Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami before 1940
Julio Capó writes about migration from the Caribbean to Miami. He uses newspapers, police records, medical records, and federal/state immigration laws to retell the development of Miami. In chapter two, Capó highlights and transnational queer Bahamian migrants and their impact on the political, cultural, and geographic landscape. He tells the story of Bahamian migration and their unique, mostly male demographic that was a product of US labor extortion laws and the declining economy in the Bahamas. Capó claims that a clash between conservatism and lewdism defined the development of pre-WW2 Miami. Bahamian women had extraordinary difficulty living alone in both the Bahamas and Miami due to their prescribed hyper-sexuality. In contrast to other work on the history of immigration, Capó centers the varied intersections of Bahamian identities and calls for a transnational retelling of their migration. He illustrates this historical approach through tracing the life of Sam Carey who migrated to the U.S. in search of economic opportunity but was hyper sexualized and festishized due to Miami’s tourist-centered economy.
Julio Capó Jr., Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami before 1940 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017).