black Jamaican immigrant workers.

More late, the Jamaican workers began working for the banana industry, whose production grew to its peak in 1907.

For more than a week, hundreds of skilled Jamaican migrant workers, upon whom the apple industry depends, were stranded on the Caribbean island, unable to come north.

Any remaining local labour controls were of little concern to foreign companies, since Jamaican workers were typically excluded from all steps except for manufacturing.

In response to strikes or labour movements, some companies dismissed their Jamaican workers and brought in workers from Asia who were less vocal about the injustices.

Aside from the lower transportation costs between Mexico and the United States, in 1997, Mexican workers were also being paid much less than Jamaican workers.

Here, however, the boy is a dope-smoking upstate New Yorker and his mentor a Jamaican migrant worker.

More recently Hispanic, Haitian and Jamaican workers began taking the jobs once claimed by American families.